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That’s funny. Reigen doesn’t remember blacking out. And yet, here he is, waking up to see Mob and Tome’s face looking down at him with worry. There’s a ceiling fan spinning lazily above them– they must be at a client’s place, because last he remembers the office doesn’t have one of those. He blinks. They blink. An attempt to speak is made on Reigen’s behalf, but his jaw feels like lead and the pounding in his head prevents any real words from forming. This… is not ideal. What happened?
“Are… you okay?” Tome asks, concern clear on her face. Before he can answer she laughs. “Boy, that was some spirit you had to deal with! It’s a good thing Mob was here to exorcise it or we’d all be toast by now.”
Again, Reigen attempts to speak, but somehow his vocal chords don’t want to cooperate. Instead he grunts, rubbing his head and sitting up. Thank god the client had only wanted them to check out their house and had ducked out after showing them in, saying something about being gone for the weekend– passing out on the job is never a good look. He would know. A sluggish mental tally of his surroundings and his own well-being leaves him a little confused. He doesn’t remember wearing this suit today. In fact, now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t remember ever owning a suit like this.
Ah, but wait–
“Where’s Serizawa?”
His question is only met with even more confused looks on the kids’ faces.
“What– why are you looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with my face?”
Wait a second.
Has his voice always sounded like that?
Mob and Tome glance at each other, bewildered and obviously unsure of the situation.
“Um… Reigen is over there,” Tome says, pointing to a figure sitting against a wall, seeming to look dazed and confused. Reigen can’t quite get a good look due to a potted plant being in the way, but he’s pretty sure that’s not him.
“He’s still sort of out of it,” Mob explains.
Reigen blinks. And then he guffaws (he feels like there’s something stuck in his throat, what the hell is wrong with his voice?). “You two must be in shock– understandable, given the circumstances– but I can forgive you.” He stands up, moving his hands as he talks. “It’s not everyday I get mistaken for someone else. Now, really, where is Serizawa–”
Oh. That is him sitting against the wall. Or someone who looks a lot like him. Whoever he is, he makes an ugly grimace when they make eye contact.
Reigen looks down at himself. This isn’t his suit. A strange thing to realize, but it’s weirder when he looks at his hands– not his hands? He looks up and before the kids can comprehend what’s going on he rushes past them to the mirror in the hallway– the face that meets him is decidedly not his. In fact, it looks an awful lot like Serizawa, with his curlier dark hair, and broader shoulders, and… oh god. He is Serizawa. No, no, he’s Reigen. There must be something wrong with the mirror, it must be cursed, or…
The fact that his identity has completely changed catches up to him like a car hitting a semi-truck, air suddenly too much and too little and he feels like his stomach is going to upend itself sooner than later and his head is pounding and spinning–
“Uh… Mr. Serizawa?” Tome inquires cautiously. It’s here that he realizes things are floating. Oh god why are things floating?
He looks at her with wide eyes. “Something is terribly wrong.”
“I’ll say,” a familiar voice says after a moment. Everyone looks to see Dimple floating in the corner. “I saw the whole thing. You guys have yourself a real pickle, if I do say so myself. Glad I’m not you!” He snickers, zipping closer and eyeing Reigen. “Mm-hm. Never thought I’d see something like this happen! Ha!”
The guy who looks a lot like Reigen finally stands up, clearly shaken.
“W… wuh…” he wheezes after a second, resorting to clearing his throat. Reigen winces at the sound. “What’s going on, Dimple?”
Dimple floats over to him, a small phantasmal hand on his shoulder. “My friend, you and your boss seem to have accidentally switched places. That evil spirit you exorcised must’ve knocked Reigen out of his body, and I think in some strange attempt to save him, things got mixed up!”
Reigen lets out a breath. So he isn’t going completely crazy. “So, wait. You’re saying we switched bodies somehow? That… that’s Serizawa in my body?”
Dimple nods, floating between him and… Serizawa. “Better hope that’s Serizawa or else this would be a lot stranger and more serious, pal.”
“I– I am Serizawa!” Supposedly Serizawa says earnestly, panic coming over his (Reigen’s?) face. “I– I can prove it! Uh… I was born December third, I’m very bad at keeping plants alive, my favorite food is–”
Dimple laughs. “We believe you! I was joking, I can tell it’s you.”
Mob nods, almost sagely. “This makes more sense now.”
“Does it though?” Tome mutters.
Reigen flounders for a moment, hands moving as he tries to find the words to say, trying in earnest to comprehend the situation. He ends up pointing at Dimple threateningly.
“How do we switch back!?”
Dimple barely manages to dodge a dark blue burst of light that kicks back at Reigen.
“Oi! Watch where you point that thing! You could’ve exorcised me for real there!” He scolds, Reigen staring at ‘his’ hand in shock. An indignant huff brings him back to the topic. “And don’t look to me for help– I’ve never seen this happen before. As far as I know, you two are stuck.” He shrugs. “Sucks for you.”
“But, Dimple…” Mob speaks up. “There must be some way to get them back?”
“Sorry kid. I wouldn’t know.”
