Ch. 7 Kusuke Gets Involved

So... little baby Kusuo had gotten himself a girlfriend. That had to be the most interesting thing that Kusuke Saiki had heard in a very long time.

Having lost to his brother in many different ways thousands upon thousands of times, you would think that Kusuke Saiki, the brilliant, genius level, handsome, inventor and top of his class in London, would learn to just let things go. That maybe the 4,000th ass kicking would have taught him a lesson or two in humility. Other humans would probably lose once to the psychic super power and never try again for the rest of their lives. "What was I supposed to do?" They would tell their loved ones, eighty years later in a rocking chair next to the fire, "He was an all-powerful psychic, there was no way I could win. It doesn't make me any less of a person."

Those people would be right. Kusuo was an all-powerful psychic, but that was the beauty of it. His little brother was the only one that could actually beat him at something. Whether it be as intelligent as chess, reflective as video games or simple as rock, paper, scissors. Kusuo could beat the man with the IQ of 218, and that was what Kusuke really craved. He wanted to be beaten, beaten by his little brother and challenged to use all of his potential and actually live. Someday, he would defeat him... He would invent something that would give him the upper hand and he would crush his little brother into dust. It was his life's purpose.

What would one win feel like compared to the thousands of losses against the most powerful man alive?

Kusuke's heart was beating erratically, but he didn't show an ounce of his excitement as he sat down between his grandfather and his mother, thanking his grandmother as sweetly as he could when she poured him a cup of tea and offered him some cake. He looked the absolute picture of calm for sure, but inside he was whirling. How could he use this new information about Kusuo to give him the upper hand in their war?

"Hey Kusuo," He grinned over at the pink haired Saiki brother, "Do you need any repairs or updates on your limiters while I'm here?" "Of course I will add the tiniest listening device known to man so the next time you see this girlfriend of yours-"

Kusuo shook his head. Of course that was a stupid tactic, he had made those limiters he knew they should be in tip top condition unless something devastatingly bad happened to them, and then it was probably too late for everyone. Plus, how could he forget that Kusuo never actually talks? He wouldn't exactly be getting anything good through his listening device if he was only recording one party.

"Alright then, it's good to hear they're treating you well," He brought his tea cup to his lips, thinking fast, "Maybe we could go for a walk through the fields together when we're done for some brotherly bonding? I'd love to hear about this girlfriend of yours..." "And of course by brotherly bonding I mean I will pry your secrets from you one by one until I know everything I need to know to defeat you."

Kurumi, his mother, squealed in delight at the thought of her two boys getting along. "That's such a wonderful idea Ku-Chan, you should definitely-" She turned to look at her youngest son, only to go quiet at the intensity of the glare he was sending at her. "Oh..." She frowned and then turned back to Kusuke. "He says no thank you, Big Ku..."

Kusuke could feel his eyebrow twitch in annoyance but he forced the tick away. It definitely wouldn't be good to not appear sweet and innocent in front of his family, and besides that was another stupid idea. To actually pry secrets from his brother he would need to be able to actually talk to the guy, and since Kusuo refused to talk that meant taking off his telepathy blocker. That wasn't going to do him any favours.

"Well that's too bad," He replied after a pause, "I wanted to hear about your girlfriend. At least tell me if she's pretty."

"Oh she's absolutely stunning, you have no idea Kusuke," Kuniharu rubbed at his chin with a pervy grin, "She really is one hell of a - AH!" Suddenly the tea cup on the table in front of Kuniharu tipped over, violently splashing the man's chest and lap with the hot liquid. Kusuke's lips twitched in amusement. "Kusuo how could you do that to your daddy!"

"It looked like you just knocked it over yourself you clumsy idiot," Kumagoro rolled his eyes, but Kusuke was sure he was delighted by these turn of events. After all his grandfather had never particularly liked his father.

"Of course it wasn't me!" Kuniharu was making quite a fool of himself, flailing about and gesturing at Kusuo who looked perfectly calm, "My hand was nowhere near the tea cup. He just wanted to hurt me because I was talking about how good looking his girlfriend is!" The cake Kuniharu had been nibbling on through the afternoon suddenly leaped into the air and smushed into his face. "KUSUO."

Kurumi tugged gently on Kusuke's sleeve, pulling his attention away from his father. "Big Ku?"

"What's up mama?" He grinned at her and petted the hand on his sleeve reassuringly.

