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brendwell · 7 years

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Do Unto Others CH 5

AO3: LINK

Mob Psycho 100

Warnings: Violence

Word Count: 3705

Rating: T

A/N: At long last, CH 5 of DUO has finally been written. School absolutely kicked my ass, and I had no energy at all to even try writing anything. As always, thanks to @subcorax for being my beta <3333333 Inspiration for this AU came from @florbe-triz‘s delinquent!Mob post!

This fic is exploring the idea of Mob in a world where he and Reigen didn’t meet the way they did in canon.

“We were wondering what’s it like living with your older brother. He’s a delinquent right? Aren’t you afraid?”

“Yeah! Like, are you ever afraid he’ll hurt you?” Shiratori asked, another voice agreeing with her.

There was a pause. Shigeo silently closed his locker, pressing his hand against it to stop the tremor. There was a lump in his throat again, and a rising feeling in his gut, burning his insides.

“. . . He hasn’t hurt me yet.” Ritsu said after a moment.

CH 5

Shigeo couldn’t sleep.

He had been lying in his futon for what was probably hours by now. The house was silent, and his breathing was the only noise in the stiflingly still night. Everything seemed frozen in its place, fixed down by some sort of fragile peace that would shatter with any sound louder than Shigeo’s slow breaths.

The quiet felt like a lie. Shigeo looked blankly up at the ceiling, his thoughts roiling in his head. Each time he closed his eyes, Ritsu’s own stared back at him in accusation. “What did you do?” Ritsu’s voice said, the words bouncing around in his skull until the words began to run into each other, forming a cacophony that left Shigeo’s head buzzing and eyes wet.

His hands fiddled with his blankets. He felt so tired, he didn’t even have the energy bring himself to wipe his eyes. He didn’t want to close his eyes to sleep though. Not right now.

Shigeo tilted his head towards the window, watching the moonlight seep through the closed curtains and illuminate the bare floorboards, just barely reaching where he was on the futon. His eyes flicked to the rings of the curtain, locking onto them. He dragged his eyes across the railing, the curtains following the motion and opening with a quiet hiss.

The moon tonight was partly obscured by clouds, but shone through the darkness with a soft but persistent light. It wasn’t a full moon despite its brightness, but it was on its way. Shigeo wondered how bright it would be at its peak, and how much of the darkness it would force to retreat. But that would be a useless effort, since the darkness would always come back as the moon waned. Or maybe Shigeo was thinking about it wrong? The moon existed for the night, where the dark ruled. Maybe it was a coexistence, not a battle.

That would be nice, Shigeo thought. No fighting at all . . . .

Progression towards Mob’s explosion: 75%

A quiet knock startled Shigeo into awareness, head muzzy from sleep. He blinked blearily at his ceiling, turning over to check his alarm clock. It was time to get up for school, he realised. The time where Ritsu and Shigeo used to prepare and leave for school together. He had managed to sleep through his early alarm.

Another knock brought Shigeo’s attention to the half open door, Ritsu’s head peeking out from behind it. As his eyes settled on him, Ritsu’s eyes dropped to the floor, flicking back to the hallway behind him for a second.

“Okaa-san said that you’ll be late for school if you don’t get up now.” Ritsu said, voice subdued.

Shigeo closed his eyes and took a long breath, taking a moment to gather himself. He forced himself up and out of his bed, heading over to his closet for a change of clothes. Absentmindedly, he folded his blankets and futon with telekinesis, arranging them neatly to be stored away as he grabbed a shirt from its hanger.

A frightened gasp from the doorway had Shigeo freezing and the futon dropping heavily onto the floor. He turned around, an apology already on his lips - for what he doesn’t truly know - before the door was slammed closed.

“Oh.” Shigeo said instead.

Progression towards Mob’s explosion: 79%

Shigeo arrived at school on time, passing through the school gates without having run into any delinquents on his way. The uneventful walk to school was odd, but the break was something Shigeo appreciated.

He easily bypassed the crowds of students who had been gathering around the front of the school to greet their friends. Or rather, the crowds of students edged around him. It was like Shigeo had a psychic barrier up, with the way everyone kept their distance from him.

“That’s the bad kid from the upper year classes,” he heard someone say, a loud shushing sound following close behind the words. He glanced towards the source of the noise and saw two of the younger students cringe as he caught sight of them.

“I was told to stay away from him,” Shigeo heard from somewhere else. That time, he didn’t try to find the speaker. “He’s trouble. Even the teachers are fed up with him.”