The room falls silent as everyone mulls this over. Serizawa wheezes again. This is bad. This is really, really, really bad. What does this mean for them? For the business? For the future? None of this makes any sense! The more he thinks about it the more worry starts to freak him out. Is this permanent? Will he need to rehaul his entire life to fit into Serizawa’s life, and vice-versa? Oh god, this is so wrong–
“Ah, Mr. S– Reigen? I think you need to calm down…” Mob suggests. It’s now that Reigen sees that there are more things floating, except that it looks more like they’re jittering around in the air, where a different aura holds them in relatively the same space and trying to gently force them back down– Mob’s aura. Reigen takes a steady breath. He has no idea how to control an aura. If he doesn’t learn how to do so soon, this is going to be an even worse day.
He swallows thickly.
“I think we need to regroup at the office.”
---
Not much changes at the office.
Serizawa watches as his body paces and mutters– he himself sits frozen at his desk. Tome’s just grabbed everyone a cup of tea to calm their nerves but Serizawa’s still too far gone in shock to really comprehend this fact. For one, he hasn’t been this height in ages. Even when he was about this height, he definitely wasn’t this skinny. He’s never been this skinny in his entire life. Oh man. This is getting to be a lot of information to take in. It doesn’t help that there’s a sickly feeling in his gut that he can’t shake… is this what Reigen feels, or is it just a side effect of being in a different body? Either way, breathing is harder than he remembers it being, and there’s an angry tickle in his throat. Ah– tea, the tea in his hands will help…
Except, it doesn’t, because the first sip burns his tongue and he yelps.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a problem normally, but some foreign reflex had decided to fling the mostly full cup of scalding tea through the air.
Halfway through the cup’s flight, he realizes his mistake, holds up his hand, and catches it with his powers– or, he tries to. There aren’t any powers in this body. Oh. Oh dear. And now there’s tea everywhere and everyone’s staring at him and oh dear this is really just not a good day is it?
A towel floats over to him, which isn’t weird to him, but he does find it odd that he has to squint to see Mob’s aura around it. He takes the towel, apologizing in a daze, and starts mopping up the tea.
“Serizawa, are you okay?” Reigen asks after Serizawa drops off the towel in the bathroom sink to be taken care of later.
“Not really,” he says. To himself. No– to Reigen in his body. God this is weird. Serizawa feels like he’s having an out of body experience. “I feel kind of… lightheaded…”
Reigen grimaces with his face– he seems to be getting used to this faster than he is.
“Maybe you should just. Keep sitting down. Don’t wanna hurt yourself.”
Serizawa grumbles and sits back down at his desk.
Tome hums, fingers rapidly typing on Reigen’s computer. “Unfortunately I’m not seeing a lot of information on how to fix this yet. Most of the search results that are coming up are shitty fanfiction.”
“Wh– fanfiction? What’s… you know what, nevermind. I don’t want to know,” Reigen says. “Just keep looking. There’s gotta be some deep web forums that have an answer for this.”
“Oh, believe me, I’m going to pull out all the stops for this. Although…” she pauses, gives Serizawa a big grin. “Does this mean that Serizawa’s the boss now?”
Oh, he feels as if he’s going to spontaneously combust. Instead, he laughs nervously, sounding strange and tinny in his own head. “Oh no no no no no– just because I’m in a-a-a different body doesn’t mean I’m the boss, eheh…”
Tome pouts. “Aw c’mon man! You’re supposed to say you are the boss now and give us all better pay!” She throws her arms up in disbelief before going back to the internet. Serizawa can’t help the chuckle at her antics. Mob watches over her shoulder, and Reigen starts talking again, offended that Tome would think Serizawa would ‘stoop to such a level’ or something, hands waving all over the place. It’s so utterly bizarre to see himself moving like that– hands gesticulating, back up straight, face far more flexible than he’s used to… is he always so stiff? Oh man. He hopes this gets cleared up soon, this is getting uncomfortable.
Suddenly the office door opens and everyone freezes.
It’s a customer.
A regular customer. Serizawa’s seen her several times. Oh god. Oh no. Oh no oh no oooh no…
“Hello Mr. Reigen,” she says– she’s clearly confused as to why he’s not sitting at Reigen’s desk. Reigen, Tome and Mob are stock still in his peripherals. Somehow he forces a smile and stands up– he knows the script Reigen follows, but not much more. He’s still working on the whole ‘charisma thing’.
“Ah, hello Mrs… Nakano. It’s lovely to see you today.” Well. Greetings are over, now what? He glances at Reigen for help, a clue, a sign, anything–
Reigen brings the edges of his mouth up into a smile with his index fingers– right, smiling is good for customers, he should keep his smile up. He does so. She looks a little weirded out. Aw man.
“...I’m here for a shoulder exorcism. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
“Ah! Uh! Of course not! Sorry, the day’s been fairly busy–” he breaks out into a coughing fit. “Sorry, sorry, ah– w-why don’t you wait here for a moment. Tome, can you get Mrs. Nakano some tea while… Serizawa and I, uh, take care of some things in the back?”
The two of them make a hasty retreat to the back room while Tome stalls– the door closes swiftly behind them.
