Archive of Our Own

NIGHTEEN
[00]
At the age of nineteen, Kageyama Shigeo's psychokinetic powers suddenly disappeared.

[01] Hanazawa-kun
"So that means," he asked, "that since your birthday, you can't see Dimple and you can't use your psychokinetic powers?"
Kageyama Shigeo nodded. They were sitting on the first floor of McDonald's, and The leaves outside the window are full of May vibrancy. Kageyama Shigeo had come from the frozen tofu city in the north and was still wearing his stupid pullover sweatshirt, which didn't match the spring in Seasoning City. Hanazawa Teruki gasped, "Been under a lot of pressure with school lately, Kageyama-kun?"
"No."
"Getting pissed off at your boss at your part-time job?"
"No."
"You can't avoid fighting with your roommates."
"Everyone takes care of me."
The clever Hanazawa said confidently, holding his chin up, "That's the trouble with love."
Kageyama Shigeo was silent for twenty seconds, "There's no such thing."
"Then why are you thinking so long." Defeated, the Famous Detective Hanazawa took a French fry in anguish, "Why would you suddenly not be able to use your psychokinetic powers?"
"I don't know." Kageyama Shigeo whispered, "It seems Hanazawa-kun doesn't know either."
"Where's Dimple now?"
"Ritsu says he's gone to find some other evil spirit friend to help me figure out what to do."
Hanazawa Teruki caught the point of the words, "Ritsu knows that too."
Kageyama Shigeo was silent. Hanazawa Teruki pushed the fries to his friend, "'Don’t use your psychokinetic powers on people', isn't that what you said, Kageyama? After all these years, you got into high school and went on to college with your own efforts, and now you've started working part-time to earn money, not having psychokinetic powers is no big deal ......"
Kageyama Shigeo shook his head and lifted his bag. It was a five hour ride on the Shinkansen from the seasoned city back to his university. The last train would leave in half an hour. As he walked with the crowd towards the train station, waiting for the red light, Hanazawa Teruki tried to make one last attempt at reassurance: "Didn't Dimple say that? The power is still in your body, you just can't use it for some reason. It's only been a week now, so maybe in a little while you'll be able to use your power."
"Does Hanazawa mean that I should go and get the power back?"
The light went green and the crowd began to move. Hanazawa Teruki stood still and looked into the eyes of Kageyama Shigeo.
"I can't make the decision for you, Kageyama-kun. I just think it would be a pity for such a powerful force to disappear." Hanazawa Teruki said, "Look, what amazing things we've done together! and because of you, I've always had a goal to move forward. If I keep trying, I might be able to surpass you, that's what I've always thought."
"That kind of thing is not possible."
"Hey, you don't need to say something like that to liven things up."
"I get what you mean." Kageyama Shigeo said, "Thank you, Hanazawa-kun."
So he still had a mood for jokes? Teru Hanazawa thought.
Green light. The spring train station across the street was crowded with people, and Shigeo stopped long enough to look down at his hand at this intersection. There was a band-aid on his hand. Shigeo said, when he tried to catch a falling cup, forgetting that he could no longer use his powers, he get hurt himself. Hanazawa stared his friend's back. At one point, Kageyama Shigeo seemed to want to run away. How could he have travelled five hours on the Shinkansen back to his hometown just to have a McDonald's with Teruki Hanazawa? Hanazawa finally couldn't help himself, "Why don't you go and ask Mr. Reigen ?"
Kageyama Shigeo also made up his mind at this point.
"That's another thing I'm going to ask of you, Hanazawa-kun." Kageyama Shigeo said, "I said the same thing to Ritsu and Dimple: don't let Shishou know what I told you today."
He turned around, then walked into the crowd.

[02] Ritsu
During his first summer vacation in college, he took the Shinkansen from the capital back to Seasoning City. Through the doorway, he heard his mother say, " Shigeo, why did you forget your keys again - ah, welcome back, Ritsu."
"Did brother go out?" The younger brother asked. His mother then replied, "Went for a exercise." Ritsu took off his shoes in the foyer, "How's brother?" Perhaps looking at his nervous face, his mother also lowered her voice: "Nothing much, he goes for a run every day and sleeps at the usual time ......" she pounded her fist on her palm, "To be honest, he does seem a bit depressed. He even threw a tantrum with me when I suggested that he should come to visit Mr. Reigen."
"A tantrum?"
Mum said with a hesitation, "It wasn't really a tantrum? He just wouldn't talk at dinner and went upstairs early afterwards."
Then it was a tantrum, Ritsu thought. At that moment the door lock slammed, mother and son were startled to see the protagonist of their discussion standing in the doorway. Kageyama Shigeo, dressed in a tracksuit and carrying a plastic bag, said, "I'm back."
Mum slunk sheepishly back into the kitchen as Shigeo shoved the milk he had just bought into the fridge. They sat down to eat. My brother rarely talking, but eating as much as ever ......Ritsu thought, when he heard a "pop" and then his mother complained, "Oh, you're still so careless, Shigeo. --eh."
His brother had already pulled a paper towel and balled up the omelet rice that had fell on the table, then took the bent iron spoon from Ritsu, and straightened it back into its original shape. "It can't be controlled, Mom." Shigeo said with a gentle smile.
After their parents left for work, the two brothers lay on the couch, Shigeo reading comics and Ritsu reading books, without saying a word all afternoon. When they went for a walk along the riverbank, they saw the posters for the Hanabi taikai were posted on the telephone poles. The white clouds in the sky were like castles, rising from the grassy slope opposite. Shigeo pointed to the sky and said, "Ritsu used to always say that you wanted to fly into the clouds."
