Chapter Text
Well, there’s a small boat made of china, it’s going nowhere on the mantlepiece. Well, do I lie like a loungeroom lizard, or do I sing like a bird released?
Weather With You by Crowded House
“So, do something!”
Reigen shocked awake.
He bolted upright, and a dark suit jacket slid from over his torso. It seemed it had been placed there as a makeshift blanket. As he came to, he realised he was on the floor of Spirits and Such, though he didn’t remember how he had got there. His nose felt strangely warm.
“Oh, you’re…take it easy.”
Serizawa was over him, his hands outstretched like he was ready to catch something. Tome stood behind him, her mobile in her hand, one thumb tapping away. Her eyes darted to Reigen, then back to her phone.
“Why are you here?” Reigen said, hearing the words rush out of him in a slurry, spoken by some disconnected mouth. “Don’t you have a job to do?”
Serizawa took this on the chin, as he did with most things. He pulled out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, the one that had been placed over Reigen.
“Here,” He said, “Your nose is bleeding.”
Reigen frowned, and touched the tip of his nose. The crimson blood looked just as foreign as everything else here. He felt like he was dreaming. He watched the blood bead together and run down his fingers with cold detachment. Was that his blood?
Serizawa pushed the handkerchief into his hands. Reigen stuffed it against his nose. Since when was Serizawa the sort to keep a fancy tissue in his pocket?
“Tome called.”
“Huh?”
“You asked why I was here?” Serizawa explained, sounding apologetic.
Tome shook her phone at them both, “I didn’t know what else to do. I tried for an ambulance first, but they said there was a twenty minute wait, and then there were these shadows, and it seemed like more of an psychic kind of emergency—“
“Shadows?” Reigen asked, unimpressed. He’d just woken from a nightmarish reflection of his own reality, shadows were part and parcel. If anything, he’d have been surprised if there weren’t shadows.
“There was some kind of shadowed figure in the office when I got here.” Serizawa explained, “It was pretty easy to deal with. It, uh, disappeared pretty much as soon as I turned my power against it.”
A spirit? Was that the root of all this? That was almost…laughable. Right?
Reigen pushed up into a seated position. If a client walked in right now, they’d see two fully grown men sitting on the floor in the middle of the office. From his seated position, he could just about make out the water stain beneath his desk. The exact shape of the sink at the salon in his dream. And he was sure if he moved the poster on the wall, he’d find the fixings for the wall phone. So did that mean everything he experienced in the dream was…the past? But if it was simply a dream, how would he have known that the office that now held Spirits and Such had at some point been occupied by a hairdressing salon? He swallowed down a wave of sickness and turned back to Serizawa, who was growing more fidgety by the second.
“You exorcised it? The shadow-spirit thing?” Reigen asked.
“Yes.” Serizawa said, “Though it was very weak. I doubt it could’ve caused too much trouble. It could barely manifest a physical form. It must’ve been a weak spirit left over from your last exorcism…”
“Right.” Reigen hummed. “Good.” He dabbed his nose again, wondering why he still felt so heavy, if the spirit had already been exorcised. He couldn’t possibly need more sleep.
Serizawa rocked back on his heels and got to his feet, offering his hand to help Reigen up.
Reigen took his offer and was pulled with alarming force to his feet. Blood rushed into his head, beating against his skull. He stumbled upright. Serizawa steadied him with a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“I still think we should go to a hospital. You took a nasty fall when you lost consciousness, and you’re most likely concussed from the first time.” Serizawa said.
Reigen pulled out from under his grip. “You said it yourself. Spirit’s gone. Kaput. Let’s all get on with our lives.” He sniffed, and a glob of blood spotted the front of his shirt.
“I, uh…” Serizawa fiddled with the edge of his sleeve.
“I just ordered you both a taxi.” Tome said on his behalf. “To the clinic.”
Reigen levelled Tome with his full ‘disappointed boss’ gaze.
“What? Serizawa asked me to.” She sniffed.
Reigen turned his disappointed gaze on Serizawa.
To his surprise, Serizawa held up pretty well beneath it. Probably because he was no longer Reigen’s subordinate. “I want you to go with me.” He said.
“You should get checked out, you know.” Tome said, “I’m sick of finding you passed out. You’re a damn ugly Sleeping Beauty.”
Reigen smiled facetiously. “You’re the best secretary I’ve ever had.”
