a minor headcanon that I will die defending is that reigen initially assumed that mobβs supposed βpsychic powersβ were just how he rationalized his autism to himself. like hereβs an obviously autistic kid, one reigen clocks immediately because heβs, well, reigen, and heβs talking about extra sensory perception and having powers he canβt control, powers that are scary. obviously, he assumes, this is something the kid picked up from his parents, a way for him to rationalize his alienation from other childrenβ that no, youβre not βdifferentβ, youβre special (not even going into the parents who think their autistic children are like, aliens) and the other kids can see that youβre special and so they treat you like youβre weird and creepy and they donβt invite you to play and they whisper behind your back but itβs fine, because one day theyβll see how special you really are. and adult autistic reigen arataka, who was also probably-definitely bullied as a child, decides to nip that thought in the bud and gives the whole spiel, that no, βpsychic powersβ (autism) donβt make you special, and yes, they do make you different, and thatβs fine because everyoneβs different, and at the end of the day you have agency and you get to decide the kind of person youβll be, so choose to be a kind one, and he sees this kid hanging off his every word as he tells him the kind of stuff he wishes someone had told him when he was so little and alone, and he mentally pats himself on the back and hypes himself up for another cigarette.
