Reigen's shady website immediately brings in some new clients. Mostly terrible ones.
First, there's the client who begs him to curse a guy. Reigen refuses, but the man gets pushy. The phony psychic finally caves, writes him a fake curse for free, and sends him on his way. Mob questions Reigen's decision.
Then there's the woman being traumatized by a ghost who peers in through her apartment's windows. Mob deduces that the apparent poltergeist is actually human... and lives next door. When the police arrive to arrest her creepy stalker neighbor, the child wonders aloud why her terror shifted to fury upon the revelation that he was a person. Mob's voicing his own opinions... this is new. Reigen makes a mental note to pick his student's brain later over soba.
But the next clients? A trio of college students ambush him upon his return to the office later that evening. They want to visit a haunted house before they graduate. Right now. Reigen, despite his misgivings, agrees to join them as insurance in case something goes wrong. After asking him to take some cheesy photos, the students stiff him and abandon Mob and Reigen in the forest. Unpaid overtime for Mob, and no soba tonight.
The very next day, two high school thugs attempt to rough up Mob for some cash, but he ends up saving them, in order, from Dimple, Ritsu and the Body Improvement Club. Onigawara reminds him that he can and should defend himself next time, as he has the power to do so.
Our punk-ass trio have the gall to show their faces again at Spirits and Such. This time, they want an exorcism: of last night's old house, as their photos are haunted. Reigen initially does the right thing and blows the terrified students off, but he relents when they agree to pay him his highest rate. Dimple points out to Mob how unfair Reigen is being to him.
These spirits—a family who died in an accident—simply want to enjoy some more time together. They aren't harming anyone, but customers take priority. Torn between his own desire to protect these benign ghosts and an obligation to honor the wishes of Reigen's awful clients, Mob has a panic attack before the man wises up and puts an end to the exorcism.
Back in Reigen's office that night, Dimple slurps a curse off of him. Mob was right.
The teenager sinks under the surface of his bath in disquiet: should he ever turn against human beings... would anyone be able to stop him? Too exhausted to make up his futon, let alone ponder this further, he falls asleep.
His counter now sits at 67%.
Tropes appearing in this episode include:
- Cold Equation: The perfectly logical and unsettling, if naive, conclusion Mob comes to when asked to exorcise the peaceful spirit family. To truly keep them safe, he would need to inflict harm on the clients who want them exorcised, since they could always use another psychic's services if Reigen refused.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Ritsu's approach to dispatching one of the bullies who attack his big brother: attempted murder by strangulation.
- Late to the Realization: Reigen not realizing that his kindheartedness and his profit motive intersect in ways that are destructive to himself and others until his clients pressure Mob to abandon his morals.
- Also Reigen, who comes to understand in this episode: to Mob, spirits are as real and deserving of existence as living human beings.
- His full Jerkass Realization doesn't arrive until much later, but this sets it in motion.
- Take a Third Option: Reigen's sensible response to Mob's panic and his deadbeat clients' agitation: Lie and take their money.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Discussed via internal monologue. Mob grapples with the full implications of his power at the end of this episode: if corrupted, he is overpowered enough to end any existence, human or spirit, with a glance and stopping him would be nearly impossible. This would be a lot of responsibility for an adult to shoulder.