"Well um," Kurumi glanced quickly over at Kusuo and then back to him, smiling sheepishly, "Kusuo wants me to inform you that he and Teruhashi are just friends. He also says to, uh, not listen to a word your father says because he doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Well at least we agree on one thing little brother." Kusuke looked over at the younger boy, surprised to see a light dusting of pink over his cheek bones. Was it anger or embarrassment? Perhaps both? Fascinating.

Smiling brightly, Kusuke raised his tea cup towards his brother in a sort of toast before bringing it back to his lips, "So Kusuo doesn't have a girlfriend? I must admit that's sort of a relief. Afterall, what kind of older brother stays single while his brother plays the town?" Everyone but Kusuo laughed, though his father's laughter did seem kind of forced as he retook his seat with a scowl.

"So anyway, Kusuke," Kumi, his grandmother began as she poured a new cup of tea for her son-in-law, "You haven't told us what brings you back to Japan this time."

"Oh you know grandma," He sipped at his tea slowly, holding his big smile in place, "England gets a little boring after awhile, so I figured since I had some time between my billion dollar invention grants I would come out and visit my favorite grandparents!" He winked at his grandfather, sure that the old man was probably about ready to have a heart attack, despite what he looked like on the outside. "I really lucked out though because the whole family was here! Really makes it easy on me."

Kusuo shot him a look that Kusuke was sure meant he knew that his big brother was spouting some bullshit, but it wasn't like any of the elder Saiki family members would ever believe him. So Kusuke just grinned at him, and their tea continued. Kusuke answered questions about his new grants, leaving out confidential details about his inventions to the annoyance of his father who could smell the money even from this far across the world. He told his mother that he had lots of friends in England (a lie), and that he was always looking forward to meeting new students attending the university to see if any of them had similar intellects and interests to him (also a lie), and he showed his grandmother all of the latest fashion trends in London on his phone. But none of it mattered. All of this silly family stuff, he only held real affection for his mother, and he wasn't sure if it was truly the textbook emotions a son felt for his mom. Afterall, he wouldn't let anyone get in the way of him defeating Kusuo.

Kokomi Teruhashi, huh? Hadn't he met her before? Yeah... he had met her on New Year's either last year or the year before, he couldn't really remember. She was an exceedingly beautiful girl, he assumed, honestly he didn't really care enough about human beings in general to notice. He was also pretty sure that she was in Kusuo's class, and had a huge crush on him to boot. He remembered telling her that day that she wasn't good enough to be with Kusuo and he had meant it. Afterall what normal girl was good enough for the strongest being on the planet?

He stared at his little brother in curiosity. What then did it mean that the strongest man on the planet had actually become friends with a girl like that? This definitely required further examination.

Teruhashi was feeling extremely uncomfortable. There she was, sat at the little island in her kitchen, trying to mind her own business and do her math homework after her first day back in school after break. Her parents weren't due for a visit for a least another month and her brother was out of town for a film shoot, so she was home alone. Or she should have been home alone...

Roughly twenty minutes ago as she had sat doing her homework, she had heard a knock on her door, and when she had gone and opened it Kusuke Saiki was suddenly there. Smiling at her. She blinked at him in surprise.

"Hello Kokomi," Teruhashi balked at the casual use of her first name, "Is your brother home yet? He told me he would meet me here for an interview, but I might have arrived early..."

"Oh," Teruhashi didn't remember getting a text from her brother letting her know he was on his way home. But it was feasible that he got busy at work and forgot, "No, he's not home yet. I'm not actually sure when he's going to be home-"

"Well, I guess I will just wait inside for him then," Kusuke interrupted her before she could finish, gracefully stepping around her and entering her house, "Thank you so much." He kicked his shoes off and darted into the kitchen before she could blink. Not really knowing what to do, and wrongly assuming that Kusuke wasn't really much of a threat, she closed the door and headed back to her homework.

"I'm just working on my homework right now," She forced herself to smile at him like a good host, "But you can feel free to hang out in the living room while you wait if you want." She hopped back up onto her stool, feeling a little uneasy when Kusuke just smiled and hopped up on the stool across from her.

"No thanks, I'm good here," He replied, placing his elbows on the counter and then resting his chin in his hands. Then he just stared. He stared at her like she was the most interesting thing he had ever seen, still smiling that overly sweet smile that she was really starting not to like.

That was around when the uncomfortable feeling began. It didn't rise to what she was feeling right now, however, until twenty minutes passed in silence, and Kusuke continued to just stare and smile at her as she did her math. It was unnerving.