“What am I supposed to do?” He asks in a desperate whisper. “I only deal with the real exorcisms! Ah– no offense. I don’t know how to give shoulder massages!”
“That’s shoulder exorcisms to you,” Reigen whispers matter of factly, looking down at him. Which is weird. Serizawa isn’t used to being looked down at. Ugh. He doesn’t have time to unpack this right now. “And– shit, we can’t lose Nakano, she’s a good client.” He looks around the backroom frantically, fingers drumming on his leg– the more seconds that pass the more anxious Serizawa gets, and by the way a few things try to float around, the same is true for Reigen– he snaps his fingers, eyes lighting up. “I know! We can move something heavy back here and pretend that you sprained your wrist!”
Serizawa nods, relieved at the excuse. He doesn’t think he could pull off a believable ‘shoulder exorcism’ on his own. “Alright, okay– is there something heavy back here?” He looks around the room. The backroom is used to store a lot of boxes– some of them belonging to other inhabitants of the office building. The office itself had been a glorified storage space before Reigen moved in– this room came with the deal, or so Serizawa’s been told. There are cabinets of papers and documents, cardboard boxes with candles and incense, a big old chest that Reigen uses to store away supposedly cursed items…
“Let’s move that,” Reigen says. “We can say we needed to get something behind it, I dunno. We’ll drop it and then you can pretend to be in pain– you’re gonna need to be really convincing, okay? –and I’ll cover for you while you do that!” And then Reigen laughs. “And then after she leaves we’ll close the office for the day to try and figure this out. Can’t believe we didn’t think of that earlier!”
Serizawa hums agreement as they both stand on either end of the chest, preparing to lift. Serizawa’s never been the best actor, but it’ll have to do…
---
Mrs. Nakano nearly spills her tea at the loud crash in the back. Tome sweats. She can only stall for so long before her poor social skills start to show, and she’s not overly crazy about Mrs. Nakano. She excuses herself with a sweet smile to go check on whatever the hell that was in the back.
She opens the door, no longer smiling.
Reigen– no, Serizawa– no, Serizawa in Reigen’s body– whoever, whatever! The guy with the lighter hair is currently on the ground out cold while Reigen in Serizawa’s body freaks out, shards of ceramic and knick-knacks jittering on the floor. God, this is giving her a headache.
“What the hell are you two doing back here?” She whispers through grit teeth. “The client has been waiting for forever! You can’t just leave her with me and Mob, what are you two thinking!?” Ah, good, Serizawa sits up. Oh yeah– maybe she should ask what happened. “What– what happened anyway?”
“I overestimated,” Reigen (yeah, Reigen) says with some embarrassment. “I accidentally launched the case at Serizawa.”
She blinks. “Why?”
He groans. “Nevermind that, just– tell Nakano that we’ll have to reschedule, okay? Tell her ‘Reigen’ sprained his wrist.” And, to Serizawa, “Jeez, are you okay? Nothing’s broken, right? That’s my body you got there, be careful with it!”
Tome rolls her eyes and puts on a smile as she walks back out.
This is going to be one hell of an adventure.
---
The rest of the afternoon is spent brainstorming ways to get back to normal. They try just about everything, from mild electrocution to just bonking their heads together a couple of awkward times. They’d even poured over some of Reigen’s guidebooks that are mostly just for show– no luck. Now the two of them sit on chairs, harboring more bruises than they’d started the day with, and feeling even more miserable. Reigen’s laptop shuts with a snap– Tome stands up.
“Hey, I hate to say this, but I have to go home. Mom wants me to help fix dinner tonight or something boring like that,” she says with a shrug. “But don’t worry, I’m gonna do some more research at home, okay? Mob and I’ll reconvene tomorrow at school.”
Mob nods. “Yeah, I have to get going too. I don’t really know how to research this, but I’ll try to ask Ritsu… or Dimple about it.”
Inwardly Reigen groans but he only nods sagely. “Of course, of course. I don’t want to keep you, let me get your pay for today…” He quickly walks to the cashbox only to realize he doesn’t have the key in his pocket. Ah– right. He turns to Serizawa– it’s so disturbing to look at himself like this, it’s hard to look straight at him– and clears his throat. “Ah, the key should be in your pocket…”
“Oh, right.” He fumbles and checks his pants pockets. Then he checks his suit pockets. His hands are empty. Reigen doesn’t have a great feeling about this.
Serizawa looks at him apologetically. “I… can’t find it.”
Of course. Of course. Just one more nail in the coffin of an already terrible day. He sits down in his chair and smiles, ignoring the tape dispenser that floats past his face. “Wonderful! Just wonderful. Nobody’s getting paid today! What a great thing to happen on top of all of this! I can’t believe this luck.”
Mob blinks. “I don’t think sarcasm is going to help this, Shishou.”
“You’re absolutely right, Mob, my grade A student of mine.” His smile falls, exhaustion catching up with him. “I’ll pay you two tomorrow. If we can’t find the key we’ll figure something else out. Call a locksmith or something. Go on, get outta here.” He waves them away, and they leave with a shrug.
Hands dragging down his (not his, not his, not his) face, he sits up and leans on his desk, facing Serizawa.
