Good Ol’ Fashioned Obsessions

First came the matter of their housing. They considered to keep living together as they did back in Andromeda Island, but a quick discussion was enough for Reigen to reject the idea (“You should take the chance to live with your brother again, Mob, and meanwhile I can get back to enjoying the bachelor life,” his master had argued). With the Foundation’s help, Reigen rented a modest apartment not too far from the center of the city, with the arrangement that they would cover the rent costs until Reigen reestablished his clientele. Mob, in turn, got a bedroom in the Foundation’s main building, right across Ritsu’s.

Next came the matter of Reigen’s business. Also with the Foundation’s help, he rented an office at the commercial center of Seasoning City, then got all of the furniture and other things needed to run it. By the time he got to reopen Spirits and Such, Reigen couldn’t avoid but to grin smugly—the power of blackmail is truly incredible!

That left Mob’s schooling left to handle. The Foundation actually offered to pay for the enrollment costs of any school Mob chose to take, but he quickly decided that he would rather attend the same as Ritsu, and since he went to a public middle school, that point became moot. Then it would only be a matter of buying his uniform and supplies, and soon enough Mob would be able to restart his formal education.

“You seem pretty excited for it, Mob!” Reigen notes as Mob goes through his list of needed school supplies (kindly provided by Ritsu) once again, “What’s the name of the school you’ll go for, again?”

“Uh, Salt Middle School, I think…”

“Salt Middle, huh…?”

“Do you know it, Shishou?”

“Eh? Nah, nah, I was just musing out loud, don’t mind me.”

Mob stares at Reigen for a bit—longer than he finds comfortable to be stared at for—before going back to his task.

Reigen sighs.

(To think I’d come back to this city of all places after all these years…)

★ ★ ★

“Hey, Mezato-san! You got that Tennis Club story done yet?” a girl asks her clubmate.

“Ahahaha, not really,” the clubmate, another girl with a fair bob, replies, “I haven’t had time to finish editing the text.”

(And also, that last match was sooo boring. I didn’t even get to see the one player I care about…)

“Well, try getting it done until the club meeting later today. The president wants that story published in tomorrow's edition!” the former requests, only to be cut off by the shrill chime of the school bell, “Oops, gotta go now. See you later, Mezato-san!”

“See you.” The orange haired girl waves at her, then once her clubmate’s out of hearing range, she sighs.

(I don’t even remember what her name is.)

Ichi Mezato goes to the 2-1 class’ homeroom as she does every school morning. She passes by the same people, sees the same views from the windows and sits on the same desk surrounded by the same classmates, all ready to be taught by the same teacher.

Such a boring routine. If at least the News Club took her idea to investigate that one emerging cult seriously, then she would at least have something to look forward to after classes.

Ah well, maybe she could go out for some clothes shopping with Nee-san later. Still, she’s not sure how much that will help with staving off her ashen days…

“Attention, everyone!” Koga-sensei shouts while he enters the classroom, “Today, we have a new transfer student joining our class. Please, give him a warm welcome.”

A boy pads shyly into the room, proceeding to write his name on the blackboard. He does not look much remarkable: average height, average build, the most stereotipically Japanese haircut ever created. And yet, there is one single detail about him that gets the class to fill with whispers.

“P-Pleased to m-meet you.” The boy bows, seemingly a second away from being crushed by the metallic box on his back. “My name i-is Shigeo K-Kageyama.”

“Eeeeh? A new guy at this time of the year?”

“He doesn’t look that cute. Pass.”

“Shouldn’t Koga-sensei take that thing out of his back?”

“...Is that Mob?” the student right behind Mezato’s desk, Mameta Inukawa, remarks, “And what the heck is he carrying?!”

“‘Mob’?” Mezato turns to face him. “Do you know him?”

“Uh? Ah, yeah, we went to elementary school together,” Inukawa replies, “But then he stopped coming about what, 4 or 5 years ago? I dunno why, though.”

“And what about that nickname?”

“It was something the kids in our class came up with. He always blended in and didn’t bring much attention to himself even though he had some kind of mysterious ‘power’ to him. You see—”

“That’s enough, class!” the teacher calls, breaking off the ongoing chatter, “We must start today’s lesson. Now, please open your History book on page 27…”

Mezato couldn’t care less about History right now. All of her attention went to the new student, who took his seat a few rows behind and columns to the left of hers. Shigeo Kageyama, also known as Mob. A normal-looking boy with something mysterious about his past and who brings a metal box too heavy for him to carry around to school.

She grins. Things have suddenly become a lot more interesting.

★ ★ ★

A week later…

Walking around with the Andromeda cloth box is proving to be harder than Mob expected. Not that he should complain, it’s his duty as a Saint of Athena to be ready for any adversity that might happen, but it sure makes his day-to-day life rather difficult. The amount of times he has nearly lost balance due to the box’s weight is more than he can count on his fingers.