“Correct! And I won’t stick around if you keep this up, so you better listen to Serizawa.” Tome turned to Serizawa, “You’ll make sure he doesn’t weasel his way out of this, right? Don’t fall for his slimy tricks, he won’t even visit the dentist without being coerced.”
Serizawa smiled benevolently, “Of course. The taxi is waiting outside.”
“Your chariot awaits,” Tome said, touching Reigen’s knee with her boot.
“That’s Cinderella, not Sleeping Beauty. You got your princesses mixed up.” Reigen sighed, but his heart wasn’t in it. He let Serizawa help him into his suit jacket, then his woollen coat over that.
“You’re cold?” Serizawa asked as they took the stairs down from the office to street level. Steps that Reigen had climbed what felt like a few moments ago.
“Yeah. Bit of a cold snap at the moment.”
Serizawa’s own suit jacket was folded neatly over his arm, and his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. There was a spot of Reigen’s blood on the left cuff. He saw a bead of sweat rolling from Serizawa’s jawline and beneath his collar. Reigen averted his gaze.
“Yes.” Serizawa said, but he had clearly meant to say something else.
The taxi was idling in the street outside, the engine rumbling and echoing down the alley. Reigen looked back before he got into the taxi. The sign for Spirits and Such was totally legible. No melting words. Did that mean it was over, or did it mean he was awake? Or asleep? His head hurt just thinking about it. Actually, his head hurt all the time these days.
Serizawa opened the back door and gestured for Reigen to get in. He did, collapsing into the back seat and snapping in his seatbelt petulantly. Serizawa walked around to the other side and slid in next to him.
For a moment, Serizawa leaned forward and spoke to the taxi driver, and Reigen drifted away. It was rare for him to sit back and let Serizawa take the lead, but he didn’t have the energy to argue. He watched the buildings roll by as they drove. The cherry blossoms had mostly fallen at this point, leaving a carpet of bruised pinks and purples across the sidewalks and streets.
He pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his breast pocket and tapped one into his palm. He stuck it between his lips and sparked up the lighter. The first lungful was relaxing. The second made him feel sick. The third never came.
He looked down. There was a supernatural aura around the smoke. Containing it before it could escape. He turned to the only supernatural occupant of the car. Serizawa’s hand was twitching in his direction.
“What the hell.”
Serizawa was frowning. “I don’t know much about medicine, but I don’t think you should smoke after losing consciousness. It would make me feel better if you waited until the doctor says you’re okay.”
“It makes me feel better to smoke.” Reigen tapped the end of the cigarette impatiently.
Serizawa didn’t like to argue, but he’d found a loophole with Reigen. He looked at Reigen with open disapproval, “It’s also rude to smoke in a car?” Serizawa added. Though his uncertainty was unwavering, his disappointment had a powerful effect on Reigen.
Reigen didn’t take long to crumble.
“Fine.” He rolled down the window and tossed the half-smoked cigarette out. “You win.”
“Thank you.” Serizawa said carefully.
They sat in silence for a moment, but Serizawa was fidgeting like he always did when something was bothering him. His hands were braced against his knees as if he was expecting the car to crash.
Reigen was starting to think Serizawa might have something to say, but it was confirmed when he sighed at a comical volume and looked forlornly out the window. He could be so dramatic sometimes, but Reigen supposed that was what happened when you suppressed yourself for half of your life. Serizawa’s feelings were too big for his body. Mob was like that too. Maybe it was an esper thing. Maybe it was impossible to fit such powers in without crowding out their emotions.
“Did you have something to tell me?” Reigen sighed.
“Oh!” Serizawa pretended to be caught off guard. “Well, I was just wondering…Are you pissed at me?”
Reigen stared at him from the corner of his eyes. “What do you mean?” He was surprised by Serizawa’s choice of wording. He generally avoided swearing since his mother didn’t like it. Serizawa rubbed circles into his knees with his thumbs. The act seemed self-soothing and childlike, but his expression was serious. “I feel like…lately, you can’t wait to get rid of me.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Reigen flapped his hand.
“Is it?” Serizawa said, his voice still uncertain. “You sent me away after I brought you back from Yoshitori’s house. You tried to send me away today. And even before then, since I’ve moved to Sato Corp, we never spend any time together. You don’t speak to me unless I come to you first. It just feels…different from how we used to be when I worked at Spirits and Such. Was I mistaken in thinking our friendship extended past our working relationship?”