“Alright. First, we search the office. Next…” he groans. “I guess we can go back to the client’s place. It probably fell out during that whole process.”
Serizawa nods, face grim, which is weird to see on his face.
“And if we can’t find it...?”
“Locksmith, or, maybe, psychic powers. We’ll see. Mob’s not great at unlocking doors without ruining the lock– not that I’ve made him do that often!” He clears his throat. “I’d rather not pay for new locks for the cashbox. Now, let’s get this over with.”
---
The office, though mildly cluttered, takes only an hour to search. It helps that they both know the layout and where things normally are. Still, no key for the cashbox. So, they grab their things and lock up the office, heading to this morning’s client’s place. Serizawa is grateful for the sudden silence as they take a short bus ride out to the edge of the city– he doesn’t know how much more of this hectic day he can take. This feeling of guilt at not having the key in his pockets is nearly impossible to shake, even though he knows it’s nobody’s fault really.
One bus stop and a short walk later, and they’re standing outside the client’s house.
“We locked it this morning right?” Serizawa wonders. Reigen checks the doorknob and they both wince when it opens without a care.
“Apparently not. Good thing we came back.”
Everything is as they left it inside. Serizawa doesn’t know why he thought it would be in disarray, but he’s glad it’s not. The two of them separate to search different areas of the house.
Even as Serizawa searches in earnest, he can’t help his mind wandering. What will possibly come of this predicament? Will they have to silently switch lives? If they do that for long enough, if they fall into a familiar routine, become good imposters of the other… would they, in essence, become the other? Icy fear at that thought sends shivers down his (Reigen’s) spine. He dismisses the thought. He’s too exhausted to be thinking these things.
It’s been a strange day.
He enters a bedroom– earlier, before the switch, he’d seen Reigen come in here for a moment to look around –and directs his hand at the wardrobe to move it slightly. Nothing happens.
Oh. Right.
Wrong body. No powers.
Instead, he drops down on all fours and peers underneath.
No key, as he expected. Just some dust bunnies and (again, if he squints) a low level sluggish spirit. It’s so low that it doesn’t even seem to notice his presence. No harm done, he leaves it alone (not that he has much choice). He stands up again, only for the lightheadedness to hit him like a hurricane, vision tunneling and…
...Ah. He’s blacked out for a moment.
Or, a little longer than a moment it seems, because his face is looking back down at him with concern for the second time that day.
“Oh thank god you’re awake. What happened?” Reigen asks, helping him sit up.
“Ugh… stood up too fast, I think.”
Reigen nods, a knowing look on his face. “Yeah… that happens. Oh, I found the key, by the way. In the living room.”
“Oh, that’s g–”
A loud growl interrupts him.
The yawning emptiness in Serizawa’s stomach finally catches up to him and he realizes neither of them had much to eat today, being too busy with trying to fix their unintentional identity theft situation.
“I’m– you’re starving!” He exclaims in a bemused tone, hiding some laughter behind a hand. “No wonder I’ve felt so terrible all day. Well. Besides the whole body switching thing.”
“I am? You are?” Reigen’s brain gears try to tick into place. “Wh– Oh. Weird, I feel fine. Oh well. Let’s get out of here before any neighbors get too curious,” he says as they exit the room. “And hey, since it’s been such a weird day, why don’t we get you a bite to eat?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
---
Reigen checks his watch– no, Serizawa’s watch– wait, since when has Serizawa had a watch? No matter, no matter. The watch says it’s getting late and Reigen would rather put this whole catastrophe of a day behind him. That being said, he’s not sure what happens next. He supposes they could just go to their respective apartments, put up the facade of normalcy for the neighbors, all that jazz– but the thought of spending the night at Serizawa’s place weirds him out a bit. Also he has no idea how to get there. He’d consult Serizawa on the matter but he’s currently stuffing his face ( his face).
The watch face stares back up at him as he checks again– 10:45. How did it get to be so late? Sure, they’d been talking for awhile after sitting down to eat, but it can’t have been that long… Reigen fiddles with his cup, ice shifting around inside.
“So, Serizawa. Uh,” he starts with less grace than he’d like. “Once you’re done here, what do you think we should do next?”
Serizawa pauses, sits back, and gets a thoughtful look on his face. The same thought process seems to be going through his head too– a slight blush dusts his cheeks and he valiantly avoids eye contact.
“Ah– uh–” he flounders for the right words and Reigen feels only a little bad for pinning it on him. “Hm. Well… we should… probably go to our respective homes and sleep on this. But, um. I don’t think either of us know where the other lives. And um. I’d prefer to go back to my own apartment, but that might raise some questions with my neighbors.”
“Right.” So, they’re on the same page about that. But Reigen’s getting tired and it’s not like they could just stay at the office all night…
There’s a thought. With a broad sweep of his hand (nearly hitting a passing restaurant patron) he leans forward. “How about this: we could just. Go back to the office. There’s the couch and the massage table to sleep on.”
Serizawa seems dubious, picking at what’s left of his meal. “I… I dunno.”
“It’s better than nothing. Plus we won’t have to commute in the morning! What do ya say?”
With a sigh Serizawa shrugs. “Okay, I guess.”