Shigeo kept his head down and moved forward, doing his best not to be noticed. It didn’t work very well, but he was desperate to try. He shuffled into the school building, hoping to get away from the looks and words. The building’s doors provided a nice shield against the outside, and the inside was blessedly quiet. The area was almost empty, save for a few students exchanging their outside shoes for their inside ones. It was that in-between time where the early students had already gone to their classes, but a little before the rush of people arriving on time. No one had noticed Shigeo enter at all.

Shigeo ducked behind a set of shoe lockers and out of sight of most of the students in the room. If he exchanged his shoes quickly he would be able keep unnoticed and get to his homeroom without getting caught in the rush.

“Kageyama-kun!” An unfamiliar voice called out, and Shigeo almost dropped his shoe before silently catching it. The voice was coming from the other side of the lockers Shigeo was at, and didn’t seem to be calling for him.

“Shiratori-chan? Did you need something?” Ritsu answered from the other side. Shigeo placed his inside shoes back into their cubby, staring blankly before him as he listened to the conversation.

“Some of us were curious and we wanted to ask you a question! Do you have a bit of time now?” Shiratori asked.

“Um, sure. What did you want to ask?”

A different, more timid voice spoke up. “We were wondering what’s it like living with your older brother. He’s a delinquent right? Aren’t you afraid?”

“Yeah! Like, are you ever afraid he’ll hurt you?” Shiratori asked, another voice agreeing with her.

There was a pause. Shigeo silently closed his locker, pressing his hand against it to stop the tremor. There was a lump in his throat again, and a rising feeling in his gut, burning his insides.

“. . . He hasn’t hurt me yet.” Ritsu said after a moment. Shigeo felt almost dizzy, like his head was floating instead of attached to his heavy body.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat, carefully stepping away from the lockers and letting his hand silently slip away from it.

There were noises still coming from the other side of the lockers, but Shigeo couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to it. He turned and headed towards the doors, the idea of keeping out of sight niggling in his mind, but it was buried under the white noise of his thoughts.

He didn’t think anyone noticed him leaving the building, but he knew in some distant and disconnected way that the students in the school’s yard outside will have noticed.

Suddenly, Shigeo’s mind cleared for a moment of perfect and terrifying clarity. He walked towards the school gates with single-minded purpose, exiting the school grounds with steady and mechanical steps and thinking that this would be the first time he had ever willingly skipped school.

But then, he was a delinquent, wasn’t he?

Progression towards Mob’s explosion: 90%

Shigeo decided to go to his safe place, hidden in a park’s bushes and trees. No one had ever found him there before, and he would be able to read his textbooks and fall into restless sleep there in peace.

His head still felt foggy but, his thoughts were a little less muddled now. After he had left the school and gained some distance from everything, he was able to find some control again.

His thoughts had drifted back to Ritsu before, but his breath had stuttered in his lungs and he had forced his mind away from his brother. It hurt to think back to it, and Shigeo was tired of hurting.

Shigeo was tired of a lot of things.

At least Shigeo had managed to avoid encountering any adults on his way to his safe place. With all his wanderings, he had managed to map out the best routes to avoid as many people as possible. If anyone had seen Shigeo, they might have tried to force him back to school.

Of course, Shigeo wasn’t always able to avoid those he needed to most.

Further down the street, two teenagers dressed in sloppily done uniforms leaned against a fence. They looked irritated and maybe a bit tired.

As Shigeo walked closer, their voices became more distinct in the quiet neighbourhood.

“. . . why we got sent here. There’s only houses and that park all the way off there.”

“Because someone thought that it’d still be around some of the old haunts.” The other grunted, sliding against the wall to sit down. “To be honest, I don’t know if any of the rumours are true. I mean, a monster?”

“Yeah, but someone’s sending all ‘em people to the hospital. I heard they all say it’s a kid with bowl cut, but there’s still a buncha kids with that stupid haircut around.”

“That’s why you’re meant to ask if the kid’s ‘the monster’. One of the guys that got beaten up asked once, and it said it was. Best way to tell ‘em apart from a normal kid, apparently. Either that, or you get sent to the hospital first.”

“Oh shit, really? That’s messed up.” The teen still standing scrubbed a hand in his hair. He heaved a sigh before looking up and spotting Shigeo silently approaching them. His eyes widened. “Oh. This is really messed up.”

His partner made a questioning noise from where he sat, following his gaze he caught sight of Shigeo too. “Holy- Is that?” He sprang up from his seat, moving into a fighting stance. The action drew a flinch from Shigeo.

“Hide better, or strike first,” the lantern-eyed spirit had told him. There was no point in hiding with no roads to turn into.

He continued walking towards them, watching with his bangs shadowing his eyes as the other teen got into a stance as well.

“Is that meant to be the monster?” One hissed at the other, but Shigeo had already stopped keeping track of them. The heavy feeling in his gut had returned, as well as the tremble in his hands. He clenched them into fists, hoping to stop the shaking, but the shaking only seemed to transfer itself into his lungs and his breath shuddered.

