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Tensei felt a brief spike of terror when he saw the caller ID. He picked up immediately, yanking his comms out.
Not wanting to start the conversation with: “Who’s dead?” he settled for some out of character formality. “Iida Tensei speaking.”
His long time reluctant friend on the other end was too distracted to comment on it. Oh shit, this had to be bad–
“How do you properly socialize a fourteen year old?”
Tensei blinked. Once, twice. “Did you get a new cat? You’d know better than I would.”
“No, I mean a teenager.”
Tensei took a breath. “Shouta, I thought something was actually wrong. Is one of your students giving you trouble?”
“No, my students are never younger than fifteen. Your brother’s the right age, how does he socialize?”
Tensei snorted. “Poorly, for one.”
Shouta did not reply.
“Look–and I say this with all the brotherly love in the world–Tenya’s a weird kid. He’s overly formal, very passionate, and just a lot. He doesn’t get picked on in school, but he doesn’t have much in the way of friends. Also, shouldn’t you talk to my parents about this, not me?”
“You raised him just as much as they did.” Shouta grunted. And well, he wasn’t wrong. “So using your brother to introduce a traumatized teenager to kids his own age probably isn’t the best idea?”
“Uh.” Where the fuck had this come from and where the fuck was it going? “I mean, Tenya would be happy to help someone but his kind of loud enthusiasm might not be best suited for the situation.”
He thought he could hear Shouta nodding slowly through the phone but he couldn’t actually tell.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, now you want to tell me what this is about… he hung up!” Tensei looked over at the sidekick currently in his office, incredulous. “Asshole better show up for drinks next week with an explanation or–”
The sidekick held up a finger, listening to his comms. “This is for us.”
Tensei quickly picked his comms off the floor and listened to the police report. “Three blocks out, you’d think they’d remember we’re literally right here.”
The sidekick agreed and the pair were out agency the door in three seconds flat. Tensei could figure out what the fuck was up with his friend later. Though, knowing Shouta, the man wouldn’t make it easy.