Teruhashi checked her phone for what felt like the tenth time since Kusuke had shown up, but she still hadn't received a text from her brother explaining his arrival. Sighing internally she set the phone back on the counter. She was beginning to get a little suspicious, afterall Saiki had told her a lot about his older brother, including the fact that the weird horn shaped thing on top of his head was a machine he had invented so that Saiki wouldn't be able to read his mind. Which... probably meant that Saiki didn't realize that he was here...

Frowning to herself she tried to remember which ramen restaurant Saiki had told her he and Nendou, Kaido and Aren were going to after school. Was it within 200 metres of where she was? She really didn't think so... "Saiki? Can you hear me?" No response, well it had been a long shot anyway. Glancing at Kusuke quickly she grabbed her phone again, needing some answers as fast as possible.

"Why aren't you doing your homework at my parent's house?" Kusuke spoke up for the first time since they had sat down, distracting her enough to lower her phone. He grinned at her, "I mean, I know it's only the first day back to school, but I thought you and my brother were supposed to be best friends or something."

Teruhashi shrugged, "He's spending time with his other friends today. They were really excited to go eat ramen together since they hadn't really seen much of him over break."

"But you did."

Was this an interrogation? "I did."

"Hmm," Kusuke went silent again, still grinning that odd smile.

Teruhashi stared at him for a moment and then slowly looked back down at her phone, still open on her contacts screen. She quickly jotted out two text messages, one to her brother asking when he thought he would be home and another to Saiki, inquiring about whether or not he knew that his brother was in her kitchen. Once she was satisfied that her questions would be answered soon she set her phone back down and turned back to her homework, trying to ignore the older Saiki brother across from her.

"You know," Kusuke spoke up again, watching her intently as she finished off another math problem, "I could make you some telepathy blockers of your own. Maybe a necklace or some earrings so you could keep up appearances, since I know that's important to you."

She refused to take the bait of his not very well hidden insult, "No thank you," She replied coolly, not even giving him the satisfaction of looking at him as she continued with her last few problems.

Kusuke tilted his head slightly, "Why not? Don't you want to keep your thoughts private?"

"It doesn't bother me that much," She sighed, feeling annoyed, "Besides, if I was wearing a blocker it would be impossible for Saiki to talk to me telepathically so why would I want that?"

He didn't respond, but his smile got wider. Thank god her phone vibrated against the counter, distracting her from her best friend's creepy brother. She had two texts. One from her brother saying he probably wouldn't make it back until dinner the following night, and that he was sorry. Not that that really mattered, she was used to being in this big house all on her own. The second was from Saiki, and it was just a single word.

No.

Even through her phone screen she could tell Saiki was furious, so it wasn't much of a surprise when a minute or so later the now familiar blue light lit up her kitchen, and Saiki's hand clasped down onto her shoulder. She glanced up at him with a smile, but his attention was fully focused on his brother, scowling and angry. She got the feeling like he was trying to protect her, though she wasn't really sure from what.

Is he bothering you?

"Not really, he's just been here for thirty minutes staring at me while I try and do math," She replied aloud, relishing in the fact that she could hear Saiki and his creepy older brother couldn't.

"I wasn't sure you were actually going to ditch out on your other friends just to come and make sure your girlfriend was safe from me," Kusuke's sweet smile looked a lot more villainous now that his brother had finally arrived, but Teruhashi wasn't blushing like crazy because of that.

"G-girlfriend? We're just friends..." She mumbled, wishing vehemently that the floor would just swallow her whole and get her out of this awful situation.

Saiki's fingers tightened on her shoulder slightly, but he finally looked down at her, meeting her eyes with a tight smile, Is your brother going to be home soon?

She shook her head, "No he said he won't be home until tomorrow night."

Saiki nodded, Come on, He motioned for her to get up and come with him, Let's go get some sweets at the cafe.

Relieved to be anywhere but here, Teruhashi nodded, hopping down from her stool and turning to the older Saiki, "You're going to have to get out of my house I'm afraid."

To her surprise Kusuke didn't look offended, instead he looked happier than ever as he jumped from his stool and waved merrily, "You don't need to tell me twice. I'm just so glad that I got to get to know the girl that was good enough to learn about my brother's powers," He bowed her to respectfully, "And with that, I shall take my leave." Then once again, he was darting through her house, donning his shoes and rushing out the door before she even realized he was gone.

She looked over at Saiki with a raised brow, "What was that about?"

Saiki shrugged, I have no idea. Nothing good, though.

Kusuke had a brilliant plan.