---
Mob stares at the ceiling, lips pursed in thought as he lays on the living room couch. It’s been a weird day, though it must be weirder for Reigen and Serizawa, not being in their own bodies and all. He knows what it’s like to have an out of body experience– it’s not the best feeling, but it could be worse. A lot worse. One of them could be dead.
But they aren’t and that’s good.
In all honesty, it had been a little jarring this morning, seeing the spectral forms of both Reigen and Serizawa whisking through the air like oil in water. Mob had been too busy focusing on exorcizing the spirit (that had momentarily taken control of Reigen’s body) to realize that the spirit going back in wasn’t Reigen. He’d had a clue that living spirits could do that but… not like that. He’s still confused. This all feels like a bad math problem that he can’t figure out, the kind with parentheses and letters and x equals y and graphs that might as well be Hieroglyphics. He’s not a fan.
“Hey Nii-san, are you… doing okay?” Ritsu says, leaning over the back of the couch to look down at Mob quizzically. “You seem thoughtful.”
Mob shrugs, not sitting up. “Reigen and Serizawa switched bodies today and I’m trying to think about how to fix it.”
Ritsu blinks down at him. That’s probably a bit much to take in all at once. Time to backtrack.
“This morning. A spirit possessed Reigen and put him out of his body. Serizawa tried to save him by leaving his body. Now they’re in the wrong bodies.” That should suffice. “Do you know anything about how to fix this? I’ve asked Dimple, but he isn’t very helpful.”
A muffled noise of indignancy gives the spirit’s hiding spot away in the kitchen.
Ritsu furrows his brow the way he does when he’s given a puzzle, tapping a finger to his chin as he surely puts all the information into place in his head. If anyone can figure this conundrum out, it would be Ritsu. And even if he can’t, Mob’s certain he’ll do his best. Mob watches him think, twiddling his thumbs and wondering if this problem with his coworkers means that they had to go sleep at different apartments tonight. It’s an amusing thought.
“So…” Ritsu says, brows relaxing slightly. He must have an answer. “They left each of their bodies. Could you just. Make them leave their bodies again? And switch them back? Like… push them out with your aura?”
“Oh.” Mob hadn’t really thought of that. Is it possible? It’d happened already, so it must be. “That would probably work.” He smiles up at Ritsu. “Thanks. I’ll talk to Tome and the rest about it tomorrow.”
“...No problem.”
Ritsu takes his leave and Mob returns to staring at the ceiling. Alright. It might take some doing to convince the rest of this idea, but it’s worth a shot. At the very least he should be able to get Tome on board, and she’s good at convincing people to do things.
If there’s anything that makes Mob uncomfortable, it’s change, and this is a big change– hopefully this plan will work. Somehow he’ll get Reigen out of his body, Serizawa out of his and…
How will he do that?
What will happen to their bodies if he does that?
Can he… ‘hold’ more than one living spirit at a time?
Again, variables fly past his head in a dizzying array of unseen circumstances. Tome couldn’t do much to help considering she’s not an esper. Serizawa, maybe, since he is one, but that could get complicated. And also, he’s in Reigen’s body right now and therefore not an esper. Ritsu has student council tomorrow after school, so that wouldn’t work. Mob doesn’t think Suzuki would take the situation very seriously, so he’s out. That leaves–
His phone buzzes as if on cue.
A text, from Teruki– something with cutesy emojis, asking how his day was. At least, he assumes they’re cutesy emojis, they just show up as boxes on his tired, trusty flip-phone.
Teruki… now, Teruki can certainly help out with this.
One way or another, this whole issue is going to get solved. Mob quickly sends Teruki a text asking him to come into the office tomorrow, to which he receives another text with boxes and what he thinks is an affirmative. He nods resolutely, which in hindsight he thinks is silly since he’s the only one in the room, but he does so anyway. Yes, this will be solved and everything will go back to normal and things will stop being so darn confusing at the office. He hopes. Calling them by their right names while they’re in the wrong bodies is taking a toll on Mob’s psyche.
He really hopes this plan works out.
---
As it turns out, sleeping on a massage table is bad for your back. Serizawa finds out the hard way, currently being the smaller of the two. Waking up hadn’t been an issue because he’d barely slept at all that night, and had nearly rolled off the table several times. He grumbles, sitting at Reigen’s desk. Now that it’s been an hour past opening, they decide through sleep-deprived heads that the least they can do while they wait for Mob and Tome is get paid for their troubles.
But, not even that seems to be happening today, seeing as not a single customer has shown up on their doorstep yet.
“Ugh… we’ve gotta figure out how to fix this quick,” Reigen groans from Serizawa’s desk. “I don’t think I can last another night sleeping in the office.”
Serizawa hums, eyes drooping shut. It’s only a little after nine and he longs for his bed, his home… hell, he wants his body back. If only he could remember what he’d done to have an out of body experience. It had happened so fast, there hadn’t been time for him to really comprehend what he’d done, and before he could drift away he was in this small frame of a body. Now that he thinks about it, throughout this whole experience he’s almost felt… cramped. Somehow. Either way he wants things to go back to normal ASAP.
He opens his eyes again only to see Reigen’s face (his face) looking at him. He blinks.