Reigen would have laughed, if he didn’t currently feel like such a dick. Serizawa’s speech had clearly been ripped from a HR textbook and pondered on for quite some time. It only endeared him to Reigen more.
“Listen,” Reigen said, “It’s been a weird week for me. I haven’t been my usual self, and my damn head hurts. But I don’t want you to miss out on your life because you’re having to look after your old boss who can’t seem to stay on his feet. I mean, you’re missing work right now, I bet?”
Serizawa’s head cocked slightly to the right as he listened intently. “I want to help you. Work shouldn’t take precedence over a friend in need, I think you taught me that.”
Reigen nodded while damning himself, “I get it. You think you owe me for everything I did to help you. But you don’t! The evil spirit is gone now, so from this moment onwards, you don’t have to worry about me. I can go back to being my usual powerful psychic self, and you can go on back to Sato Corp and brag about your former master’s amazing achievements. Do you read my blog?” Reigen said the last part behind his hand, like it was a secret, but in truth he’d been writing the blog with Serizawa in mind. He’d imagined Serizawa reading each entry and being proud of Reigen…which was embarrassing now that he was thinking about it.
Serizawa wasn’t playing along with Reigen’s sudden vigour. “I don’t think it’s gone.” He murmured. He was leaning in close again.
Reigen resisted the instinct to bend away, and instead held his ground. He wondered if his cheeks were flushed.
Serizawa’s brow was deeply furrowed as he studied Reigen. His dark eyes darted along Reigen’s face, like he could see something out of the ordinary there, just under the skin. “There’s something here. I just can’t tell if it’s a spirit, or…”
“Or?” Reigen prompted.
“I don’t know.” Serizawa admitted. “I don’t think the spirit I saw earlier was strong enough to do this, but there’s something clinging to you. It’s not supposed to be there, but it almost seems like…it’s part of you? It’s so faint I can barely see it. It doesn’t feel like I can exorcise it though.”
“What are you saying? What can you see?” Reigen fidgeted, feeling pinned under Serizawa’s intense examination.
“Uhhh, it looks almost like a dark cloud. Like a storm, waiting to break, over your head. Or, in your head? Sometimes if people experience extreme emotions, I can sense them. Are you experiencing an extreme emotion?”
“Oh me? I’m cool as a cucumber.” Reigen said, though the blood on his shirt would suggest otherwise.
And he wasn’t feeling particularly cool at all. His face felt hot. Serizawa was too close, physically and metaphorically. He wanted to be comforted by it, but his treacherous heart couldn’t stop thinking about all the things he couldn’t have. Serizawa had moved on. So should he.
“I just hope the doctor can find out what’s wrong. People don’t usually faint and get nosebleeds out of nowhere. They’ll do tests, I think.” Serizawa was mumbling, mostly to himself. “And if that doesn’t work…I wonder…”
“Why do you care so much?”
Serizawa’s head snapped round. “What?” He asked softly.
Reigen almost bit his tongue, but decided to follow through at last minute, meaning his words rushed out of him like water. “You don’t have to hang around me anymore. You have a job. You have other friends. It’s not like you owe me anything, you’ve long since paid me back. I told you that. I know you said you think of me as a friend in need, but there’s no obligation. I can handle it myself.”
“So it is true. You don’t want me around anymore?” Serizawa said, face like a kicked puppy.
“No.” Reigen sighed, “Of course I want you around. But I just don’t see why you’re so keen to waste your time taking me to the damn hospital.”
“Does there have to be a reason? I just want to help.” Serizawa said.
“You’ve gone above and beyond.” Reigen twisted his hand, channelling a suave confidence that came easily to him, “It’s getting a little embarrassing at this point, repeatedly being saved by my former assistant. It hurts my ego, you know?”
He expected Serizawa to apologise, or promise to back off.
He felt a warm hand close over his. He looked down at his lap. Serizawa’s hand, over his. In the back of the taxi, his breath stopped.
He tried to say something intelligent, but the cogs in his mind had been jammed. The warmth of the touch was the spanner in the works.
Serizawa seemed unfazed. “You’ll just have to get over it.” He patted Reigen’s hand, once, then withdrew to his own side of the taxi. He busied himself with looking out the window, while Reigen fell apart in the seat next to him. His cheeks were definitely flushed now.