“Are you the monster?” One called out, hesitantly but with an undercurrent of a threat.

“Yes.” Shigeo said, his voice soft but clear despite his shuddering breath and the vice grip that found itself in his throat. Shigeo was tired of trying to deny it.

He couldn’t make out their expressions, their faces blurring in his vision. He could see their fists, though. Clenched and held up, ready to be used. Shigeo walked forward one step, two, three, four, before the two charged him, fists drawn back and raring for a fight.

Shigeo continued walking towards them, raising his own hand to point a finger each at them. With a swift motion, he flicked his fingers down to the ground, the two teens following the motion chin first and colliding with the street with a painful smack. They gave low groans, but didn’t get back up.

Shigeo had been told before that people who hurt other people were bad, and that was just the way the world was. It was a terrible thing, but that was the way it was. That was the just the way he was.

Progression towards Mob’s explosion: 94%

It was sunset when Shigeo found himself wandering the opposite way from home. He ended up on a dirt road following a river, the grass of the hill by the water overgrown and dry after the heat of the day. The temperature was rapidly beginning to cool as the sun dipped into the horizon, hinting towards an early autumn.

The shorter days meant that the spirits were becoming more active, many of them preferring the twilight hours or the night. There were very few spirits here, though. Shigeo thought they may have been chased away by the one in the necklace, caught in the dirt of the riverbank where the water tugged at it unendingly. It wasn’t happy, and Shigeo could sense the aura of misfortune it gave off even from his position above the water.

Shigeo stood still as he watched the sunset, the sky tinged gold and pink where the sun was sinking out of view.

“Hello?” A voice called out to his left. Shigeo turned around to find a man in a grey suit waving at him. The clothes didn’t seem to fit the man properly, but he wore it so confidently that it seemed natural. “Sorry, but I’m trying to find a man who passes by here often. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

Shigeo stared at him blankly before nodding his head.

The man brightened. “Great! So, have you seen this man here before? He’s stolen a family heirloom and threw it away somewhere nearby this river when he couldn’t sell it for a good price.” He brought out two photos from a pocket. One photo was a headshot of shaggy haired and bearded man, and the other was what looked like a jade necklace.

Shigeo had never seen the man before, but he could at least recognise the necklace. Or, he was able to recognise the aura of the necklace, that is.

“Shouldn’t the police be looking for him?” Shigeo asked, feeling a little suspicious.

The man snorted, putting the photos away. “Usually, but the necklace isn’t actually worth anything. It’s fake jade, so the police aren’t interested in the case. I’m a private investigator, and was asked to find this man - my client’s ex-boyfriend - and retrieve the necklace.”

“Why does your client want the necklace back if it isn’t worth anything?”

“It’s a family heirloom,” the man repeated, running a hand through his hair. “Client said it’s a good luck charm that’s been passed down through the family for generations. It’s important to them.”

Shigeo tilted his head, considering the man. “I saw the necklace here. If I get it for you, do you promise to get it to its owner as soon as possible?”

The man gave a confident smirk, placing a hand over his heart. “Of course! I swear on my honour as a PI.”

Shigeo nodded. “Stay up here.” He told the man before he climbed down to the river bank. The necklace was a little upstream of where he was, but the wide swath of land flanking the water made it an easy walk there.

Cautiously, he edged near the necklace, keeping a safe distance away from the water and out of the immediate influence of the spirit inside the necklace.

“Would you please allow myself and the man up there to deliver you back to your owner?” Shigeo asked, peering towards the necklace. It was pretty, even with the mud obscuring most of it from view. He could see why the thief had mistaken it for real jade.

The aura around the necklace wavered, but remained. “The man swore on his honour,” Shigeo tried. “I can clean the mud off of you and he’ll return you back to you family.”

The dark aura wavered again, before seeming to collapse in on itself. Shigeo carefully picked it from the mud, digging a clean handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the mud off the gem. The dirt came off the gem easily, obviously not welcome on it. As the necklace was wiped, a cleaner, lighter aura surrounded it. The green of the necklace almost glowed in the light of the setting sun.

With a small smile, Shigeo pocketed the handkerchief and held the necklace close to his chest to keep it safe. He climbed back up the small hill to the man waiting patiently on the road.

“This is it.” Shigeo said, handing the necklace over.

The man carefully took it, inspecting it from various angles before smiling back at Shigeo. “This is definitely it.” He fished out a clear plastic bag from his jacket, sealing the necklace inside and storing it safely in the inner pocket of his jacket. “Thanks, kid. I really owe you one. Oh! Here.”