Ritsu stood up and held out his hand to Shigeo, "Do you want to fly now, brother?"
The feeling of flying for the first time was one he would never forget. They flew over the school, the bridge. The tall buildings seemed to be a colourful mosaic, and the sunset was like half an egg yolk. When he yawned in the clouds, he felt like eating a full mouth of marshmallow. They falled from the sky in front of the house, and were glad to see the spatula in Mum's hand smashed to the ground in shock. Dad laughed brightly: ' how do you feel, Ritsu? Next time let Daddy try it too." This was Kageyama Ritsu's childhood, which built on top of psychokinetic powers that didn't belong to him.
Now it is Ritsu who bent the spoon uncontrollably, and held his brother’s hand and flew in the sky. Which is more painful, the anxiety of not being able to use psychokinetic powers, or the emptiness of a sudden loss?
Shigeo seemed to be the same as before. He expertly directs Ritsu forward: eastward, westward, and finally they hovered above the bustling district. Shigeo said, "Before I took Ritsu up that time, I secretly asked Shishou to practice for a long time."
"Never heard you talk about it."
"Because I wanted to surprise you." Shigeo bowed his head, gazing at the underneath buildings, "At the time, I wanted to give you a surprise, but was afraid something would go wrong. But Shishou said go ahead and do what you wanted to do. If I was worried about it, just take him for practice. At the first time, I got dizzy and threw up on Shishou's suit. But even then, Shishou stayed with me until I was able to manipulate objects to fly proficiently."
It seemed that you felt so good with flying, wasn't it, Reigen! Ritsu thought to himself, and said, "Brother,you flew very smoothly that time."
Shigeo touched his nose and blushed, "Really? I actually took motion sickness pills."
"Has Mr. Reigen been busy lately?"
Shigeo shook his head.
"Not busy?"
"I don't know." Shigeo sneezed suddenly - the sky was colder than the ground - and the conversation turned smoothly, "Let's go home, Ritsu."
the river glistened at dusk. Walking back along the riverbank, Shigeo said, "I remember when we were teen, Ritsu always wanted psychokinetic powers."
"Yeah," Ritsu replied naturally, "I always longed for the powers and feared you, it was all adolescent chicanery."
Shigeo pursued the question seriously, "What did Ritsu think of psychokinetic powers?"
Ritsu took a deep breath and said slowly, "Ever since I can remember, you has been different from everyone. Everything we ordinary people can achieve, grades, sports, social skills, talents, all pale in comparison to psychokinetic powers. But you just threw the powers away. It was only when I got psychokinetic powers myself that I slowly understood your decision ......"
Ritsu concluded, "Isn't it better to not have powers? Because you've really grown up, brother."
Shigeo was silent for a long time and finally said, "But I can't leave Dimple behind."
His silence became Ritsu's as well.
“Ritsu, what's going on, your brother suddenly can't see me anymore. ”Two months ago, Dimple had suddenly fallen headlong into Ritsu's teacup, and the first thing he yelled was this. Ritsu fished the green evil spirit out of the water, and listened to what he said, "It's strange, I can obviously feel the power in Shigeo's body, but I can't find it anymore, as if Shigeo has hidden the power himself."
What is there to hide away, brother? Now that you're doing well and don't have to carry that horrible power anymore, you should feel relieved. But why, even I can't be happy?
Ritsu reminds the flight that they just took. It was so different to see the ground from the sky. But for Shigeo, the place he was going to was as much a presence as home. Hanazawa said Shigeo sneaked back to Seasoning City in May alone, and left again like a shot.And when they flew in the sky, Shigeo gazing at the building below, but not saying a word. Kageyama Ritsu reacted as an afterthought to the fact that where they had just gone was the direction of Spirits and Such Consultation office.
"Brother," Ritsu said, and the words that had been swirling around in his mind for two months finally came out, "You should come to visit Mr. Reigen."

[03] Serizawa-san
The door slammed three times and he stood up from the table, "Welcome, Spiritsandsuch Consultation Office - ah, Kageyama-senpai, long time no see. Are you looking for Mr. Reigen?"
"No."
Kageyama Shigeo's explanation was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the phone. Serizawa made an apologetic gesture, "Spiritsandsuch Consultation Office. Do you wish to consult over the phone? There should be a slot on Saturday ......"
It came to closing time after three or four such calls, but Serizawa opened his schedule again, "Sorry to kept you waiting, Kageyama-senpai. It's a headache to deal with a commission at this time......"
"Serizawa-san," Kageyama Shigeo said softly, "I can’t use my psychokinetic powers anymore."
Serizawa immediately turned off his computer and took off the suit, "Do you want to have Ramen noodles?"
Half an hour later, they were sitting at the ramen restaurant that Reigen frequented. Serizawa took his chopsticks and stirred the egg in the noodle soup, "Are you here to see Mr.Reigen? He doesn't come to the office as frequent as before."
"I haven't told Shishou yet." Kageyama Shigeo scooped up a spoonful of soup and blew on it. Serizawa didn't know what to say, so he imitated Reigen's example and reassured the young man, "It must be a little difficult to adjust, but Kageyama-senpai is strong enough to overthrough it. You are definitly to have a bright future even without the psychokinetic powers."
"That's what Ritsu reassured me too." Kageyama Shigeo said, "Serizawa-san, I'd like to hear what you think."
Serizawa nodded to himself with his chopsticks, "Me?"
"Yes. Serizawa-san and I are in a very similar position. I would like to know what you think of psychokinetic powers?"