Since when did you become so assertive, Serizawa?
Reigen kicked back on the examination table and placed his hands behind his head.
He’d had enough of hospitals over the last week, but if he had to be here, he could at least get comfortable. In the end, Serizawa had taken Reigen to a walk-in clinic for a quick examination. It made him feel better to know he wouldn’t be staying here, and Serizawa had insisted on waiting in reception. The room still set his nerves on edge.
Unlike the empty dream hospital, here were drawers and cupboards full of all manner of medical equipment and colourful bottles of medication. He remembered it all from visiting his father when he’d been far into his illness. The familiarity did nothing to help his nerves.
He shivered. He’d been asked by the nurse that showed him in to remove his coat and suit jacket, which he’d piled on a chair in the corner. His shirt felt like cellophane between him and the freezing room.
“Arataka Reigen?”
Reigen looked up at the door. A middle-aged woman with greying temples eased the door closed behind her. Her hair was pulled into a slick bun and fastened with a hairpin in the shape of a fish. It seemed disconnected from her pressed white coat and pencil skirt.
“That’s me.” Reigen said.
“I’m Dr Hanegawa.” She took a seat at the desk and typed into her computer for a second.
Reigen sat upright, feeling a little stupid for lounging. He’d never put much stock in these small-town clinics, but she seemed endlessly professional.
“Your friend ran through your symptoms on the phone, but if you could please confirm them, I will add them to your record.” Hanegawa said, sterile as the room.
“Uh, yes. Well, I’m having these…episodes, since hitting my head last week. I seem to have no control over them. One moment, I’m fine, the next I’m unconscious. I’ve been getting nosebleeds too.”
Dr Hanegawa turned in her desk chair and crossed her ankles. “Spouts of fainting following a minor head trauma are to be expected.” She hummed, “Have you been treating the wound with a cold compress and resting well?”
Reigen had been advised to do both of those things by the article he’d googled on concussions, but he’d chosen to forgo the advice—his freezer was broken at the moment, so no cold compress, and he refused to take time off of work. “Of course!” He answered.
“I see. Any other symptoms? Your friend mentioned some loss of time?”
Reigen shrugged, “Uh, not really. More like loss of reality? I’ve been having some weird dreams. And sometimes I zone out a little.”
“Do you find it hard to differentiate reality from dreams?”
Reigen frowned. It was a strange question from a doctor. He’d expect it from a shrink. “No. I figure my head is just a little fuzzy at the moment. I’ll keep it up with the cold compress and whatever, but you can let me go. My friend is just worrying over nothing.”
Hanegawa was unimpressed. Her lightly wrinkled mouth remained pressed into a downward arch. “The brain is the most precious part of the body. It will benefit us both if you ensure it’s well cared for. It sounds like your friend has the right idea.”
“Well, he often does.”
Hanegawa pulled a drawer out and retrieved a tray of medical instruments. She walked over to Reigen and placed the tray down on a rolling table next to the examination bed. Reigen looked over the array she’d arranged. A needle, a tube, a swab, some kind of torch and a thermometer. She busied herself with washing her hands and pulled on a pair of blue latex gloves.
“This is a standard examination. I’m sure you’ve had them before at your local clinic. I will be registering your vitals and asking you a few questions.”
She lifted the stethoscope looped around her neck and pressed it against his chest.
Reigen watched her go through the routine of the examination, wondering how Serizawa was doing in the waiting room. Hanegawa moved through her tray of instruments. She placed the thermometer in his mouth and took it out. She flashed the torch into his eyes, then away, then back again. Reigen blinked the stars out of his eyes. While Hanegawa worked, she asked him questions.
What have you been eating, have you experienced any pain, how have you been sleeping?
Her questions all rolled together after a while. She moved between Reigen and her computer, typing up the results as she took them, though if there was anything wrong, she didn’t disclose it with Reigen.
Hanegawa grabbed his arm suddenly. Her fingers through the gloves were freezing.
“What are you doing?”
Hanegawa sighed, “A blood test, Mr Reigen. I need to make sure the issue is only the head trauma. These symptoms could reflect a variety of ailments. It’s really nothing to be concerned about. Completely routine.”
Reigen felt a little concerned as Hanegawa motioned for him to roll up his sleeve. He obliged, shoving fabric away from skin with numb fingers. The hair on his arms had raised with goosebumps.
