A/N: Thanks for dealing with whatever happened preventing new chapters from showing up.

We're just over halfway, I think, as of the end of the last chapter. This is a long chapter that was two chapters until five minutes ago, when I noticed the first one was only 2800 words. That and it would be nice to wrap up one of the main arcs one chapter sooner (aka next time!)

Chapter 12 - Detention

After the movie, Kokomi kicked Kusuo out - it had been another emotional day, and she needed to rest, and figure out how she was going to do damage control at school the next day.

The sun was just going down when Kusuo got home. He started to get messages before he got in the door.
Group message with Kokomi, Kuboyasu, Nendo, Yumehara:
Chiyo: Guys, sorry, but there's one more thing we need to figure before school tomorrow.
Nendo: Whaddyou mean?
Chiyo: Well, are Saiki and Kokomi going to be 'fighting', 'together', or 'whatever'?
Kokomi: Why are we talking about this now?
Chiyo: Listen. We know somebody is trying to break you up. We don't know who or why. We don't think they know we know about it. And how do their powers fit in?
Kusuo: So… you don't think we want them to know that we know.
Chiyo: Right. So that means, pretending to not be getting together
Kokomi: … again
Kusuo: I'm not sure I can handle all this not being together
Kokomi: heart emojis
Kokomi: Just a little while longer, ok?
Kusuo: Jare Jare
Kuboyasu: What?

Kusuo opened the door and saw Kusuke playing chess by himself in the front room. "Having fun?" Kusuo asked.

"Oh yes. You can learn a lot about your enemies while playing chess."

"What now? What enemies?" Kusuo wasn't sure he was in the mood for a Kusuke riddle.

"Sure. Everybody has them. Except maybe people who have tried so hard to blend in that they don't have any friends either."

"Uh huh."

"Isn't it fascinating how beginners at chess will make the best move they know and hope you won't see it coming?" Kusuke waited for dramatic effect. "Whereas experts will not only expect your best moves and know how to counter it, but know how to force you into their trap?"

Kusuo stood staring at him with his mouth open. Kusuke's expression was about double his typical intensity.

Kusuke knocked over one of the kings. "Well, I've got plans, little brother! Have a nice evening." He walked away and shut his door behind him.

What exactly was that idiot blathering about. Kusuo walked over and examined the chessboard. There was something funny about the board. White was in checkmate, even though white had succeeded in taking more pieces. Wait a minute. Black hadn't captured a single piece. White had attempted a rookie checkmate strategy, but black had a legitimate attack on every single one of white's pieces, in addition to having white in checkmate.

The next day at school Kusuo got there a little early, and sought out his teacher. "Ms Shima? I was wondering if I could switch seats." He turned and glared at Kokomi's spot for good measure.

"Any particular reason?"

"Well, I just can't seem to focus from where I am, for some reason."

"Right…" she said, following his gaze, and frowned. "Well, if you can't focus, then of course, you may switch seats. Oh, Mr Saiki, while you're here, why don't we have a chat about your grades. You are missing a number of assignments, have a higher-than-usual absence rate, your work quality is low, and your class ranking has dropped from the 50th to the 30th percentile. I know that while 30th percentile at PK is still somewhat prestigious, a drop of that magnitude seems to indicate ...", she raised her eyebrows a little, "problems outside class. Is there anything I can help with?" She didn't sound like she was in a helpful mood, so he simply nodded and hoped she was done.

She gave him some time to answer, and then just pointed to a new seat that she said was empty. He honestly couldn't remember who he would be sitting next to.

Wow, had he really fallen that far behind in his schoolwork? He had pretty much been swamped since the start of school. Oh right, that was all powers-related fallout, not actually schoolwork. She was right, he hadn't been that invested in school at all so far, and it was all due to problems outside class. Unfortunately, said problems didn't seem like they would be be dying down anytime soon.

While he waited for classes to start, he tried to consider where he stood with Kokomi. She had said, "one step at a time." What did that mean? She wasn't willing to say they were a couple yet, but some of the things she said and did kind of indicated that they were… The way she got jealous about him spending time with Yumehara, how closely she held him, having him put his arm around her and leaning into him, and throwing around the word breakup a few times. After thinking about it for a minute, he supposed she was right - maybe they needed time together where they weren't actually fighting.