Serizawa picked the chopped green onion out of the noodle soup and said slowly, "Psychokinetic powers, they're a lot like illnesses, aren't they? People get different illnesses, and it's different people who get illnesses ...... Sorry, I didn't say it very well. But I really thought I had an incurable disease when I first manifested my psychokinetic powers."
"Did Serizawa-san hate your powers?"
"Hmm. I couldn't control my powers as a child, and after changing schools a few times, I refused to go back to school anymore. At first I would hope that this kind of illness would suddenly heal. But when times go by, I began to use my psychokinetic powers as an excuse to hide at home, avoid contacting with the world outside." Serizawa smiled, "Rather than disliking the power, I guess I dislike myself."
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, your yakitori."
Serizawa took the soy-roasted yakitori and handed a salt-roasted portion to Kageyama Shigeo, and said,"But people can change their minds. I too have been changed by the President, Kageyama-senpai, and Mr.Reigen. Now I won't end up squatting at home even if I can't use my power. Hey, I say, Kageyama-senpai." Serizawa lowered his voice and said, "Mr.Reigen, he doesn't actually have psychokinetic powers, does he?"
Shigeo's movements with the yakitori paused. Serizawa said, "It really seems that way."
"I remember two years ago, Serizawa-san changed jobs and then went back to the Consultation Office." Kageyama Shigeo whispered, "Did you find out then?"
"Sort of, it was really dangerous that time." Serizawa said vaguely. That time the Reigen had delayed calling until the last minute, and when he arrived, his former boss had been tortured by the evil spirit until he passed out. Waking up to his client's cries, Reigen's first words were, "I'm sorry to call you out of work so suddenly, Serizawa. Mob is about to take his entrance exams, so please don’t tell him about this event."
"I made up my mind that time, too." Serizawa said, "Although I could have found work elsewhere, it was only at the the Consultation Office that I could use this 'power'. Power is only a disease in the hands of bad people, and it's up to responsible people to take the power to hold it and contribute to society, or so Mr. Reigen says."
Kageyama Shigeo was eating barbecued pork. The noodle soup dripped off the crystalline flesh and fell into the bowl as he mused, "Power itself is not good or bad, it's the person who has it - so what if the person has no more power?"
Serizawa thought: a lot of thinking, the boy.
He patted Shigeo's back, "Mr. Reigen is a person without power. Haven't you learned anything important in all the time you've followed him?"
Kageyama Shigeo cocked his head and thought for a moment, "Courage?"
"Ah, Kageyama-senpai thinks it's courage." Serizawa said softly.
The clerk removed the soup bowls and served the after-dinner herbal tea. Kageyama Shigeo held his cup in both hands as Serizawa said, "Mr.Reigen complains about you from time to time."
Kageyama Shigeo looked up at once. Serizawa stretched his legs awkwardly and said in the same tone as Reigen, "Ah, what’s wrong with Mob! he won't even come to visit me when he's on vacation." Serizawa laughed at himself before he finished his sentence, and Shigeo laughed too.
"I'll come, I just need some time to think about my question." Shigeo said, "There's one more thing I'd like to ask of you, Serizawa-san. If you see Dimple, please tell me first."

[04] Dimple
"I hear that It is very cold in the Frozen Tofu City, so I need to bring thick socks and a scarf. Toothbrush. The hand warmers Ritsu gave me, the ketchup my mum made, ah, and the computer bag Shishou gave me as a present......"
In the small bedroom, a nervous 100% Kageyama Shigeo paced as he crunched, looking more like he was going to war than preparing for college. The evil spirit hanging upside down from the desk lamp couldn't stand it and said, "The luggage is already overweight, something like a toothbrush, you can buy it again when you arrive!"
"Ah, there's something else that must be brought along." Shigeo muttered as he reached out, plucked the unsuspecting evil spirit from the lamp, crumpled it into a ball and stuffed it into the spare space in his suitcase like a sock wrap. The unlucky spirit was defenseless in human hands and could only shout, "Hey, hey, you don't really want me to go to college with you, do you!"
"Just kidding." Shigeo slowly said, and Dimple smoothed his hair, and met Shigeo's disappointed eyes, "So Dimple isn't coming with me?"
"Gee whiz, I'm not your pet."
When the day came, the evil spirit still followed the young man who was going away to college for the first time on the Shinkansen. As the older man next to him fell asleep, Kageyama Shigeo whispered, "Dimple."
"Hmm?" The evil spirit, who was sitting on the older man's bald head and didn't feel the least bit out of place, responded.
"Is Dimple now keeping relatively still with the moving car at two hundred kilometres an hour?"
"You lose when you discuss Newton in Anime."
"So can you wait for me at the Frozen Tofu City first? You didn't buy a ticket, did you?"
"Hey, who had to ask me to come with you?" The evil spirit muttered.
Shigeo whispered again, "Dimple, Mum says it's easy to get ripped off when you go furniture shopping alone."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Use the psychokinetic powers to move all the cabinets and sofas in our home to the Frozen Tofu City and then move them back to home on the holidays."
"Are you kidding me?" The evil spirit examined the teenager's face, "Ah, not still nervous, are you, Shigeo?"
Shigeo rested his hands on his knees, sitting like a schoolboy, his expression a little dull from being seen through by his older companion. Dimple drifted over to the teenager's head and stroked it, "Get some sleep, Shigeo, you need some rest. Going to university isn't that scary, it's like spirit reduction."
The word "spirit reduction" reassured Shigeo. Dimple closed his eyes too, and after a while Shigeo whispered one last time, "Dimple, will Shishou miss me?"