“Tell me about the dreams.” Hanegawa said. She’d spoken in the same monotone she had throughout the appointment so far, but Reigen could tell her interest had been piqued.
“Where to start?” Reigen tapped his fingers against the bed. “They’re all the same. I always wake up in hospital. Not a normal hospital though, it’s completely empty. And it’s way too quiet in there.”
Hanegawa pulled his arm firmly, forcing him to roll his forearm so that she could access the inside of his elbow. She tapped the skin with two fingers, tempting the veins to the surface. “What happens in the hospital?” She asked.
“I try to find a way out. But I keep seeing…well, this is going to sound crazy, but I keep seeing these fish. Koi fish. When I get out of the hospital, the city is the same as this one, the same roads, the same people, the same buildings. But the signs are all wrong. The words, they, uh, melt? And certain things are different.”
“Like what?” Hanegawa asked. “This will pinch.” She added.
Reigen tried to contain his wince as the needle bit through his skin. “Like, my office was there, but it was occupied by another business. And some people were younger than they are here. It’s almost like I’m dreaming of the past, but of things that I would have no way of knowing.”
“Interesting.” She said monotonously. She removed the needle and pressed a swab over the small well of blood. Reigen took over holding it while she transferred the filled needle to the tray.
“That’s one word for it.” He said.
Hanegawa turned away from him. “What about the other bad habits? Strange dreams are one, but you’re starting to miss work, aren’t you?”
Reigen rolled his sleeves down. “Jeez, did Serizawa tell you my life story? Yes, I’ve not been the best with keeping time at the moment.”
“And you’re smoking again. You haven’t done that in years.”
“Uh—“
“It’s not just issues with keeping time, is it? You just don’t want to get out of bed anymore, do you?”
“I don’t see what this has to do with my examination.”
Hanegawa was still turned away from him. Her shoulders were shaking, as though she were laughing, or crying. “But, this is what you do, isn’t it?”
“Sorry, what I do?”
“You allow people to get close to you, enough to want to know more about you. But you don’t want to tell the truth. You don’t want them to find out that the Arataka Reigen they know is a fake, and the real one is nothing but a listless, lonely man.”
Reigen got to his feet. “I’m leaving.” He snapped.
Hanegawa’s head turned without the rest of her body. She stretched out a hand, which seemed to go on forever. Reigen heard the lock slide across the door, but they were both standing on the other side of the room. She was using some form of psychic ability, but whether she was an esper or an evil spirit in possession of the real Hanegawa’s body, Reigen didn’t know.
“You’re growing older, and what do you really have to show for it? A few grey hairs? The same old life?” Hanegawa was still speaking, but her voice was beginning to ripple and echo. It sounded like she was shouting through a vent. “You’re helplessly trapped in a vicious cycle, falling back on old bad habits simply because they fill a hole in your life that is meant for someone else.”
“I don’t listen to advice from evil spirits.” Reigen declared. It was a fifty-fifty chance that he’d correctly identified the entity before him, and from Hanegawa’s inhuman screech, it seemed he was right. He normally loved being right.
Hanegawa struck out a fist and caught Reigen as easily as a fish on a line. Her fingers, turned bony and cold, clamped around his neck. Her skin felt damp.
“The worst part is that you know it can be done. You’ve shown your true self to someone who needed to see it.” Hanegawa’s breath in his face was cold and clammy. “But it’s all too easy to pull away, isn’t it?”
The air in his lungs had been knocked out of him, so he could do nothing but gasp in response.
“The truth is, you’re a normal man. And that scares you, doesn’t it? You’re nothing special. You won’t be remembered by anyone. So why don’t you just move on? It’s pathetic.”
Reigen struggled against the hold on his throat. His fingers scrabbled against Hanegawa’s, but her hold was like iron. “Let me go.” He ground out through gritted teeth.
The words she’d spoken had hurt, but it was nothing he didn’t know already.
Through the tears springing up in the edges of his eyes, he could see bubbles rising to the top of the room like air in water. An orange and white koi fish swam leisurely past Hanegawa’s legs. Its dorsal fin feathered over Reigen’s arms. He’d become almost accustomed to seeing them now. He wondered if the fish would be a constant companion in his life now.
He tried to cough, but the hands clamped around his throat didn’t give him enough space to flex his airway. His chest was beginning to hurt with the strain of blood rushing to the aid of his slowly starving lungs.