“What?”
“Uh…” he squints. “There’s something behind you. I… think it’s a spirit?”
He blinks. Now that he mentions it, he thinks he can sense something… maybe? It’s hard to tell when psychic senses are dampened and mostly non-existent. He turns around– he doesn’t see anything, but he gets the sudden, unmistakable sense that if he were to squint he most definitely would see something and that it would be big and powerful and not something he could deal with in his current state. Keeping a strained smile on his face he turns back around in his chair. He clears his throat, fingers tapping nervously on the desktop.
“Um. How big would you say this spirit is, ah, exactly?”
“Oh it’s pretty big,” he says, nonchalant with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Looks like some kinda statue or something? It’s taller than you, for sure… or would that be me now?” He laughs. “I tell ya, it’s been weird being this tall. But, ah– it’s not doing anything. The spirit, that is. Say, how’d that thing get in here...?” He rambles on and Serizawa feels sweat beading on his (Reigen’s) face. Oh man he doesn’t have a good feeling about this. He’s never felt so vulnerable, so unable to protect himself– every instinct is telling him to throw up a barrier and defend himself but no matter what he does in his frozen state, he can’t.
He clears his throat again.
“R-Reigen.”
“–Oh, yeah?”
There’s no knowing if the spirit could understand him or not. Best to be subtle. “Do you think you could…”
Understanding swiftly comes to Reigen’s face. It is quickly replaced with confusion. He stands up, walking over to the desk and glancing at the spirit– presumably jumping when it looks at him. How on earth did Reigen handle spirits when he was in his own body?
“Ah! Right! Right. Of course. I will take care of it, don’t worry about a thing, a-ha…”
Oh god. He doesn’t know how to exorcise things. Hell, his barrier isn’t even up.
The stapler shudders around on the desk for half a moment.
“Ah, Reigen, you remember yesterday? When you were talking to Dimple and you, ah… pointed at him?”
“Um. Yes? What.”
“Try that.”
Reigen looks lost.
Serizawa mimics the flourishing hand gesture he’d done– psychic powers don’t really care about specific gestures, but it had worked for Reigen yesterday, so it was worth a try. Maybe the arbitrary rules of psychic abilities would be lenient on them today, just because.
Reigen flourishes his hand, pointing at where the spirit is.
Nothing happens.
“No, no– you’ve got to put your aura into it,” Serizawa instructs.
“Oh, and how exactly do I do that? I’m not exactly wizened to the knowledge of auras– Well, I, uh, am, but only in theory.”
Serizawa feels a creeping, shuddering shadow fall on him. Prolonging this will only end up worse for him.
“Um. Okay, your aura’s more like a field of emotion– channel that emotion into the gesture. That. Miiiight work?” There’s got to be a better way of explaining this.
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Listen. This isn’t exactly a well-researched science.
With a dismissive huff, Reigen tries a new gesture at the spirit.
Still, nothing.
“Oh come on, that was just lazy.”
Reigen frowns and Serizawa gets the distinct notion that he’s very close to directing a rude gesture at him. “Listen I don’t have to help you out of this, you know.” Serizawa frowns, which earns him a roll of his eyes. Reigen closes his eyes and thinks for a moment, foot tapping in earnest. Eyes open. “Alright, let’s try… THIS!”
He strikes a pose not much different from one of his salt throwing techniques, and Serizawa ducks at the barely visible sight of a dangerous blast of aura flung his way.
“Did you get it? Is it gone?”
Reigen stares at his hand. “Y-yeah. Wow. That actually worked, huh.”
Serizawa chuckles, glancing back behind him where the air is warmer now. “Congratulations, you just performed your first real exorcism.”
---
The air is live with tension when Mob and Tome walk into the room. It’s clear to see why: ‘Reigen’ is currently busy with a client who is getting increasingly irritated with his lack of tact. Or something. Mob’s never been the best at reading the room but he feels stressed and uncomfortable, and everyone else looks to share the sentiment. That isn’t Reigen, right? Right… right? Mob isn’t really sure what’s going on but he thinks it would be best to let the adults handle this situation. They can figure out this whole situation as soon as Hanazawa gets here. Where is he, anyway?
“Ah! Mob, Tome, it’s about, uh, time you two showed up,” Serizawa says, shrinking down in his chair while the client glowers. “We were just finishing up. Ah. Pay… pay attention?”
Tome snorts. Mob just watches, wondering if he actually has something he wants them to see or not.
Turns out, not.
The client leaves with some words Serizawa harshly tells them not to repeat, and Serizawa’s head thumps onto Reigen’s desk with a groan. Reigen fidgets from Serizawa’s desk, standing up and pacing the instant the client slams the door shut. They seem tense. Did they work through clients like this all day? How? Serizawa’s certainly polite as always but in Reigen’s body, he’s without an aura… Mob’s head hurts thinking about it. It all sounds incredibly awkward. He’s glad he doesn’t have to deal with this issue from their point of views.
“So, have you two figured anything out?” Reigen asks.
Mob nods.
“I’ll explain when Hanazawa gets here.”
“Hanazawa? Wh…” he sighs. “Okay. Cool. More middle schoolers get to know about this problem of ours. Wonderful. What does he have to do with this?”