Dimple pretended to yawn and blew out a green snot bubble.
The Shinkansen arrived at the station in five hours. Shigeo went to the furniture market alone, but didn't get ripped off; the roommates he shared were all strangers, but all good people; he had no idea about the group work, but he managed to do his work. He found a part-time job and met new friends, and everything moved from a fresh challenge to an uneventful routine. The following April, as the family dropped Ritsu off at the train station, Shigeo said, "Going to college certainly isn't as easy as spirit reduction, but it's not as hard as ...... either."
Is there anything more difficult than writing an English essay until three a.m.? Dimple picked his nose and think with boredom: confessing to Reigen?
Spring is late in the north, and there's still cherry-blown snow in May. After his part-time job, Shigeo stomped back to his apartment through the fallen flowers, changed his shoes at the door, and tripped over something four-square. It was a box of cupcakes, and Shigeo read the words on the card, "Happy birthday."
"Yo, Shigeo." The green spirit peeked halfway through the door, "Guess who prepared the surprise?"
Shigeo snapped his fingers at the cake, "Dad, Mum? Ritsu? Roommate? A high school alum who I met two days ago?" He broke one finger and Dimple's eyebrows drooped an inch down. A small light bulb lit up above Shigeo's head, he said,"I know, it must be Shishou!"
The evil spirit rushed forward with teeth and claws and yelled into his ear, "It's me--it's me, Shigeo! I was the one who attached myself to you after you fell asleep and took the phone order. You're so easy to trick, Shigeo, when you give your body to an evil spirit so easily."
The light bulb above Shigeo's head went off, "So it's still my living expenses that are being spent."
"Look at the atmosphere, you."
The roommate was early and ready behind the door. Shigeo pushed the door open with the cake in his hand and was smeared with paper flowers. The stupid humans finished singing the birthday song together and Dimple said in a voice only Kageyama Shigeo could hear, "Last birthday before adulthood, make a wish, Shigeo."
Shigeo whispered, "I wish Dimple would stop being so noisy."
"Huh? What kind of wish is that?"
Shigeo smiled, closed his eyes and blew out the candle. Up to this point, it was all about the daily life of the former-superior evil spirit Dimple. Yet what is called a daily routine is that at every moment when you think you are going by the book, there is the possibility of a sea change - and evil spirits are no exception. For example, when nineteen-year-old Kageyama Shigeo opens his eyes, Dimple suddenly realised: Shigeo can't see him anymore.
"Hey, what's with the suspicious look on your face? I was bouncing around on his head, yelling and screaming, pulling his hairs and doing dozens of pull-ups, and Shigeo didn't react at all, otherwise why would I have taken the Shinkansen all night to find you." Dimple sat on the bed frame and gestured to worried Kageyama Ritsu, "It's strange, I can still feel that power in Shigeo's body, but I can't use it, it's as if he's hiding it from himself. Shigeo doesn't even realise what's happening, he's still goofing off with his roomates."
The chat between the two brothers on Line was still at "Happy Birthday Brother", and Ritsu clicked on the dialog box.
--Can you use your powers now?
--Didn't you notice that Dimple was gone?
--Is there something wrong with tonight?
Dimple floated in mid-air, watching Ritsu type and delete again and again. Shigeo smiled shyly at the birthday picture sent from the other side. Kageyama Ritsu clutched his phone and murmured, "Should I tell brother?"
"Let him have a good birthday first." Dimple said, "I have a feeling something big is about to change in Shigeo's life."
Shigeo's call came the next day: "Hey, you're coming to see me? Ritsu just started school, there's so much to do, don't worry about me. Ritsu, can you put the call through to Dimple?"
Ritsu pressed the speakerphone. Shigeo's quiet voice became an electric current, bending and curving across the long coastline and converging on the phone receiver, "Thank you, Dimple, I love the cake. I was joking with you yesterday, but I actually guessed it was you at once. I planned going to say thank you later, but I didn't get the chance, sorry."
The evil spirit scurried over to the phone, laughed grimly and lowly, "Hmph, as you have eat my bait, when you get your power back, make it up to me with your body."
Ritsu gave Dimple a slap in face and held the phone, "Dimple says it's okay, brother, don't put too much pressure on yourself."
"Haha, so unlike something Dimple would say." Shigeo said.
Shigeo added, "What exactly did Dimple say? Ritsu."
Ritsu glanced at Dimple and replied hesitantly, "He said ......"
Dimple made a sudden "shhh". They had forgotten that Shigeo could not hear what Dimple was saying at that moment. One man and one spirit fell into silence at the numbers bouncing on the call screen, and after a long time, Dimple slowly spoke, "Shigeo......"
Shigeo waited quietly. When Dimple finished, Ritsu gave him a deep look and said into the phone, "Brother, Dimple said ......"
And Dimple was already drifting out of the window.
"...... Dimple says, with psychokinetic powers or without psychokinetic powers, you're going to be great."
Long overdue visit to the evil spirits I know, Dimple thought wistfully.
Human life is always much the same: go to school, take exams, work, get married, and go through life in a blur. The world of spirits is much wider. He passed black cat searching for its tails, foxes carrying lanterns; samurai who died in a shogunate firefight, muttering about taking stock of their mangled ribs. This is the world in which Dimple lived before his encounter with Shigeo.
"A human suddenly lost his psychokinetic powers? Never seen one before. Long time no see, Dimple, what have you been up to?"
"I'm becoming a god in the Seasoning City."
"Eh, my cousin said you were defeated by a human kid and you became his ambassador and followed he all the way to college in Frozen Tofu City, evil spirits go to college eh ...... ah! What are you doing!"
