Various Mob Psycho 100 Oneshots/Short stories/AUs

In Which I Ramble About Psychics and Humans

     I quite enjoy characters who are human, but just not quite. Born to human parents, living among fellow humans, but something about them is just slightly off enough for a keen-eyed observer to notice. While the psychics in Mob Psycho 100 are fully human, with their psychic powers unnoticeable by most people, and this works perfectly with the theming of the anime, I want to explore what it would be like if I pushed what being a psychic meant for the psychic.

     Maybe it's in their eyes. Maybe their pupils slit, or come in some other strange shape. Maybe they reflect in the light in a way a human's wouldn't, their irises seeming to glow with internal light. It's helpful in the dark, little beacons lighting the way for the one who owns them. It would make taking a picture of them somewhat difficult, though, what with their eyes sending the camera's flash back at the picture taker.

     Maybe it's in their skin and bodies. Maybe they feel warm or cold to the touch, and maybe this temperature changes with their emotions. Anger burns, sadness freezes, happiness gently warms, fear ices hearts. Maybe their very muscles and bones can be affected by use of their powers. One who enhances their strength and speed frequently finds their natural body stronger and faster without their powers used. Maybe their very blood, infused with use upon use of their powers, changes its color to match that of their aura.

     Maybe even non-psychic people can "sense," in a way, the aura of a psychic. It's not a conscious "sense," mind you, but a non-psychic can notice changes around them. Maybe being in the range of an aura lets one feel the emotions the psychic is currently feeling, washing over them in physical waves. Maybe an aura is almost measurable, similar enough to electricity to affect electric devices. Startle a psychic too badly, and all the lightbulbs in a room will burst. A psychic has a song stuck in their head, and all radios close enough begin to play it.

     But honestly, it would most likely be different from one psychic to another.

     Shou is the most obvious and easy to answer, in my mind. If he doesn't have to, his feet will not touch the ground. With his propensity to fade in and out of visibility, he moves through rooms and streets like a wraith. Unlike a wraith, however, Shou is incredibly warm to the touch, almost burning the closer one gets to his hands and heart. His very aura heats up the room he's in, enticing as flame but just as dangerous. His eyes glow with that same internal flame, piercingly bright blue literally glowing even through his eyelids. The dryness of barely blinking is better than the burning of covering a bonfire.

     Teruki is also pretty easy and obvious in my mind. His powers, fed by his mentality, have affected his body. He did work for the muscle he has today, yes, but using his powers - however unconsciously - to boost his strength has made it easier. Like slipping on gloves, when he wants to fight his psychic energy coats his hands and feet for more powerful, electric strikes and blinding-fast movement. His teeth grew into fangs, flashing sharp in a snarl to intimidate. He's gotten better about this rage as he's matured, but his power crackles like lightning through his muscles. His smile is now more bright and kind, fangs bared to stand with friends. The storm in his eyes has calmed, thunder only cracking when he feels it truly necessary.

     Ritsu is a bit harder to answer, but maybe because his powers only developed recently. He hasn't had his full life to change due to them. But changes have started, it just takes a very close look to see. With how dark his irises are, it's almost impossible to see the slits his pupils have sliced into. They dilate when he looks at or thinks about things he likes, and shrink even sharper in the cases of things he doesn't. His skin has become cold, just slightly, and the air around him starts to drop in temperature. He doesn't much get the warmth of certain emotions, just varying degrees of cold to freezing. Someone foolish enough to make him truly angry will start to see their breath fog before them.

     Serizawa is almost difficult to think about in this light. He feels too human to me, but maybe that can work. His powers scared him, they were overwhelming, he hurt people. He looked out over the crashing waves of an endless ocean and felt terrified, becoming a shut-in. Toichiro and Claw provided a way out, an umbrella intrinsically connected to that man. He focused his power through his umbrella, turning it into a conduit to channel an ocean through, but it still passed through him. Leaving Claw and accepting his powers, becoming the ocean instead of merely channeling it, calmed the waves to be still. Now using personalized business cards, his power is truly his own.

     Even Reigen, despite not being a psychic, can get this semi-inhuman treatment. He's got the sharp eyes and cunning grin of a fox, the silver-tongued words of that trickster. His lean frame, his thin limbs, he doesn't look as strong as he truly is. His hands are far too quick, always moving, disguising their true intentions. His powers are not supernatural, as much as he pretends that they are. No, his powers are in his words; he inspires, he convinces, he lies, he twists, he motivates, he encourages, he deceives, he speaks and people listen. He can catch their ear and hold it until he's done, and that is power.

     Now we move to Mob. Shigeo, the older Kageyama. The way he is in my mind is somehow both more and less human than the others here, which is why I saved him for last. Everything about him is incredibly ordinary, almost... uncannily so. His differences - beside the obvious of him seemingly having no emotions - are subtle, until one notices them. Like how his shadow lags behind his movements, taking an extra half-second to match what he's done. Like how his eyes are bottomless pits of inky black, illuminated impossibly deep with blood-ruby red. Like how his skin feels almost like skin, nearly imperceptibly different from human skin, and same with his hair. Sometimes, when his emotions run high, one can notice an outline. Something behind him, or possibly within him, leaking out for a fraction of a second. He seems like a Mob-shaped sticker placed over a Mob-shaped void in the world.

     Then one day, after a freak series of "natural" disasters, Mob suddenly... changed. It wasn't a bad change, mind you, but an incredible one. The seemingly emotionless boy suddenly felt emotions, like the void in his heart was filled with what was supposed to be there. Before, not even a psychic could feel his aura. Now, anyone can, his newly felt emotions flooding out of him, ethereal arms reaching out to hold the people he cares about, no matter where they are. The warmth of his thankfulness keeps them comfortable. His shadow now lines up with his movement, and no outline can be noticed, his skin and hair perfectly how they're supposed to feel. His eyes are no longer bottomless pits, simply such a dark red they look black until the light hits them right.

     But maybe, somehow, to the people that knew him before... this new Mob is even stranger than the one before.