sunchime | [ spy x psycho ]

Had he been given the choice, Mob would have opted out of this whole mentorship program. It isn’t that he doesn’t like kids, or that he wouldn’t like to have someone to talk to besides his younger brother. That would be nice, actually. It’s just that he’s not really good with people, and there’s some pressure involved. The upperclassmen are expected to guide the youngest Eden students not only in the school’s customs and etiquette, but academically as well, and neither are areas in which Mob excels. If anything, he might be better off learning from a first-grader when it comes to math at this rate.

Unfortunately, it’s a mandatory part of the eighth grade curriculum. Anya Forger and Shigeo Kageyama are the last pair to be announced at the program initiation, and there are a few scattered snickers around the room, remarking on the cruel irony of Mob being paired with one of the first grade’s worst students, others laughing at Anya’s misfortune for being paired with someone as boring as Mob. Mob’s thinking hard about whether it’s better or worse that Anya’s not a great student either; on the one hand, they’d be more or less on the same level, but on the other, he’s not confident he can do much to help her improve her grades.

There’s a little meet and greet once the pairs have been announced, giving the mentors and mentees a chance to get to know each other. Most of the other pairs have already joined together by the time Mob makes his way over to Anya, by which time they mostly seem to have forgotten he exists.

“Anya…right?” he says, and after a moment, he holds out a hand. “I’m Shigeo.”

No one around him seems to call him that, though; every other student, when they bother to think of him, only ever thinks of him “Mob”.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anya rubs at her head, all the thoughts flowing in starting to get to her just a little bit.

"Ugh, it's the violent girl again... She deserves that one for sure."

"Mob? That weirdo with Anya Forger? What a match made in heaven!"

"A freak with a freak, both of 'em deserve each other."

Loud... It's... too loud...

It makes her head hurt. She doesn't like it and it hurts, so she focuses on looking ahead at the meet and greet, doing her best to block everything out.

There's an older boy that approaches her. He seems harmless enough, and when he speaks...

Shigeo... Mob... Mob... Shigeo... He said Mob... But the other people call him Shigeo... No, the other way- He said Shigeo...

Two names. That could only mean...

This man is a schwindler!!!

Clearly the most logical conclusion.

"Anya- Anya is Anya! I-it's nice to meet you Mo-" Uh oh. "Mister Shigeo!" Nailed it. "I hope that... we can have lots of fun and learn a lot together!"

She is absolutely not sweating. This is totally fine. The sanctity of the mission is fine, she has this under control.

She seems like a nice kid, which is a relief. There are some surprisingly vicious children at this school. But she also seems a little nervous, too. Is she maybe afraid of the older kids? Mob tries to make himself as unintimidating as possible, and succeeds mostly by virtue of nothing about his expression changing at all.

"Oh, it's okay, you can just call me Shigeo," he says. "I hope so too. I think it'll be fun."

He doesn't look like he thinks it'll be fun, but he wants to. How does he make her less nervous? When they were little, Mob had sometimes cheered Ritsu up by making his toys dance in the air, but...

No, I can't do that here. I can't let anyone at school find out...

This is the part where they're supposed to get to know each other. Mob is terrible at small talk. Most conversation, actually. He'd asked his brother for advice last night, because Ritsu is smart and capable, already an Imperial Scholar while Mob hasn't earned a single Stella star. Ritsu told him not to worry and just ask a lot of questions, because kids like to talk about themselves. Mob hadn't ever liked to talk about himself much, but he's going to take his brother's word for it.

After way too long a pause, Mob asks, "Do you...have any hobbies?"

It feels strange since he's older than her, but he asked, so... "...Shigeo." She tries out his name by itself, and it's unfamiliar but not bad necessarily. "It's nice to meet Shigeo." She nods half to herself, still trying it out.

Anya can't stop her eyebrows from climbing, however, at his thought that crosses through her mind. Can't let anyone at school find out what...?

...

...A schwindler with a shady business outside of school?!

Obviously, she can't just say that; whatever else he might be up to, it'll be bad for both of them if she blurts out something that incriminating. A question... He's asking her a question, and that...

Elegant. That's what the headmaster is always saying, right? So she should try to be as much the picture of that as possible, to leave a good impression and further her budding friendship with Shigeo...

Very calmly, she says, "Eating peanuts and studying the ways of spies."

Oh, good. To Mob's relief, it seems like Anya's quite so afraid of him. She seems to be willing to call him by his first name, at least, so it seems like they're off to a good start, maybe? Although he's having a hard time reading her expression, mostly because it keeps changing. He tends to work things through slowly, so when there's a momentary delay before Anya responds, it doesn't register as much more than a blip in his mind.

He blinks at her answer and smiles a little. Aw, kids her age are really cute. Maybe Ritsu was right, and there was no need to be nervous at all. "Oh, yeah? Peanuts and--"

Wait, did she just say spies?

Mob looks just a shade nervous, caught off guard. Even if she's just some kind of trainee, it could still be dangerous...Master said if I'm not careful, I could attract the attention of the secret police. And then that would just put everyone in trouble...

The possibility that she might just be a harmless first-grader who really likes watching spy cartoons does not seem to occur to Mob at all.

"Spies, huh?" Mob finishes on a long delay, trying to retreat to his bland, unintimidating look and not entirely succeeding. He's smiling a little, but he's stiff. "Is that why you came to this school?"

The question is genuine. Eden College seems to offer a whole lot -- maybe they have an espionage studies program here? It could still mean trouble, but it would make a lot of sense. To Mob, anyway.

Edited 2022-06-22 01:55 (UTC)

[ spy x psycho ]

my first tag-in and i already started us off with a double i'm crying, 1/2

2/2 there we go

p e r f e c t

i'm so sorry for the wait, i got really sick for a while! ;; slowly getting back in action though

omg no worries!! i am thrilled to see an anya tag :B i hope you're feeling better!