"Isn't your cousin a frozen scallop?" Dimple said, "Gee whiz, the eyes went ashore and went blind, right?"
The further he go, the smaller the spirit body becomes. Some of the spirits had not yet dispersed their obsessions, but their wisdom had disappeared, and when they heard Dimple's question, they just mumbled blankly.
Dimple met a flea.
"Ah, you are ...... what did you call yourself?" It was years ago when he had almost been de-spiritualised by Hanazawa, Dimple had to return to the world of spirits and build up his energy bit by bit, and that was when he met the flea. The flea's owner had even warmly invited Dimple to stay together. "Strange." Dimple scratched his head and circled around the flea, "You seem to have gotten a little bigger. What about your Master, has he disappeared? A bearded, bearded man?"
There was no response. There was only the roaming spirit body, floating like a mayfly, shining in the darkness.
Dimple suddenly understood: the bearded man was here now, only Dimple could no longer see it. Just as a human cannot see a mayfly, Dimple has become too large to see such a tiny spirit any more.
This is the depths of the spirit world. When he had first come from his particle state and struggled a little to gather his scattered spirits, how vast and deep it was ...... yet at the moment, Dimple could see all this darkness with just one turn.
He didn't find the beard in the end.
It is amazing how human emotions can explode with power when faced with a hopeless end instead. It was a bit of Kageyama Shigeo's obsession that had pulled Dimple back to earth the last time. Yet even though they had crossed the gap between life and death, they could not resist the natural drifting apart as they grew up.
The Shinkansen from Seasoning City to Frozen Tofu City is a train that can never be turned back. With his psychokinetic powers left behind in his hometown along with his fourteen-year-old summer, Kageyama Shigeo shyly but firmly enters the world of adults. Dimple will no longer be able to see the beard, just as Kageyama Shigeo will gradually lose sight of Dimple when he grew up. Even if it wasn't for the sudden disappearance of his powers, sooner or later they would have to say goodbye. Where will Dimple go then?
And what about you, Reigen.
Dimple hadn't enquired about anything in Spirit's world. By the time it returned to the Seasoning City, the monthly calendar of the human world had torn out two sheets. Wind chimes tinkled under the eaves of the shrine, and together the Kageyama brothers purified their hands with bamboo canes, threw coins, rang bells and joined hands with the gods. Dimple sat on the red torii and wondered: what exactly did you wish for on your birthday, Shigeo? As the brothers walked home along the riverbank, Ritsu said, "It's better without power, because you've grown up, brother."
Yet Shigeo said, "But I can't leave Dimple behind."
Kageyama Ritsu looked up and glanced in Dimple's direction. Dimple looked away.
If Shigeo still couldn’t see the spirits, let this be a final goodbye - once back from the empty spirit world, Dimple felt that it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Mum was organising the brothers' wardrobe. T-shirts were piled on the sofa and Shigeo ran over to them in his bare feet, pulling one out of the pile. The colourful fabric fell to the floor, burying him like a Christmas tree. Shigeo said, "Mum, I'm keeping this T-shirt."
Dad pushed the hoover past and probed it, "Oh, Shigeo, a very chic aesthetic."
Shigeo was already clutching the T-shirt and scurrying upstairs. The yellow T-shirt with the monkey painted all over it was still hanging on the hanger above the bed when Dimple flew into Shigeo's room. Shigeo sat dumbfounded on the floor, holding his legs. After a while, he slowly pulled the striped short sleeves off himself, walked over topless, removed the T-shirt and slipped it over his head.
The teenager had grown so much that the T-shirt, which had fitted him in junior high school, now only stuck to his shoulders, and the monkeys grimacing on the T-shirt were crumpled and piled on top of Shigeo's neck. Shigeo stretched out his hand laboriously and spun around the room like a ghost."Dimple." He said.
"Is this T-shirt ugly as hell?" After a moment, he added.
Dimple floated down and, out of sight of the teenager, gently touched his head.
"Shigeo," Dimple sighed, "I'm going to be lonely if you can't see me again."
At nineteen, Kageyama Shigeo was just as reluctant to let go as he had been at fourteen, even in the face of irrevocable despair. In front of the teenager's persistence, the evil spirit, who had lived for an unknown amount of time, was instead bewildered.
"So that's how it is, a sign of typical separation anxiety. Babies get restless when they are away from their parents. Conversely, in adolescence, as the child grows too quickly, the parents also develop fears and worries about separation." The swivel chair swirled around, and the man in the chair slapped the table, nudged the evil spirit in mid-air with a biro, and said, "You, Dimple, are afraid of being separated from Mob!"
"Come on, Shigeo is not my kid and I'm not his mum and dad."
The layout of the consolution office hadn't changed much, and Dimple wiped disgustedly at the posters taped to the wall. Reigen Arataka lowered his legs and rested both hands on the table in a clasped fist, "Why are you so sensitive, not fitting in after a year of college with Mob?"
"It's because of other things, wait until Shigeo tells you himself." Dimple casually glossed over the matter of psychokinetic powers. Reigen Arataka rested his cheeks and scowled at Dimple for so long that Dimple's body exploded with spines, "What are you looking at, Reigen!"
Wait a minute, why can Reigen Arataka still see me? The power in his body was clearly left behind by Shigeo. In other words, Shigeo's power really wasn't gone, but he just couldn't use it anymore?