“He’s going to help me. I’ll–” A text message interrupts Mob. He checks it with a swift eye. “He’ll be here in a minute. When he comes I’ll explain. Um. In the meantime, have either of you seen Dimple?”
“He was here a minute ago. I think he followed that last customer out…”
As if on cue, the door bursts open and a slightly out of breath Teru is joined by a green blob of Dimple. He quickly composes himself and walks in with a pleasant smile– Tome locks the door behind him, making sure to put up a sign outside.
Without prompting, Mob begins to explain his idea:
“I think we can take your spirits out of your bodies and switch them around. It would be nice if Serizawa could leave Reigen’s body on his own, but it’s okay if you can’t. Hanazawa will help by making sure Reigen’s spirit doesn’t float away…” this could get tricky, but he thinks it would be best to not mention that. There are still so, so many variables to this that are unknown– like, can Reigen even move around in a detached spirit form? Can Serizawa leave his body? Can he and Teruki even keep them in place?? The list goes on. “...And then he and I will put you back in your right bodies.”
Reigen and Serizawa glance at each other. Mob’s never been great at reading the room, and it’s only complicated by the switched bodies, but he’s pretty sure they look nervous beyond their minds. He smiles at them.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to make sure nothing bad happens to you–” he glances at Dimple. “Dimple can help too, I think. I don’t know how, but, just keep an eye out for anything troublesome.”
“Aye, aye captain! Let’s get this party on the road!” Dimple says with a snicker and a salute. Now Hanazawa looks a little troubled.
“Ah, Mob? Are you sure this will work?” Hanazawa whispers as the adults mentally prepare and sit on the chairs usually reserved for clients. “I’ve only ever witnessed out of body experiences with espers, and well…”
“We’ll see,” Mob says. He was going to say more to be encouraging but is distracted when Reigen (in Serizawa’s booming voice) startles him with an exclamation of ‘we’re ready!’ He has a feeling Teruki isn’t confident about this whole endeavor.
“Okay, um…” Mob breathes and his aura steadies and reaches. Teruki does the same. “I don’t know how this is going to feel for you, but I imagine it might not be pleasant. When I’ve left my body it was fine, but that was of my own choice.” Maybe not the best thing to say before inducing out of body experiences on someone. Reigen and Serizawa glance at each other.
“Um. Mob, are you sure this is going to work?”
Ah, good, a question he can answer for sure.
“No.”
Mob’s aura presses on Serizawa’s– their work begins.
---
Serizawa thinks he’s going to faint. That might be a good thing, though, in this situation. The tremendous wall of power pressing into him feels like a tsunami, overwhelming and dark and powerful. It reminds him how absolutely powerless he is in Reigen’s body– he has no way at all to protect himself. No barrier, no powers, no nothing. And the force just pushes harder, and he feels as if there are unseen g-forces turning his brain into mush and making his vision tunnel–
And then in a strange twist, Mob’s aura pulls, and suddenly there’s the distinct feeling of slumping over while still sitting up.
The pressure isn’t there anymore, for the most part, and everything looks wispy and wavy and white and gray and black. He can make out the shapes of everyone in the room, but Mob and Hanazawa stand out the most with their contrasting auras. Leaning against the wall in the back he can see Tome.
“Serizawa? Can you hear me?”
The words feel like they’re from another planet and filtered through sieves to only catch the barest of meanings. He nods after a moment.
“Alright. Can you move yourself or do you need me to move you? We need you to separate from Reigen’s body so we can move him next.”
That last part got a little garbled, but he gets what they want him to do. He miscalculates– nearly floats through a wall, except there’s a harsh yellow aura keeping him in the room. Tome looks confused.
“Wait– is something happening?” She asks.
“Yes.”
“What’s going on?”
“Serizawa’s floating over there in the corner.”
He stops listening, suddenly distracted by some spirits that float by. They regard him with curiosity before a green blob zips by and… eats them? Oh. It’s Dimple.
“You kids should hurry up, before some spirit wakes up and takes over a body or eats Seri,” the spirit scolds.
“Right– he’s okay by himself right?”
“For now.”
Words and meaning peter out for a wave, the world distorting like oil in water. Serizawa would blink if he had eyes. For now he just enjoys the weird sensations that come with not having a physical form. It’s kind of nice. Like drifting around in still, endless water, in a still, endless chasm. For a moment he thinks he can see stars and galaxies instead of ghostly forms and black and white office spaces– it’s pretty. It’s calming.
And then that power acts again, a tidal wave filling the room but focused on Reigen’s spirit– Serizawa’s body.
The power pushes and pulls and Serizawa fully expects to return to his body any second now, when the flow of power stops.
“Serizawa’s aura… is pretty strong.”
“Damn. We’ll have to break through it to get Reigen out.”
“...That could be difficult with Reigen in control of them.”
And that’s about where Serizawa stops paying attention again, staring out the window and through the blinds. He doesn’t see the normal view of the city, no– here he sees for sure stars and swirling nebulas, past the ethereal forms of people and espers and animals and spirits alike. Is this what meditation is like? It’s nice. Pretty. Calming.