Kokomi couldn't tell whether she wanted to activate her telepathy for school. She was sure half the school thought she was psycho. She decided she wouldn't be able to bear it, and activated the ring. Oh, Kusuke, I could kiss you for this ring. Lightly. Somewhere far, far away from the lips. She also decided she would approach the school invisible, and not worry about anybody at all until she could get to the bathroom by the classroom.

As she approached the gates, she was amazed by the crowds gathered on the grounds. It looked like there were two main crowds, separated by the main sidewalk. The one one the left side had about thirty and the one on the right had eight or so, and they were protesting each other. She opened her telepathy for a second and determined that the larger side was apologetic for what had happened yesterday, and the other side was filled with contempt.

She remembered her mom's words about how you can't find real friends without presenting your real self, even though that might lead some to not like you. Kokomi looked at the smaller but angrier crowd and thought that was an understatement. She looked back to the larger crowd and decided becoming visible was worth the risk to see what would happen. She found a quiet place to become visible, and came up the sidewalk. She directed her attention to the 'nice' side.

"Sorry, Teruhashi!"
"We're with you Teruhashi!"
"Teruhashi! Teruhashi! Teruhashi!"

However, the 'not nice' side was still pretty loud:

"Teruhashi's lost her mind!"
"Down with Teruhashi!"
"She's not worthy of our affection!"

What is it with people and celebrities? Oh well. She allowed herself to be swallowed up in the nice crowd, and they deliberately did not give her anything, but instead let her know their support. She ignored the group on the right side, until she started getting hit by squishy fruit. Gross.

Mr. Matsuzaki had been standing by, having detected a nontypical commotion, and quickly shut them down.

She smiled thankfully at the group on the left. They took pictures of her smiling and covered with tomato juice, which seemed to have landed in flattering positions and patterns, and thought she couldn't be prettier.

She noticed Kaido being led away by Mr. Matsuzaki. What are you up to? His hand was covered with fruit juice, and she couldn't read his expression - he frowned and his eyebrows were furrowed - he just looked dark.

Kokomi made it into the classroom, and noticed Kusuo had switched seats. He had made it to the previously empty seat by the corner, and Aiura was seated right next to him, trying not to look excited. As she sat down, she saw a vivid picture of Kusuo rolling his eyes in her mind, coupled with What a pain in various languages.

"I missed you," he thought. "Did you make it through the crowd ok?"

"Yeah, I was going to go invisible, but I decided to share that moment with them," she replied. "What would you think about my hair in pigtails? It's been a long time..."

"You're asking me about hairstyles?" Kusuo asked.

"Good point." She proceeded to start braiding her hair.

"Soooooo, this is funny, right? Me pretending not to be in a relationship? Wait, are we in a relationship?" he prodded.

"Soooooo, remember last week, when you said something like, 'we've gotten rid of all the reasons to not date, but let's make some reasons to be together?'"

"Yeeeeeeeah…."

"So it seems like we spent almost an entire week fighting - we lost a lot of time, and now that we're not fighting, we need to see where we are."

"Well, we know all of each others' secrets, well, you know mine, and we know we can get through a fight."

"That's true," Kokomi admitted. I only barely survived that fight, though. "Pretty sure you know all of my secrets, too. Except maybe my two-day mean-girl phase." She finished her hair, tying it into place with some ponytail holders. Having not done it in a while, it turned out slightly uneven, but that didn't stop half the class from gawking.

"What? There was a time you weren't perfect? I must know about this."

"Later. Let's talk about it more next time we're alone."

Class started, and Kusuo's thoughts started drifting, until he heard, "... forget about the dance tomorrow night."

Takahashi raised his hand (it's almost as if he wasn't going to be in this story). "Wait! How long has there been a dance planned?"

Kusuo and Kokomi wouldn't have been able to forget about the dance - it was the dance that brought on the events of their big fight.

Ms. Shima put her hands on her hips. "Seriously?! I told you on the first day of school! There are posters in every hallway!" Everybody looked confused. "Are you telling me that none of you knew about the dance?" Most of the class shrugged. "Normally you students are more excited about dances.

