A Breach of Trust

Fanfiction
Title:	A Breach of Trust
Author(s):	Phantomrose96
Date(s):	October 5, 2016 –
Length:	384k words, 47 chapters (ongoing)
Genre:	Gen, Alternate Canon
Fandom:	Mob Psycho 100
External Links:	AO3
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

A Breach of Trust (ABoT) is a Mob Psycho 100 fanfic by Phantomrose96. It is a hurt/comfort darkfic that has garnered wide following and controversy in the fandom. In the story, Mob is kidnapped by Mogami and held for four years before being rescued by Reigen.

Summary:

This is a world in which Mob and Reigen’s paths have never crossed, in which 10-year-old Mob found psychic guidance in the form of the aging, retired tv personality Keiji Mogami, in which Reigen followed through on his plans to close the Spirits and Such Agency, in which a cruel twist of Mob’s powers forces him to confront how dangerous he really is.

10 year old Shigeo Kageyama has vanished, his trail instantly cold, and his case gathers dust in police archives as a kidnapping never solved. Four years pass before a chain of events causes his path to cross with that of the despondent, unfulfilled fake-psychic-turned-fake-investigator, Arataka Reigen. Reigen finds himself in over his head caring for an escaped victim of abuse who, for reasons unfathomable, has been taught to believe his very existence is a horrifically dangerous thing…

The author has summarized the origins and purpose of the fic thusly:

ABoT is something I wrote in earnest during a really dark point in my life. Not to bog this down with woe-is-me details, but all the general fun-stuff of catatonic depression and self-destructive self-punishment behaviors. Much of ABoT’s tone comes from the crushing, isolating, self-destructive feelings I didn’t have any other means of parsing–Reigen’s unsung depression and isolation from society, Mob’s feeling that he’s not worth the harm of trying to save, Ritsu’s spiraling self-destructive behavior, Teru’s fake composure on top of the vulnerability he refuses to express, Tetsuo’s Utter Exhaustion™. All of these were feelings I needed to scream into the void, if nowhere else, because I wasn’t getting help and I wasn’t reaching out enough and I wasn’t managing. And that’s a big part of why ABoT’s theme of healing, connecting, and self-improvement is so important to me. It’s meant to be a story about pulling yourself up from the screaming void, even through hell and high-water. And it’s not about saving the world, like so much shonen is. It’s about that smaller, internal triumph of trying to pull your life together into something warm and worth protecting, coming from the darkest and coldest pits of isolation and stagnation. And that’s why it stings so much to see ABoT absolutely lambasted as “sicko torture fic”, as though the fight to heal isnt there

As of August 2019, there are 105 works on AO3 tagged as "Inspired by A Breach of Trust".

Reception

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

attic au is/was common in the fandom

The fic inspired much fanart. Some fans have made their own recursive fanfiction and fanart where Reigen was also kidnapped by Mogami and kept in an attic - this is called the Attic AU, with art and stories contributed by fans of ABoT and phantomrose96 herself.

Example Fanworks

• "HAPPY BORTH TO THE AUTHOR OF ONE OF THE MOST WELL WRITTEN CHAOTIC SHITSTORMS OF A FANFIC I HAVE HAD A PLEASURE TO READ IN A LONG WHILE, @phantomrose96 HAVE A GOOD ONE!", ^{Archived version}by the-elf-draws
• "The man turned and offered a small smile, like Shishou never did.", ^{Archived version}, comic of a scene from chapter 9 by sandflakedraws
• "Reigen buying Mob some shampoo (A Breach of Trust - Chapter 16)", ^{Archived version}by cathianmelion
• "so theres a new abot chapter and i have no control of my life", ^{Archived version}by torifalls

Attic AU

• ABOT Attic Au Masterpost, ^{Archived version} by fireflysummers
• sometimes things just get lost in the shuffle, ^{Archived version}, comic of an outtake from the attic AU by sanflakedraws
• Another Attic AU one-shot, ^{Archived version}, story and art by fireflysummers and sanflakedraws
• small bonus attic au doodles, ^{Archived version}, art and story by sandflaketdraws and phantomrose96

Controversy

Some people disliked A Breach of Trust because it heavily features child abuse. The author and fans of the fic were harassed. On July 22, 2018, Phantomrose96 wrote a tumblr post in response.