A surge of power and the universe disappears before his eyes, and all he sees are shadowy monochrome buildings.
A twin surge of power joins the first, though this one is smaller and electric instead of overpowering. He watches them as they work to crack the natural barrier forming around his body. That doesn’t sit well with him, but there’s not much he can do about it. Reigen needs to get out somehow… both out of his body and just, out in general, he thinks. Maybe after this they can all go get something to eat. Maybe. Oh yeah. In this form, Serizawa probably can’t eat. He can’t breathe either, which is weird to consider.
A sickening crack fills the air, void of sound but the feeling is there.
Serizawa thinks he should be panicking because that was his aura that cracked. Or, at least, his barrier. He doesn’t like this anymore.
“...Almost done, Serizawa, please move out of the way.”
Oh, he moved closer to his body in his panic. He backs away slowly, and forces himself to focus on what they’re doing. His body’s been slumped over for awhile now. Hanazawa’s aura surrounds it, and with careful movements shifts until… oh, there’s Reigen’s spirit. Different from his own spirit. Less able to move it seems. Serizawa can’t help it– he moves closer, curious.
Definitely less moveable. But, there’s some color, just barely in the ghostly ‘eyes’ of his. He stares at them– he’s never seen a live non-esper spirit before. This is fascinating. He wonders how well Reigen can see him. As far as he knows this could all be forgotten in an instant. A ghostly hand touches a ghostly shoulder–
Teruki’s aura moves Reigen, and Mob’s aura gently, if somewhat forcefully, keeps Serizawa in place. Ah, right. He’s interfering, isn’t he? He watches with big ‘eyes’ as Teruki’s aura nudges Reigen, closer and closer to his body– his body that’s also been unconscious for probably too long. He hopes nothing’s damaged, he hopes they’re both still breathing. The closer Reigen gets to his body, the faster he moves until, with a movement that reminds Serizawa of water being flushed down a drain.
Still moments pass–
Reigen perks up with a gasp, in his own body, and the atmosphere in the room brightens immediately. Words are spoken, though Serizawa can’t quite grasp the meaning, but they’re happy and Reigen’s in his body and standing and testing out limbs and Serizawa is happy that he’s back in his own body again. It was kind of weird being in his body, being so different, with a different metabolism and aches and pains.
“Serizawa, you can go back in your body now…”
Ah. Right. That would be good.
Mob’s aura retreats when he starts moving again, drifting over to his body, closer and closer until… oh.
That’s not good.
His aura looks… bad. Painful, even. What did they do? He glances back at the forms of Mob and Teruki, who seem to be looking at him, and he knows he doesn’t really have a choice, but this doesn’t look good. He doesn’t want to go back to that. Perhaps this is childish, but he doesn’t want to feel that pain. He can’t feel it now, but he knows it’s going to hurt like hell when he goes back. Mob’s saying something now… he can’t hear him. They’re all saying something now, but it’s distant and foggy. This doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t like this. But he also doesn’t like pain–
Mob’s aura scoots him closer to his body again, and then there’s a tug that’s impossible to describe.
His eyes open and he immediately lurches forward at the sudden sensation of everything, everything around him, everything in his head, his heart, his body, his brain, his aura– his.
He blacks out.
---
“Oh jeez–” Reigen immediately steps forward and prevents the unconscious Serizawa from hitting his head square on the floor. Teruki helps, and with some finagling they manage to set him on a chair. Reigen crouches beside him, making sure he’s still breathing and that he’s got a pulse– affirmative.
“Is he alright?”
“Probably just shock.”
“We did a number on his aura.”
“Will it heal?”
“Oh yeah, trust me. I have experience with auras. He’ll probably be in pain though.”
It’s unnerving how much Teruki knows about psychic things, but Reigen decides not to ask about it. No, now is a time for making sure Serizawa’s okay and everything is for sure back to normal and–
He stands up way too fast, essentially jumping up from a crouch into the air, teetering backwards when his feet hit the ground with a numbing sensation. The kids are staring at him. Great. Wonderful. This is weird. And, oh, hey. He’s in his body again. He blinks, finally stares at his hands in front of him, flexing his fingers and inhaling as deep as he can.
With a hand on his chest he finally feels right again.
“Oh thank god that’s all over. I feel like I could sleep for a week, ha.”
“Are you okay, Shishou?”
A whirlybird hand waves into a thumbs up. “I have never felt better, Mob. It’s good to be back.”
Tome beams. “It’s good to have you back! We should get a raise for all out hard work.”
Suddenly Serizawa groans, sitting up and holding his head.
“Ah! Welcome back to the land of the living,” Reigen congratulates. “Everything good?”
“Sorry about your aura,” Mob says before Serizawa can answer. He looks distressed. “Hanazawa says it’ll heal, though.”
Serizawa blinks like a deer in the headlights at all of them, and then at his hand. If Reigen knew better he’d think he was surprised to be back in his own body. A smile creeps to Serizawa’s face, and a soft, semi-delirious chuckle rumbles from his chest. He meets Reigen’s eyes.
“We’re back, huh?”
Reigen smiles back. “That we are, Seri. That we are.”