The man took out his wallet, plucking a card out and handing it over to Shigeo. “If you need something, give me a call.”

Shigeo took it, skimming over the words as the man waved goodbye. Private Investigator, it said, Have questions? We can find your answers.

“Wait,” Shigeo found himself saying.

The man paused, turning back to Shigeo with a curious look.

“How do you stop being a bad person?” Shigeo asked, the words tumbling from his lips. He hadn’t even realised he had wanted to know how until he was saying the words, looking up to the man with a churning feeling in his stomach. How could Shigeo fix himself?

The man seemed startled at the question, jumping a little before rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. Sweat began gathering across his forehead, a bead running down his temple. “Well, uh, usually you stop doing bad things.”

Shigeo leaned forward, his hands still holding the card pressing against his chest as if to stop the hammering of his heart. “But- But what if you can’t stop doing bad things?” His hands clutched at the card, wrinkling the stock paper.

The man was silent for a moment and gave Shigeo a long look that had Shigeo’s shoulders slumping. He turned back to the river, bringing a hand up to cup his chin in a thoughtful manner while his free arm crossed over his chest. “I think that someone who’s forced to do bad things isn’t necessarily a bad person. They’re more like a victim of circumstance.”

He glanced back to Shigeo. “It’s not their fault, but the situation that they’re stuck in gives them no choice. You know, like something outside of their control forces them to do things that they would normally never do, no matter how much they don’t want to.”

“Like hurt people?” Shigeo asked, looking at his feet.

“. . . Like hurt people.” The man agreed.

Shigeo glanced up at the man, peering through his bangs. The man was looking back at Shigeo with a serious, but not unkind expression. Their eyes met and locked for a second before the man turned back to watching the river, removing the pressure of his eyes from Shigeo.

“So. . . .” Shigeo stopped, trying to make sense of the thoughts and feelings inside him. “So they’re not really a bad person?”

“No,” the man said, watching the sunlight reflect off the river. “And if they really were, they could always try to change. Become good and all.”

“How?” Shigeo asked, something cold and lonely inside him clawing itself in desperation for an answer.

The man seemed to cringe into himself a little. “Like- Like they could try to make up for the things they’ve done. . .? A little like community service.” He ran a hand through his hair, brushing back his bangs from his face. “Do something kind instead.”

“Something kind?” Shigeo’s brows furrowed. The words spun in his head, taking root in the quieter parts of his mind. “How do you be kind, then?”

The man made a noise bordering on pensive if not for the nervous mumbling. “Um, well. What about doing the opposite of hurting? Healing! Go treat someone’s wounds rather than cause them. First aid and everything.” He said, flapping his hand in a series of gestures as if trying to illustrate his meaning.

“Like a school nurse?” Shigeo asked, thinking deeply. Do something kind, he had said.

“Yes!” The man exclaimed, pointing a finger at Shigeo. He blinked at Shigeo’s flinch, coughed, and made a show of crossing his arms. He bowed his head a little in apology. “Like a school nurse.”

The cheery tune of a cell phone rang out between them, both staring uncomprehendingly at each other before they realised that the noise was coming from the man.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he fished it out, opening it to read a text message. He rapidly punched out a reply, pocketing the cell phone and turning back to Shigeo.

“Look, I’ve got to go and return the necklace now,” the man said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “You’ll be okay, kid. Keep my card with you, it’s got my contact info if you ever have a case for me.”

With a respectful nod, the man turned away to walk down the road, the opposite way Shigeo would need to go to return home.

Shigeo’s hands were still clutching the card against his chest, his grip causing the paper to wrinkle and bend. He glanced at it before his eyes snapped back to the quickly retreating man.

“What if even after that, you’re still doing bad things?” Shigeo called out, his voice shaking a little as he spoke through the clenching in his throat. His eyes burned at the thought, and his breath shuddered as he took in his next inhale to continue. “What if. . . what if you’re still something terrible?”

The man gave Shigeo an unreadable look, before his eyes dropped to the ground. “You can always continue trying to change,” he called back, before sweeping back into his walk.

Shigeo let the man go, swallowing around the lump in his throat. He brought one arm up against his eyes, blocking his vision for a moment as he took deep and controlled breaths. He swiped the arm across his eyes, before turning to the card still in his other hand.

He smoothed it out, doing his best to flatten the wrinkles. Private Investigator, it read. Have questions? We can find your answers. A phone number was printed below it, as well as an address to the office. Reigen Arataka, it read, in plain black font.

Progression towards Mob’s explosion: 68%

CH 5 END

#mp100 #kageyama ritsu #kageyama shigeo #i dun wanna spoil too much #mp100 fic #mob psycho 100 #delinquent mob au #DUO #mp100 fanfic #IM BACK

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