"Well, it's not too late. It's an informal - go either with couples, groups, or individuals - so it's not like you have to have made huge plans; just show up and have a good time."

"I actually wanted to go with you, but we still have to pretend to not be dating," Kokomi told Kusuo.

"I guess, technically, we're not actually dating, so…," was all he could say.

Suddenly, everybody looked at Kokomi. Half of them seemed to remember their resolve to treat her like a normal person and looked for other prospects. Kokomi blushed and told the others, "I was actually planning on going with a group of friends." She thanked them anyway, and smiled, Kusuo was pleased to see that she was sincere. Two years ago, she would have thought, "No way would I go with any of you losers."

My, how she's grown up, Kusuo thought. Then he saw a picture of her winking in his mind. Crap, I did it again.

He heard a faint clunk inside his desk, and saw some quick motion in the corner of his eye. "Psssst." He looked over, and saw Aiura making a weird gesture, opening her desk and looking inside. Look in your desk, dummy! He didn't think she knew he could read minds again, so he played dumb and leaned over and looked inside her desk. There wasn't anything interesting in there, so he leaned forward again and pretended to pay attention to class.

Mind racing, he scanned the room. Aha! Yumehara was one seat in front of him and to the right. "Yumehara, can you hand me that pencil?" He had just "dropped" it next to her. As she handed it to him, he touched her fingers just a little, and shouted in his mind, X-ray vision! He just hoped that Kusuke was right, that he could control this with the ring too, and that he wouldn't have to stare at everybody's skeletons all day.

"You're behaving back there, aren't you?" Kokomi thought to him, obviously knowing about all the tricks involving fallen pencils.

He ignored her, and instead set about his task of scanning his desk without Aiura knowing. There was a note from her, reminding him that he never gave her an answer about the dance. Just great. Hadn't she also gotten super upset with him over the dance? She still wanted to go with him?

He stole a glance sideways, and noticed Aiura getting frantic. "What am I supposed to do, Kokomi? She doesn't know we're whatever we are, and we don't want her to know, right?"

"Right."

"But we don't want me to go out with her on a date, do we?" Kusuo thought, a little disparaged.

He heard her mind working. "Hmm. We're 'not together', so there's no real reason to say 'no' except if you really really don't like her (you better not), but she did ask you first, so maybe you should say 'yes'. But, if you do go with her, then the only possible outcomes are (a) you fall for her and we break up and I kill you slowly, or (b) she eventually finds out we're together, and finds out you've been toying with her and hates you forever…"

Kusuo added, "Or (c) it's just a one-time thing and neither of those things happen, or (d), I just don't go." He thought, ending on a sour note. "Also, the way you're saying that suggests that we are a couple. Wink. Wait, who's in your friend group?"

He heard her reach out to the others who knew she was telepathic. "Chiyo and Kuboyasu are in. For some reason, Nendo isn't responding. Wait, now that you mention it, I've never heard Nendo's thoughts…"

All eyes were on Kusuo as he busted up laughing. He couldn't stop; tears were forming in his eyes.

As it didn't seem to stop, Ms. Shima, said, "As funny as you think the civics of Switzerland are, Mr. Saiki, please go see the office right now. Come back with a detention note."

Wow, I'm not sure I've heard him laugh before. Not like that, Kokomi thought, smiling. "What's so funny?"

Even as he got up to walk out, he was still laughing and couldn't answer.

When Kusuo came back, he gave Ms. Shima the note. "For detention," she said, "just stay here after school."

On the way back to his desk, he got hit in the face with a giant spitwad.

"What is going on today?! Aiura - office - detention," Ms. Shima said through gritted teeth.

Yes! Aiura thought. On her way out, she pantomimed for him to look in his desk again. This time he complied. But he moved so slowly that she was out of the room before he could "read" it.

"Hey, can I be in your friend group? That wouldn't be too suspicious, would it?" Kusuo asked Kokomi telepathically.

"Saiki Kusuo! We just had a messy breakup cuz you saw me kissing your friend! How could you possibly even look at me right now?! Go get your own friends!"

"But … you stole all of mine," he whined.

She turned and gave him a wicked smile.