And to make matters worse, his next class is Physical Education, meaning he has to leave the comfort of the main building’s air conditioner and go to the sports field under the heat of nearly midday. Mob did not expect Japan to rival Andromeda Island in temperatures, especially not outside of summer, but the current heat wave is brutal.

The dizzy sun hits his eyes, nearly blinding him. Mob has never done well against strong sunlight as far as he can remember. Dealing with the tropical weather back in Andromeda Island was by far the hardest part of his training back then.

46%

He tightens his grasp at one of the box’s straps with a hand, the other holding his bag with his P.E. uniform. All he needs is to walk a few meters more and he’ll reach the dressing room, and then—Ah, wait, won’t he have to leave the box in that room alongside his uniform too? It’s not like he would be able to play soccer or run around while wearing it. He can barely do those things on his own anyway—

Amidst his thoughts, Mob doesn’t register his ankle turn at a hole at the edge of the path. His bag flies out of his field of vision just as he stumbles and falls on the ground, Cloth box underneath him.

“Ouuuch…”

“Hey, dude. Are you ok?”

Mob hesitates to open his eyes, threatened by the sun overhead, but he soon realizes there is a rather large shadow towering over him. He looks up and is faced by… an adult? No, this person is wearing Salt Middle School’s uniform. Huh. This must be the biggest middle schooler Mob has ever seen.

“I-I think I am…?” Mob replies weakly. The box on his back doesn’t budge when he tries to wriggle up.

“Wait right there, I’ll help.” The guy holds Mob’s hands before effortlessly pulling both him and the box out of the ground. “There you go. Can you stand on your own?”

Mob tests his legs. The box straps tug at his shoulders once again, but at least his knees don’t buckle. “Y-Yeah, I think so.”

The large student nods, then frowns. “I must say, it’s admirable that you have such a proactive attitude to body development, but your technique is all wrong. You’re putting all the effort on your leg muscles, instead of putting your core to work.”

“My core…?” Mob asks puzzledly.

“Here, lemme show you.” The larger student presses strong, calloused hands on Mob’s stomach and back. “You must contract the muscles here, get your abs working while keeping your spine erect. Can you do this for me?”

Mob is not sure how to feel about this kind of contact. “L-Like this?”

“That’s a start! I’m sure that, if you keep practicing it, you’ll be able to strengthen your core in no time,” the other says, offering a hand for Mob to shake, “Name’s Musashi Goda, third year and president of the Body Improvement Club.”

“Uh, Shigeo Kageyama. Second year.” Mob accepts the offer. The intensity of Musashi’s grip nearly breaks his hand. “P-Pleased to meet you.”

“Same here. Well, I have to go to my class now, but if you ever need any help with improving your muscles, feel free to ask me!”

“O-Okay,” Mob replies while watching Musashi go his way.

He keeps thinking about this encounter as he puts on his P.E. clothes, as he nearly gets destroyed during a soccer match, as he takes a shower to give his sore muscles a chance to recover, as he puts on his uniform and Cloth box once again. His knees falter, but then he remembers to flex his belly. It helps a little bit.

51%

At least P.E. was the last class of the day, so now Mob can take his time relaxing before heading to Reigen’s office—

“WAIT, MOB!!”

“Huh?”

Mob turns around to see who called him (by that nickname, no less) and is surprised by a face he has not thought of for a long time. “Wait, aren’t you… Inugawa?”

“It’s Inukawa,” the other answers, clearly frazzled, “Look, that doesn’t matter. Can you come with me real quick? My friends and I really need your help!”

“I’m sorry, but I have to go to work.”

“Pleeeeease, just 5 minuteeeees!!” Inukawa kneels down into a begging pose. “We are desperate, Mob, and you’re our only hope!!”

“Okay, okay, I-I’ll go with you!” Mob raises his hands.

As soon as Mob says that, Inukawa springs up and proceeds to drag him back to the school building. He can only wonder what this could be about.

★ ★ ★

The rest of yesterday was weird.

Mob was surely not expecting to be invited to a school club just a few days after coming back to school in Japan, much less one as eccentric sounding as a ‘Telepathy Club’. The club president sounded really passionate about it, and even talked back to Reigen on the phone to convince him to let Mob to join.

Still, Mob is not sure whether he should. Would that be a good use of his time as a youth? Wouldn’t it get in the way of his duties as a Saint? Even after searching for answers for an entire day, he couldn’t tell what he really wanted to do.

As he ponders whether he should pass by the club room or not, he realizes he probably forgot one of his school books there.

Mob blinks. Oh well, guess he doesn’t have much of a choice after all.

As soon as he opens the club room’s door, the members gasp and come rushing after him, some of them even crying.