"More than that," said Reigen Arataka in a tone that gave the evil spirits goosebumps, "Dimple, I'm interested in the 'ambassador' you mentioned earlier. In your absence this year, handling impromptu commissions has become a pain in the ass. Wouldn't it be fun to keep a charm on hand so that the evil spirits would have to come to guard its Master as soon as he initiated the summoning?"
"Ah, yes, it would be fun, why don't we try it now - dream on, Reigen, you want to summon me? That's a scenario for other works!"
"And how are you going to pay me for the consultation? I've purposely put off my afternoon commission to listen to your troubles."
"Huh? Obviously the client cancelled it himself."
"It's just as well to take care of the next commission together, it's a familiar face." Reigen Arataka looked at his watch and muttered, "It's already time, he's not the one who'll be late."
Just as the words left his mouth, there were three knocks on the door. Dimple turned from light green to dark green warily, "Reigen, you wouldn't ......"
Reigen Arataka had stood up, pulled the folds on his suit and raised his voice, "Oh Mob, you're finally willing to come?"
"Shishou," Dimple heard his former partner's nervous voice, "I told you, don't call me out of the blue."

[05] Shishou
Reigen was picking at the window-blinds, when his disciple came in. Dimple's escape speed definitely exceeded two hundred kilometres per hour, turning into a shiny green satellite in the sky. Reigen Aratak haven’t expected that Dimple is so reluctant to see Mob, maybe they really had a fight.
The nineteen-year-old disciple stood silently across the desk. Reigen pushed the boat-shaped carton on his desk over to him, "Want some takoyaki?"
"OK."
Kageyama Shigeo had arrived too late and the takoyaki was a little cold. Shigeo chewed carefully, bit by bit, and the tense atmosphere around him relaxed little by little. Reigen Arataka inserted the last of the meatballs on a toothpick and handed it to Shigeo: "Do you have any other plans for the evening? After we've eaten the ramen, accompany me on an urgent commission,please? "
Shigeo stammered in response, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, "Shishou said that we only had ramen before."
"Ahhh, but the commission was suddenly rescheduled ...... please Mob, it should be easy for you."
Shigeo stammered, "But I already ate dinner."
You are a unskilled liar at all, Mob. Reigen Aratak looked at the young disciple with some amusement, "Then we'll have ramen another time, and we'll go and solve our client's troubles first, shall we?"
Shigeo took the last takoyaki ball and didn't eat it. He looked into the eyes of Reigen Arataka and spoke in a small but firm voice: "I'm sorry, Shishou, it would be better if Shishou contacted Serizawa-san, please."
-- Mob, you haven't come to the consultation office even once this summer. What happened with you and Dimple, is there something you can't tell me? Or you are indeed avoiding me?
All this was left unsaid by Reigen Aratak. The adult patted the teenager on the shoulder, "It's okay, Mob, do what you want then."
Should I add "when you're free"? Let it pass. He put the leftover toothpicks away in the carton, the sauce rubbed off on his hands, but the paper towel was just about used up. With two fingers, he closed the computer, the lamp, the window-blinds and finally the door of the consultation office. Kageyama Shigeo followed behind him, the sunset lengthening their shadows. What's going on, Mob, when it's obvious that I've been rejected, it's more like you've been wronged.
"Alright then, we won't go to the commission." Reigen Arataka compromised, "Still eating ramen, Mob?"
Behind him, Shigeo sniffled and whispered, "OK."
The sauce had dried on his fingers and he tried not to think about the slimy texture. The streets were unusually crowded today, all wearing yukata and kimono. The girl had a large daisy flower on her head, and Reigen Arataka was still wearing a suit, which was a little out of place. Kageyama Shigeo called out, "Shishou."
Reigen Arataka stuck his pockets in and turned his head, "Hm?"
"There was no way to help Shishou with the commission, not because I didn't want to." Kageyama Shigeo said, "Shishou, I can't use my powers anymore."
The crowd surged, parting and merging from the two.
Reigen Arataka said, "Let's go get some ramen first."
Kageyama Shigeo said, "Shishou ......"
"Mob, there is no other commissioner, the commissioner is me." Reigen Arataka said, "This time it's a request from Shishou, no need for psychokinetic powers, I just need your presence."
It wasn't quite dark when they walked out of the ramen shop. Reigen Arataka dashed into the convenience store on the side, and the moment he checked out, he suddenly guessed that Shigeo might have gone away. When he came out, Shigeo was still waiting under the streetlight, and Reigen Shintaka reached out and rubbed Shigeo's neatly potted head. Shigeo took the bag with the Horoyoi from him: "Shishou, where are we going?"
Reigen Arataka pointed to the giant banner above the crowd. Shigeo said, "Ah, the Hanabi taikai, I saw the posters earlier and Ritsu asked if I wanted to come along."
"What did you say?"
"I said that Shishou had called me this evening. Ritsu said that since it was Mr. Reigen, you might as well go. I said, we would just have ramen together. Ritsu seemed very suspicious, and he was right." Shigeo said directly.
The veins on Reigen Arataka's temples jumped, "Anyway, let's find a place to sit down quickly."
The best view was of the riverbank where the Kageyama brothers took their daily walks. There were fireworks boats floating on the river, music playing along the river, and the fireworks in full bloom were the perfect beat. They were too late and the riverbank was filled with people. They barely managed to find a place with a big tree on the side. Reigen Arataka spread out the picnic cloth he had just bought and took four bottles of Horoyoi to hold it down as he said, "I thought we could get closer."
Shigeo pointed to the tree.
"Not closer in vertical distance ...... forget it." Reigen Arataka pulled open a bottle of Horoyoi and handed it to Kageyama Shigeo. Kageyama Shigeo replied honestly, "I don't come of age until next year, Shishou."