Whoa. Dark Angel.

Aiura came back. "You two can do detention together." Ms. Shima said. Aiura made a victorious gesture.

Ugh. What a pain, thought both Kusuo and Kokomi.

On the way back from lunch, Kusuo did notice there were a few dance posters. He just never seemed to notice them before. One was next to his "The Real Teruhashi" poster. Somebody had gotten interrupted drawing a mustache on one of the pictures of her, and now there were two tough-looking students standing guard. Did they miss class all day, or do they rotate? Ah, who cares.

A minute or so before class was supposed to start, Mr. Iguchi ran into the class, panicking, and said, "Everybody settle down, please!" There were little sweat droplets forming on his face. He turned on the tv in the corner. The mood turned tentative as they watched the news unfold.

The anchor was reporting on several national-scale emergencies all happening at once. The ticker at the bottom summarized them all while it was showing the events live.

"There were several explosions inside the grounds of the Imperial Palace. They all missed critical targets…

"Ten of the nation's largest banks were each robbed by large groups of masked people. Guards were disarmed and they made it into the vaults, but they all seemed to just leave without taking anything. No weapons were drawn, the only threat seemed to be their sheer numbers. Police were dispatched, but never showed up…

"The Cabinet members have been trapped inside the Cabinet building meeting chambers for hours now. Emergency responders have been unable to get them out. Oh wait! They're coming out right now!"

The screen flickered and went black. Then a garbly, computer-generated voice said, "This is a taste of what we can do. Nobody has been harmed - yet. We have been biding our time while we gained power, but the time is right for us to come out in the open." While it was saying that, a logo appeared on the screen, fading in and out like it was on fire, along with the words:

DARK REUNION

The class sat in shock for a while. Then, slowly, all eyes turned to Kaido. Kaido shrugged, and said, "What? I've been telling you all along."

The events that had unfolded became the source of their lectures for the rest of the day. By the time school ended, most of the students had started to relax a little since nobody had been hurt, and no real damage (except a few gardens) had been done. They seemed to almost be able to go back to "normal school conversations", but Kusuo was a little alarmed about what was yet to come.

He looked at Kaido, and vowed he would talk to him tonight, after detention. Dark Reunion actually existed, but their aims seemed a little higher than getting the power that Kaido's bandage secured. What did they want? Money? To control the government? How much did Kaido actually know? Apparently Kaido had been leaving clues all along, and nobody believed him.

It seemed odd, now, that he hadn't spoken to Kaido since Tuesday, when he sent them all out to practice their powers. He seemed to be on the TFC's side now. Was he still undercover, or had he "turned"?

More importantly, would he eventually have to choose between Kaido and Kokomi? What a pain. See? Before, I didn't have enemies. Except that wasn't exactly true - the TFC had always hated him.

It was settled, he would get Kaido to meet him somewhere after detention. However, of more pressing concern, he had to spend the afternoon with Aiura, who would certainly press him about the dance.

Kokomi went invisible when Kusuo went to serve his detention. She decided she wanted to talk with him at the earliest possible moment about Dark Reunion, which meant waiting for him while he did his detention. Plus she wanted to watch him squirm, while being supportive, of course.

He and Aiura had been assigned to wash all the whiteboards on the whole floor, and they set out to work, without much to say at first.

Kokomi had been guarding her thoughts pretty closely. She knew the ring could control whose thoughts she heard, but she wondered if her ring could prevent Kusuo from reading her thoughts. She didn't know but she gave it a shot.

Ok. So Aiura wants to go out for real with him. He was in a fake relationship with her. He's seen her … she didn't want to finish that thought again. Hmph. Why am I getting jealous when he's already told me he doesn't like her that way? Especially since I just told him we're not a couple?

What would Mom tell me to do? Kusuo thought. How am I supposed to handle her right now?

Aiura finally broke the silence. "Hey, why are you looking like the world is falling apart? You saved the world, remember?" Aiura added.

"Well, there is the whole Dark Reunion thing," he bluffed.

"We can't do anything about that right now! Live a little!" They continued to work for a minute. He was trying to scrub out a stubborn marker stain.