“Mob-kun!! You came baaaack!!!” the club president, a third year girl named Tome Kurata, shouts as she grabs his hand. Her spiky black hair flutters over her shoulders. “Oh, I knew you’d come through! What a wonderful boy you are!”

“U-Uh…” Mob widens his eyes at this. “I-I just came back to grab my book.”

“And to sign the club membership form, right?” another third year student, Kirito Kijibayashi, pleads, “Here, I got the form and a pen with me. All you gotta do is put your name on it before the Student Council comes here.”

“More like that frigging treasurer comes here,” Tome rants to the side, “Seriously, who does he think he is, the National Tax Agency? Trying to act all high and mighty about our humble and honest club as if we’re committing a crime here!”

“It’s because you and your club are a waste of money.”

““EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH!!!!!!”” the Telepathy Club squeaks in horror as the Student Council’s treasurer, none other than Ritsu Kageyama, steps in.

“Your time is over. I ask you folks to remove your things now so that this room can be granted to the Body Improvement Club instead.” He waves to a group of large, muscular middle schoolers who march into the room as well.

“W-Wait, wait!” Another member of the Telepathy Club, Shirihiko Saruta, frantically pulls Mob by his shoulders. “We did get someone else to join us!”

“Huh? Who would have accepted joining you folks… Nii-san?”

“Ritsu?”

“‘NII-SAN?!’” The Telepathy Club shouts in surprise.

“Wait, Mob-kun is Kageyama’s brother?” Tome asks, “Why didn’t you say that before, Inukawa?!”

“I-I didn’t know, I swear! I couldn’t assume that just because they have the same surname!”

“Well, that’s all the more convenient.” Tome takes Mob from Saruta’s grasp and puts him in front of Ritsu. “See, Kageyama-kun? You wouldn’t dare disband the club your brother is oh so intent on joining, riiiight~?”

“Ah…” Ritsu freezes, then takes a moment to breathe deeply and recompose himself. “...Is that true, Nii-san?” he asks, voice much softer than earlier, “Do you want to join the Telepathy Club?”

“I don’t know,” Mob admits, “But they do need an extra person, and Tome-san can negotiate my presence with Reigen-shishou, so if that would be the best solution for everyone, then…”

“Does that include yourself?” a resounding voice chimes in.

Mob turns towards it and to his surprise sees none other than Goda, the guy who helped him yesterday.

Goda continues, “A club is an important part of your school life. The best solution for a situation like this is one where you get to do what you want.”

“Well, what will it be?” Inukawa asks, “Mob, Mob, what do you want?”

“Uhhh…”

55%

What does he want? People want things, they have dreams and goals and ambitions and things that motivate them to live and hope for tomorrow. Does Mob have any of those? He wanted to become a Saint, but he already did so, so he came back to Japan to stay with Ritsu and Tsubomi, and after that he would… He would…

“Nii-san, are you alright?” Ritsu closes the distance to Mob, trying to shield his brother from everyone else in the room. “Look, we can just leave and forget about all of this. There is nothing bad about not belonging to a club.”

His words flee Mob’s mind like wisps of smoke. What is Mob meant to want? Was there anything else he had wanted before? As much as he pushes himself to remember, the pressure only fills his head with white noise. He wanted to come back to Ritsu because he is family, and to Tsubomi because…

56%

That is right! She is his first love! He dreamed of her loving him back and them walking together holding each other’s hands by sunset! He wanted to become a Saint to learn how to control his powers, but also because Saints are said to be able to part the skies and the Earth, so they must be really strong and athletic, and Tsubomi liked athletic guys, didn’t she?

But Mob never developed that athletic prowess during his training. In fact, he didn’t learn much besides how to exorcize spirits, which should be enough for his duty as a Saint, but probably would bore Tsubomi. If only he could change into a more fit person…

Wait a second. What was the name of the club Goda led again?

“...Kijibayashi-senpai,” Mob finally says, “All I need to join a club is to fill that form that you showed me, right?”

“Oh?” Kijibayashi blinks. “Have you made your decision?”

“Yes.” Mob nods, then takes the form to himself. “I’m going to join a club.”

“YES!!” Tome cheers out loud, “In your face, Kageyama-kun! We’re so glad to have you join in, Mob—”

“Please take me in…” Mob bows in respect. “Body Improvement Club!!”

An awkward silence seeps through the room. For a moment, its occupants are all disappointed slumps of shoulders and confused looks.

Then the muscular boys cheer in unison:

“WELCOME!!!!”

Ritsu sneers at the deflated Telepathy Club.

★ ★ ★

Mob has joined a new school club! Will he get the gains he wishes for? And what will Mezato get up to? Learn that and more in the next chapter of SAINT SHIGEO!!

i didn't wrap bandages for them but they did say this to me im really bad at sports sorry