#i do think it's easy to forget just how frightening mob can be under quieter circumstances

[russenoire]

I was thinking about how dimple thought mob would exorcise him if tsubomi or that guy he possessed in spirits arc got hurt, and how reigen told dimple mob would exorcise him for sure if he finds out he lied in wd arc. It felt really strange when fandom took their words as facts, like... none of these are dimple's fault? Why would reigen and dimple think that way?

shigeo himself has threatened to return ekubo to the void for far less, if you'll recall: ｢僕の名前は茂夫だよ。次、茂ちゃんって呼んだら除霊するから。｣ 'boku no namae wa shigeo da yo. tsugi, "shige-chan" -tte yondara jorei suru kara.' 'my name is shigeo. call me "shige-chan" again and i'll exorcise you.'

when he wakes up to the sleazy ghost's wheedling voice, he's ready to exorcise him. he does not give a single fuck. ｢他に言い残すことは？｣ comes to mind ('hoka ni iinokosu koto wa?' i would translate this as 'any more last words?'). then he warns him LATER THAT DAY that he'll be exorcised if he misbehaves again. granted, this came early in their acquaintance... and the very next morning after ekubo tried to murder him in s1e3... but still. (the ghost calls him by his given name for the rest of the series.)

in the psycho helmet arc, shigeo is incensed enough, hurt enough, and more than prepared to make good on that promise. he does not want to! and is weeping at the prospect of sending his friend to the shadow realms, but he will if he must. so that threat has been looming over ekubo for the entire series, anon. it's not baseless.

reigen's sense of what 'misbehavior' entails feels less punitive than ekubo's, however. it probably speaks to their backgrounds. reigen's example entails a breach of trust. even if that lie was justified (and oh ho, was it ever), it was still a lie, with all the potential to piss shigeo off. and reigen has reason to fear that, given that much of his own relationship with shigeo is based on blatant lies and he's secretly terrified of what will happen when they come to light... he's projecting so hard...

i imagine ekubo has led the kind of harsh gangsta (after)life where spirits being obliterated on someone's whim is common, if he fears it happening over what you mention specifically. those are less examples of behaving badly than failure to keep a promise, i think. but in ekubo's worldview? still perhaps bad enough to warrant severe punishment. the spirit has a better sense of what shigeo is capable of than reigen does and has valid reason to fear him, too.

i don't think shigeo actually would have exorcised ekubo for either of these things. i mean, he's grateful to the ghost for preventing him from nuking a sizable chunk of his hometown in grief and voices this; his methods wouldn't have mattered. especially after the fact. if shigeo can recontextualize mogami's torture for months as a cosmic fucking joke played at his expense and take him on? he can understand and forgive ekubo's lie in good faith.