After leaving the Teruhashi household he already felt like he had a much better grasp on their relationship. In fact he was so certain that he knew exactly what was going on, and what the problem was, that he was already 96.7% sure that he knew exactly how to exploit it.

A week went by. As far as Saiki knew his older brother had returned to England without so much as a goodbye to the family. Not that he really minded. He was honestly just happy that Kusuke hadn't bothered Teruhashi more than he already had during his brief visit, but luckily he seemed to dodge a bullet on that one. Of course, Kusuke always had a way of surprising Saiki in annoying ways, and when he arrived home after school at the end of the week, he discovered one of those little surprises.

There was a package addressed to him sitting on the kitchen counter. The return address said London, England, so there was only one person it could be from, but that didn't exactly make Saiki feel any better about it. The last time Kusuke had sent him a package it had been a bomb... though... Saiki was looking this package up and down, and from every angle with his x-ray vision and he didn't see any explosives. Just a pair of glasses eerily similar to the ones he was wearing.

I am going to regret this, Saiki sighed to himself before reaching over and slowly peeling off the tape from the package. He braced himself, but no explosion came. The cardboard for the parcel ripped off with the tape, and inside was nothing but the case these new glasses were in.

Frowning deeper, Saiki opened the case and lifted the glasses out, bringing them a bit closer to his face to examine them thoroughly. They were almost identical to his own. Same shape, same style, same dark green lenses, but the frames were grey instead of white. They didn't self destruct into his eyes as he held them, though he could see some suspicious wires running through the frames he was nervous about, and there was a tiny switch, just over where his left ear would be.

He clicked it on.

Again there was no explosion. Just a tiny whir of electricity and a sudden dull to the green of the lenses.

Saiki really wasn't sure what to make of them.

"Hey, Kusuo! In the living room! Yoo hoo!" His brother's voice suddenly rang out through the house. Of course. The living room TV had turned on by itself, one of Kusuke's favorite tricks, and there in the center of the screen was his brother, smiling brightly.

"This is a pre-recorded video letter, Kusuo," Kusuke continued talking almost immediately after Saiki had sat on the couch, "I just wanted to explain my new invention to you in case for some reason you tried to destroy it."

You mean because you've tried to kill me before?

"I don't know if you've noticed Kusuo, but after hanging out with your friend Kokomi, I rushed all the way back to England without even a goodbye. Though of course, through my own sources I found out how sweet you were to Kokomi that day, eating all those sweets together and then making sure she was safely at home, and I, the big scary bad brother, was nowhere near her, before you returned home yourself. You're like a knight in shining armor aren't you?" Kusuke clapped his hands together like an excited child, "Oh and I almost forgot, I got this-" He pulled a polaroid picture from his pocket of Saiki and Teruhashi walking from the cafe together, and held it up for Saiki to see. "I don't know what you said to make her blush so red Kusuo, but look at you!" He pulled the photo back and turned so only he was gazing at it lovingly, "You're smiling! You're actually smiling Kusuo!"

Saiki rolled his eyes. I do smile from time to time. I'm not a robot.

"Anyway," Kusuke chuckled and shoved the picture back into his pocket. "That's when I came up with the most brilliant idea. Glasses you can wear that will stop your x-ray vision all together! Switch on means no x-ray vision, switch off means x-ray vision for days! Aren't I marvelous?" Kusuke gave a thumbs up and winked at the camera.

Saiki blinked in surprise and looked back down at the glasses he was still holding. No x-ray vision? The possibilities were already racing through his head. Never again would he have to see his father's naked body as he rummaged through the bottom drawers in the fridge.

This was the greatest gift his brother had ever given him.

Kusuke was laughing and waving his hand dismissively at the screen when Kusuo looked back up, "No need to thank me little brother. Just give mama my best, and tell your little girlfriend I'm sorry for scaring her. Ciao for now!" He blew a kiss to the camera and then the tv turned off, leaving Saiki alone once again.

Saiki stared at the black TV, then moved his gaze back to the glasses in his hand. Was it really such a great idea to wear something made for him by his evil brother? He had been seeing naked bodies, skeletons, and organs all his life, by now he was used to it. Sure it was still pretty disturbing to see your father's business right in your face, but a few seconds later it was just blood, muscle and bones.

But it wouldn't just be his father he no longer had to see...

Kurumi Saiki returned home later that afternoon from the grocery store, confused to find an empty package from london on her counter, and her youngest son's glasses discarded in the trash.

She sighed, "As long as he doesn't turn papa into a statue again, I guess we'll be fine."