“Is this a dream, or reality, Arataka Reigen?” Hanegawa said. Her voice sounded almost normal, but there was a strange rush behind her throat. It sounded like liquid. “Can you even tell anymore?”
Crack.
He heard the dear scarer.
Crack.
There were multiple koi now, a whole school of fish swirling in synchronised patterns around the room. He felt water begin to fill his lungs, freezing and sandy with silt. He tasted copper, and mildew.
Then the door slammed inward.
The hand around his throat loosened, then was ripped away by a rush of energy.
Hanegawa screamed as she slammed against the far wall and dropped onto her table of medical instruments, sending sharp metal objects flying.
Reigen dropped to his hands and knees, desperately filling his lungs with air. He coughed through the pain.
Serizawa was standing with his hand outstretched. His tie, purple today, was twitching wildly under the force of his psychic power. His face was level, almost emotionless, if not for a slight pull of his top lip.
Hanegawa was screaming her lungs hoarse. He had pinned her against the wall and was battering her with his power. She tried to lunge at him, but was sent reeling back against the wall like she was magnetised. He heard her skull impact the wall with a crack.
Now who’s pathetic, Reigen thought triumphantly, but he knew without Serizawa, he would have been choked to death. He’d graduated from Sleeping Beauty to a damsel in distress.
With a last inhuman screech, a dark cloud peeled away from Hanegawa’s body and floated upward. It phased through the ceiling. Hanegawa herself fell forwards without Serizawa’s power holding her upright. Her hairpin clattered to the floor. Her body didn’t move.
“Are you…” Serizawa began to walk towards him.
“I’m fine. Probably could’ve handled that one myself, but I appreciate your help.” Reigen croaked, rubbing his throat. He’d have a bruise, but he could add that to the collection.
Serizawa offered him a hand.
Reigen, feeling like he was living through Groundhog day, gripped Serizawa’s arm and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. “Thanks.”
Serizawa looked over his shoulder at Hanegawa’s inert form. “Should I…”
“Call a doctor for the doctor? Probably best.”
“What did she do?”
“Besides taking my vitals and asking about my symptoms, she went berserk and tried to choke me out like a pro wrestler.”
“It was an evil spirit.” Serizawa said numbly.
Reigen nodded, “It managed to get the jump on me, since I wasn’t expecting it. It won’t happen again.”
Serizawa turned to him. Reigen realised he was still clinging to Serizawa’s arm like a lost puppy. He let go.
“That spirit,” Serizawa said, his face blank like it was sometimes when he didn’t know what to say. “It was the same one I exorcised earlier. The shadowed figure.”
“You must’ve missed a spot.” Reigen said. In truth, he didn’t like the sound of it at all. The shadowed figure had followed him all this way, just to try to kill him? And it seemed to know an awful lot about him. It knew exactly what to say to make him squirm. It knew the truth of him.
“I didn’t.” Serizawa urged, “I hit it square on earlier, there’s no way it could have survived. And right now, I hit it with everything I had, but it just drifted away. It’s like it’s impervious to my attacks.”
Reigen smiled weakly, feeling the need to reassure him. “The next time we encounter it, let me deal with it. I’m sure not even a toenail will remain.”
Serizawa huffed. He seemed frustrated, but he didn’t deem it important enough to air his grievances to Reigen. He ushered Reigen out of the office quickly, shooting suspicious glances over his shoulder at Hanegawa.
“That was…unexpected.” Serizawa said once they were back in the waiting area.
“Yeah. Can’t catch a break, can I?” Reigen laughed nervously.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Fine.” Reigen rubbed his throat. “These things happen.”
“Generally, they don’t.”
“Well, maybe not in a cushy office job, but this is business as usual for one such as I. Anyway, are you heading back to Sato Corp now?” Reigen asked conversationally, “I’ll get the subway back home.”
Serizawa shook his head. “No. I’ll make sure you get home. I told the taxi to wait.”
“Uh—“
“You’re going home, Reigen. You need to get some rest. Especially…” Serizawa gestured at the door between them and the doctor they’d just exorcised, “After this.”
Reigen smiled. “Okay, but I’m having a smoke first.”
“Uh—“
“All strong relationships are built on a sacred notion, Serizawa.” Reigen said with grandeur.
Serizawa mumbled, “What is that?”
Reigen spread his hands in front of him. “Compromise.”