Aiura spoke again. "Ok, listen. I need to know about the dance. I know we left on the wrong foot last Friday, and then you were in the hospital, then you were beaten up," she tilted her head back and forth as she made this list, "then we all missed a day, then yesterday you looked like you hated the world, so I left you alone, and then you disappeared, but I really need to know. Even if it's 'no' and you're still wishing for Kokopi. PS - if you are, I'm pretty sure she'd take you, so why don't you just jump on that. Again, if you are into her. Oh wait, she's still mad at you. Man, what did you do to her? But just remember we're soulmates, so it'll happen eventually, you and me."

Wow, nice speech. "Listen, I don't know what to do here," Kusuo said.

"Just give me a chance," she said. She closed the distance and put her hands on his shoulders. He flinched. "That's not giving it a chance." She kept her hands there, and he took a few deep breaths.

Ok, here goes. Thanks a lot, Koko. He looked at Aiura deeply in the eyes, thought better of turning on his x-ray vision, and put his hands on her shoulders. He tried to remove all skepticism from his mind. Her face softened, and he waited for something magical to happen.

He waited a little longer.

Nothing happened. See, with Koko, this would cause feelings. But I only feel annoyed.

"Gah, I don't get it! We're supposed to be soulmates!" Aiura threw her arms up in frustration and stepped away. "But I just don't feel anything with you. I mean, I've been excited at the thought of us, but there's just no chemistry!" she pouted. She grabbed his palm and did some voodoo with it. "Uuuugggh!"

"Since you can totally just know in five seconds. I mean, it took us three years to get chemistry." Kokomi thought, only for Kusuo to hear.

Kusuo jumped, for the first time realizing she was there. "Hey, at least I'm on the same footing as all the other SKs she interviewed and tossed aside. Except I'm the only one with pink hair." "You know, if this is the same level of scrutiny you gave everybody else, anybody could be your soulmate. Even that Sawakita guy."

"Oh him? He was only interested in my boobs."

"Honey, they were all interested in your boobs," Kusuo said. "Maybe if you actually tried to get to know them…" he trailed off.

"Wait, does that mean you weren't?" she said, a little insulted.

"What? Into your boobs? Not particularly. But if you're thinking I'm better than that, I don't actually know if that's true - I just have a unique perspective because of my x-ray vision."

I wonder what he thinks about mine. Kusuo overheard Kokomi's thoughts that he was pretty sure had not been intended for him. Kusuo stole a sideways glance at where he thought Kokomi's head was, trying to be careful to not think about anything at all. Crap. I don't know where that came from. Must be hanging around her too much.

Aiura shook her head, trying to get back to the point. "So, what about the dance?"

Kusuo pressed the advantage. "Ok, since we aren't sure about the whole soulmate thing, why don't you just come with our group, and we can dance, as friends."

"Better than nothing. I guess."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Then, without having thought through what he was about to do, walked over and shut the door. "Come on out. Time for you two to clear the air."

"Two? What are you talking about?" Aiura said.

"What?! Really?" He could hear whimpering in Kokomi's thoughts.

"We can trust her. Probably."

So Kokomi turned visible, and Aiura jumped so far she almost fell over the teacher's desk. She suddenly got angry. "She's been here the whole time?!" She turned on Kusuo, and, thoughtfully for his nose that still hurt from yesterday, grabbed him by the shirt, rolled over backwards, and used her legs to throw him across the room.

It wasn't enough to knock him out, but he decided it was best to pretend.

Ok, clear the air? "So." Kokomi said softly.

"So…" Aiura said uncomfortably.

"Are you two together?" Kokomi asked bluntly.

"What? Are you serious?" She looked at Kokomi incredulously, but her look said that she was, in fact serious.

Kokomi added, "Listen, last Friday, when you asked Kusuo to the dance, I was there. We were on our first date. Well, technically the third, but the first one he actually wanted to go on."

"I know," Aiura said. "I mean, I knew you were there. I saw you crying on the way home. I turned left a few blocks away, and you kept going straight, and walked right past me." Aiura sat down, looking at Kokomi with a mix of jealousy and pity. "What happened, anyway?"