Reigen withdrew his hand and raised the pink plastic bottle at his disciple, "Then wait until next year to get drunk, Mob."
The curtain of darkness had been drawn and the audience had taken their places. A family on the side had also set up a small table and sandwiches. Reigen filled a gulp of Horoyoi and glanced into his disciple's eyes. Kageyama Shigeo was looking at him too. Shigeo asked, "If Shishou wanted to come with me to see the Hanabi, why didn't you just say so?"
"It is an important lesson for adults to learn that you needn’t to tell everything that you thought." Reigen Arataka said, "Mob, why didn’t you come to the consultation office before?"
Kageyama Shigeo rummaged through the plastic bag and pulled out a bag of jelly and, surprisingly, a packet of warm French fries. Shigeo said, "I am a little afraid of it."
"About the disappearing psychokinetic powers?"
Kageyama Shigeo asked rhetorically, "What does Shishou think of psychokinetic powers?"
Reigen caught the question and flicked it back, "What does Mob think about it?"
"It's been two months, I've asked Hanazawa-kun, Ritsu, Serizawa-san and Dimple, but I never knew how to talk to Shishou." Shigeo sat upright on his knees on the dinner cloth, his voice shaking a little, "Please, Shishou, I want to know what you think."
Ugh, don't look at me like that, this look of wanting to know the answer but not daring to hear it. I obviously can't refuse you at all, Mob.Thought Reigen.
After thinking about it, Reigen said, "Mob, do you remember what I told you when you first came to the consultation office? Like being good at studies or sports, psychokinetic powers are just a kind of human trait."
"But for Mob, it's all really different. Being good at studies and good at sports can have a tangible impact on our daily lives. It's only psychokinetic powers that can't be used in everyday life." Reigen put down his Horoyoi, suspicious that he spoke with a peachy taste, "Of course, you could have used it, I was the one who told you not to."
The nineteen year old Kageyama Shigeo, and the twelve year old schoolboy from Reigen's memories, nodded together with shinny eyes.
"Even if this power bothered you, it is still a part of your identity. There is a world of difference between having this power and not using it, and not having it. If you lose this trait, wouldn't you be a completely and utterly ordinary person?" Reigen did not call that nickname from twelve again, "Shigeo, you are troubled by this, aren’t you? As your Shishou, I'm sorry I didn't notice it before."
Shigeo nodded and shook his head again.
"But it was only later that I realised that the best thing about Mob wasn't actually the psychokinetic powers, but the fact that you were obviously carrying so much 'power', but trying to live every ordinary day on your own. You said the most important thing you learned from me was courage, right? Mob, you're braver than anyone I've ever met."
"We met because of your psychokinetic powers, but the bond between humans is not based on psychokinetic powers." Reigen said, "psychokinetic powers, like all the difficulties and troubles of adolescence, you will always live with them, hurting and learning to grow while doing so. I said just accept yourself when you were fourteen. Now you're a whole ordinary man, and just move on - like you accepted that giant power in the first place."
Reigen Arataka smiled and said, "Actually, there is no such thing as power or not, you are who you are from the beginning."
For Reigen Shintaka himself, it was in the summer of his disciple's fourteenth year that he said goodbye to his "powers" as well.
Kageyama Shigeo bowed his head. Reigen reached out and placed his hand on Shigeo's shoulder. Surprisingly, Shigeo was trembling slightly. As he shook harder and harder, Reigen withdrew his hand and said, at a loss for words, "Hey, Mob."
And the disciple, as if determined, grabbed his Shishou's hand.
"No." Kageyama Shigeo said, "The most precious thing I have received from Reigen Shishou is not courage."

【06】Mob
Hanazawa-kun says: It would be a pity for such a powerful force to disappear.
Ritsu says: Isn't it better without the power? It means you've really grown up, brother.
Serizawa-san says: A responsible person should take the power to hold it and contribute to society.
Dimple says: With power or without power, Shigeo will become a great man.
And Shishou said: There is no such thing as power or no power, from the beginning to the end, you are what you are.
He finally found that answer. The deepest and simplest answer, hidden behind the chaos of every day. The growth of a adolescent is not a break with the past, but the gradual growth of his own strength to hold those he cherishes in his hands. This is the most important thing he has learned from his Shishou ……
Kageyama Shigeo said, "It's not courage, it's love."
After a silence as long as a century, Reigen Arataka asked quietly, "Is that what Mob thinks?"
"I ...... I do." Shigeo stumbled over his answer, "What-what about Shishou?"
Reigen Arataka suddenly laughed, holding his forehead.
"Listen carefully, Mob," he shook his index finger at his dumbfounded disciple, "Now close your eyes and do not open them without Shishou's command."
Shigeo closed his eyes.
When was the last time he had confessed? Fourteen years old, a total child. He took a sunflower with him and went to see Tsubomi. It was then that Shishou said Mob just be yourself. Shishou said the most remarkable thing about Mob was the ability to pass on his emotions to others. Shishou said to take it, Mob! Shishou, who had spoken constantly to him, remained silent at this rare moment. Chills ran through Shigeo's body. All sorts of emotions, pooling in his palm lines into a cold sweat, dripped onto the grass. His heart beat like a drum in the silence, his mind went blank, only a thud in his chest: thump, thump, thump.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
It was at this point that the fireworks went up in the air. There were three loud thumps and countless blurs of light, exploding in front of his tightly closed eyes. The brief pause after the first burst of pyrotechnics was infinitely amplified by every slight rattle around him. The short chorus of frogs, the scrape of fabric, the rustle of knees running over plastic bags, the spit of an adult falling on his lips as he couldn't resist opening his eyes.