So I’m Mad

Some of you following me might know about this. Some of you might not know at all. But there’s a group of folks who, just about a week ago, raided the ABoT server. And they did it because they hate ABoT. They’re from a pocket of tumblr who’ve decided ABoT is problematic because it’s dark. That the existence of abuse in the fic–no matter how much it’s portrayed as bad–makes the fic unworthy of existing. But I’m not gonna start with getting backed up against a wall trying to justify the existence of conflict and dark themes in writing. I’m gonna start with this.

Here’s an incomplete list of what these folks have done over the last year and a half or so

• spread a rumor around tumblr that I’m a pedo apologist (because I kicked someone out of the ABoT server for sending death threats, and these death threats were directed at a rit//mob shipper not even in the discord) which is a serious as hell accusation and false
• made at least one post that I know about saying I should kill myself
• sent me hate (but hey thats a given on tumglr dot hell)
• have gone around accusing ABoT of being “child torture porn”, and I see how badly they’re trying to put the word “child” and “porn” next to each other. despite the fact that ABoT has absolutely no sexual content at all.
• as of this week: spammed the ABoT, A Breach of Trust, and phantomrose96 tag
  • including hate and more threats mixed in with the spam
• took URLs related to ABoT to spam and send violent messages

(they spammed the mp100 tag too while doing this idk what they planned to get out of that but)

• raided the ABoT discord. As in they took advantage of our open-door policy, came in en-masse, and tried to flood the channels. Luckily our mod Nova shut them down quickly. But you know what? Damage done. People got freaked out. That discord is a close-knit community a year and a half in the making. You know who you help by raiding a place like that and making us close our doors? Absolutely no one.

And you know what the people in the ABoT server have done? None of that. The people in the ABoT server have built a supportive, mature, respectful community. So yeah, we don’t do that here.

I’ve been so patient. I’ve held my tongue. I didn’t want drama, or to drag anyone else into drama. I didn’t want to get anyone flooded with hate, so I stayed quiet and let those people be bitter, nasty, hateful people. Because I understand some people would get upset that an AU they don’t like has so much content. There’s no rules against being mean on the internet, okay, I know that. I stood by when they stayed in their own corner. But this is a step beyond that. Raiding the server meant dragging in so many more people. And I’m fed up.

And let me reiterate. ABoT’s crime? That it’s angsty. And the thing is, THAT wasn’t even the original accusation against it. These people started stirring out of bitterness that ABoT got attention, and I’ve seen them jump from one wild accusation to another trying to find a purchase for their crusade. Because they knew as soon as they could pin it down as Problematic then they would have full and free reign to be the “good guys” while destroying someone else’s hardwork and happiness and community.

And let me add this in–I’m open to criticism. I tag whatever people want me to tag. I rethink my own content if or when people come to me with concerns about what it portrays. I’m a growing, learning, human being, and I want to be a good person. What these people are doing isn’t criticism. It’s hate. It’s spam. It’s harassment.

I’m tired of stressing about what accusation these people will have against me next. I’m tired of stressing about what action they’ll take next. I’m tired of second-guessing every word I type, because any single out of context sentence may be used to string me up. My mental health is worth way more than that, and I’m tired of letting that suffer.

I’m a positive blog. I’m a positive person. But I’ve got my limits here. These people are sad. They thrive off sucking the life force out of other things, and the worst part is they act like they’re in the right. Any kind of argument you can make against them will be deflected as “you’re defending the Problematic Side, now here’s a callout post for you too.” That’s what they did to Joey (Sandflakedraws), after Joey decided to stick up for me. They’re not doing things to protect people. They’re bullies, bottom line.

You wanna do something nice? Give to a charity. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Do literally anything other than harass people.

I’m still writing ABoT.

Return from Hiatus

In 2020, Phantomrose96 returned to the fic and began publishing new chapters

Further Reading

• the weird thing about abot is that it could have been good: the analysis post by cryangular, post August 2018
• Well, might as well throw my hat into the ring, ^{Archived version}, by perpetualwhirlpoolofconfusion -- a response to the raid and defense of ABoT and its fan community. Posted 14 July 2018.
• Long post by Phantomrose96 regarding ABoT, ^{Archived version}, posted 18 October 2018