The Mob (System)

Chapter 5 - Beginning: Alters 1

The last few days were revolutionary for The Mob System and Shigeo liked it. Not only was he more aware of what was happening around him, but also could he talk to some of the others and get to know them better. It was a great progress since he started his therapy journey without any knowledge of the alters and without having access to the inner world, which he now had and used quite often.

Within these few weeks, Teru had also learned that when Shigeo sat and stared bluntly at the wall, without saying a word or seeming to notice anything, he was then exploring their inner world – possibly also talking to 100% Negative or anybody else. Over the past few days, Shigeo learned that there were more alters and this was the thing he wanted to talk about today in therapy. He knew that being a part of the system was to be the conscious part of his life from now on to the possible fusion that he wanted. However, he didn't know if the others wanted it as well. They hadn't talked about it yet and Shigeo knew that only with the help of Reigen he would be able to communicate with his alters so well that they'd tell him what they think about the fusion.

Now waiting in front of the door, behind which was Reigen's office, probably visited by some other system right now, Shigeo was thinking about all this. He had been wondering for the past days, why was it that nobody else showed up in therapy? He knew Reigen would understand and notice the switches. Master would treat every alter with the same amount of care and respect. And if Shigeo knew it, he was sure that the others knew it too – but so far, nobody else fronted during the therapy sessions. Maybe they just wanted to first present themselves to Shigeo? Or wait some more time to front.

Or maybe they just didn't want to meet Reigen. It was possible and understandable, though Shigeo hoped they would change their mind if it was really the case.

The door opened and the same girl as before burst out of the room with another smile on her face. "The Toys System" Shigeo thought. The mention of toys seemed to bring White's attention. Shigeo could feel them coming closer in order to see if he was surrounded by some teddy bears or any other childish things that White would love to play with.

As for a little, it was perfectly normal that White cared deeply for toys and that they were most likely their trigger. Triggers didn't always equal switches, but it happened many times since they had no gatekeeper. Even now, Shigeo felt that he was dissociating until he heard Reigen's comforting voice next to him.

"Good afternoon, Mob System" He said, looking straight at Kageyama. It brought him back to reality and caused to smile a little bit. "Who am I talking to?"

From the other end of the room, The Toys System, observing the whole situation while dressing up and standing next to her grandfather, waved at Reigen who waved back and smiled even more.

"It's me, Shigeo" The brunet said, as he stood up and started walking towards the therapy room. "I'm sorry, I think I was-"

"Dissociating, I know" Reigen closed the door behind and sat in his chair "Don't worry, Shigeo, it's very common. I won't judge any of this because it's the key point of the disorder that you're facing."

Mr Reigen's self-assurance and the wise undertone of his words calmed Shigeo down a little bit as he felt that he was coming back to Earth. The colours started getting a little less blurry with every moment and he knew he was more connected to reality than before.

Come to think about it now, he was in this state so often that he didn't even care anymore. There was a lot of dissociation without switching in his life and it made him realize that it was exactly the symptom that Teruki explained to him so often. Hanazawa would spend so much time, talking about how often Shigeo's mind "disappeared" from reality, coming back after from a few minutes to a few hours. And Shige was oblivious to it the whole time – he just lagged, staring at the wall or losing consciousness for some time, but still kept the front. He didn't materialize in the inner world – the big, unrecognizable house with some locked rooms where the rest of his alters probably were.