He was kissing him. Reigen Shishou, kissing him.
This sluggish realization made his blood suddenly flow faster. The smell of octopus roast, the glow of the water in the spring river. The clanking of coins as they are thrown into the tram, as Shishou takes him by the hand and drives off into the distance where he will never arrive. The banks of the river in summer, when he first learned to fly. He took the one he loved, the wind of dusk was like a pair of wings, and they flew like birds through the sunset over the city ……
"Hey Mob!" the one he loved shouted in exasperation, "even if you're so excited, don't just fly into the sky in public!"
Kageyama Shigeo opened his eyes.
They were floating above the clouds. Reigen Arataka held his waist lamely, his tie wrapped around his neck. A little spark was rising sharply a stone's throw away. With a loud bang, a firework came crashing down on him, diverting past the sides of the shield Shigeo had held open. His hair flew up in the heat and he heard Reigen shout, "Mob, it's too hot!"
Kageyama Shigeo scrambled and peeled Reigen off his body. Reigen grabbed him by the back of his collar, spitting breath all over his neck, "That was awesome, R-18! My dear superman, please think about the acceptance of we ordinary humans!"
Shigeo explained in a small whisper, "Shishou said before that you wanted to be closer ......"
"Did I mention it wasn't closer in vertical distance!"
Kageyama Shigeo muttered, "I'll fly down now, please hold on to ...... my shirt, Shishou ......"
Reigen laughed behind him.
"Just watch from here." He said, "So fantastic, psychokinetic powers."
The place overlooked the whole Seasoning city. Countless fireworks rose from the river like an upside-down waterfall of stars. Kageyama Shigeo shivered and went to hold Reigen Arataka's hand. Without turning his head, Reigen said simply, "Why are you looking at me? Look at the fireworks."
Just in time a big red firework burst in the distance. The people on the ground were looking up at them while they were watching the fireworks. All the streams of light, together with the tears of twelve, the sunflowers of fourteen, the kisses of nineteen, poured over Shigeo's heart. Amidst a deafening noise, Reigen Arataka tore his voice out and asked, "Your psychokinetic powers—"
Kageyama Shigeo nodded and said, "Suddenly it's working again."
The sky was filled with crystal blue and bright purple, scattering into shards of gold in the night breeze, melting into the endless night. Kageyama Shigeo took Reigen Arataka's hand and jumped down on the clouds. If Reigen had psychokinetic powers as well, he would have seen the flecks of light leaping around his disciple, shining brighter than the fireworks. But Reigen Aratak just sighed, "How beautiful."
Shishou was talking about fireworks, Shigeo knew.
The city was brightly lit and the night breeze turned into a pair of transparent wings. In front of the 711 on the riverbank sat a family of four, the mother holding the baby and the father cradling a large Golden Retriever that wagged its tail. Everyone was looking up at the fireworks while Shigeo descended. Nearing landing, Kageyama Shigeo suddenly threw his arms around the neck of Reigen. The two of them rolled seven or eight times on the river bank, and Shigeo gasped violently, "Shishou hasn't answered me yet."
Reigen Arataka suddenly covered his chest and coughed. Shigeo let go of his hand as Reigen Arataka propped himself up with one hand. He looked at his disciple, who was so nervous that his face was blank, and reached out to flick Shigeo on the forehead, "Mob was so simple to understanding, what's on your mind is all written on your face."
Kageyama Shigeo stubbornly repeated, "Shishou hasn't answered me yet."
Reigen Arataka smiled, "Answer to what?"
What exactly was the answer he wanted? Kageyama Shigeo himself was not quite sure. He looked at Reigen Arataka, and then at the flickering flecks of coloured light in his own hands, as if he was holding the most important clue. Emotions of all colours, which surged through his heart, that of affection, loneliness, dependence, gratitude, the impulses, confusion, courage and love that belong to adolescence, and the strength he had lost and found, swirled around his heart, flowed, and finally broke the bank. Kageyama Shigeo said aloud, "I like you, and appreciate you, Shishou. You and I can contacts?"
"That sort of thing," said Reigen, "I have known for a long time."
He put his hand over Kageyama Shigeo's.
"Every kind of answer, in fact, I've been thinking about for a long time, and I never thought it would actually work in the end." He said, "Mob, love is the true superpower of mankind."
They looked at each other. Immediately Shigeo blushed, and Reigen Arataka, still acting like a master, patted the back of his disciple's hand. Shigeo said hesitantly, "Shishou."
"It's inevitable that you like me," Reigen Arataka said with relief, "after all, my persona is handsome, gentle and charming ......"
"Shishou." Kageyama Shigeo said again.
"Hm?"
Reigen Arataka looked back. A strange green balloon fell from the sky, hit the ground with a thud, bounced into mid-air, and hovered in front of the two at high speed. "Ah, Reigen!" The spirit yelled, pulling on both arms, "So exaggerated!"
Kageyama Shigeo lifted his face and gave his first genuine smile in two months.
"Now I know what this is all about." He said, "Long time no see, Dimple."

[00]
Let's rewind the clock to the beginning, Kageyama Shigeo's nineteenth birthday. Before blowing out the candles, Kageyama Shigeo, the strongest superpower in this Anime and an ordinary college student, makes his last and most out-of-the-ordinary birthday wish before he reaches adulthood.
"Even if I don't have psychokinetic powers," he thought, "let the Shishou love me, too."

[the end]

Poor English, forgive me, I have tried my best.