You really don't know? Kokomi sighed. She sat down and told her the whole story. Starting from where Kusuo told her about the powers, and everything that had made her feel increasingly uncomfortable since then. About being there when Aiura came to the door, and the fight that followed. The staged kiss with Nendo and the breakdown. About how Kokomi had seen her holding Kusuo on the volcano, and was jealous of their relationship.

While Kokomi was telling her story, Aiura winced a few times, but ended up being utterly astonished. "Wait - you're hung up on him, too! Ohhhhh, wow. Now everything makes sense. "But at least you know, now, right? It'll be nice to have somebody to talk to about it. All this keeping it a secret is a huuuuuge pain in the -"

Aiura continued, "No… The extent of 'us' is that we've worked together on a lot of psychic things, like saving the world a few weeks ago. Toritsuka is also in on it, and he helped too. Toritsuka and I called it the PK psychic trio, but Saiki only called us when he needed us. But, we did have the pretend relationship. If Imu didn't catch us and shove us in that closet when she confronted you about your feelings for him, you would have seen us pretending then, instead of finding out last week."

"It might have destroyed me if I saw you together then. It nearly destroyed me this time." She paused, and gathered energy for two things she needed to know.

"Did you try to get us to fight on purpose?"

"What? No! I would never… If I knew you were trying to get together…"

"So, the 'soulmate' business wouldn't make you try to interfere?"

"No. No… I wouldn't…" She almost sounded like she was convincing herself, but Kokomi was satisfied that she hadn't done it on purpose.

"Ok, ok. Last thing. I need to know - did you sleep with him?" Kokomi asked, a little sheepishly this time.

Aiura was surprised by that one. "Of course not. I guess I would have, if he had wanted to. Remember, he is my soulmate." Then for the first time, there was some doubt there. "Well, maybe he is."

Kokomi brightened. "And were you ok with the pretend relationship?"

She made a "whatever" face. "I hoped it would kind of lead to a real one."

"But why would he pretend to be in a relationship to avoid one with me?"

Aiura started explaining that he avoided her for a while, too. But then he couldn't hide his secret from her and save Chiyo's life. That, and the magnitude of attention that somebody like Kokomi got, were the two things that put somebody on Kusuo's I'm-going-to-avoid-you list."

"Do you think if I had known his secret then, he still would have tried to avoid me?" Kokomi asked.

"Eeeeeeh, maybe. You were still the attention queen of the school," Aiura said honestly. After a minute's pause, she changed the subject. "So, did he turn you invisible before he came in here?"

Crap. Both Kusuo and Kokomi thought.

"You're awake! You creep."

So Kokomi told her that she and some of the others had powers, too.

"Powers, huh? Is that why you, you know, yesterday? It's been quite the week for you, hasn't it?" Aiura reached out her arms, wondering if she needed a hug.

She did, and accepted it.

"You want to know something to make you feel special? Who was the first one Kuku told his secret to without being found out?"

Wow, she thought. She took a few deep breaths, and nodded resolutely. Okay. I think I'm ready now.

"Ready for what?" Kusuo asked, and she ignored him.

Aiura was "Oh - think about this. Do you think that crazy hypnosis guy knows about Saiki's powers? I mean, with me, Akeshi, and Toritsuka all finding out about his powers on our own, It probably wouldn't be that hard for anybody who suspects something to track him down.

Kusuo got up, gaping. He hadn't ever really thought about that. Whoa. How many people could know about me if they really investigated the weird things happening around them? It could really be quite a few. He found a chair and sat down, putting his head down.

"We've got work to do," Aiura said. "But you need to keep up appearances. Let me pretend to be your girlfriend one last time."

"How can I say 'no'?" Kusuo said, flatly.

"Hey, why don't we get together at my house?" Kokomi asked.

"What, like sit down and watch a movie? Boring. I'll show you an actual party. Come to my house," Aiura said.

"I don't do so good at parties." Kusuo and Kokomi said together.

"Wow, you really are perfect for each other. Fine, how bout we just go over to my house for a change. We can reform the PK Psychic Network."

Kusuo smacked his forehead. Kokomi looked unsure.

"What, it's not as if you had other plans…"

"Oh, all right," Kokomi said finally. When Kusuo didn't commit, she said, "Miss your girlfriend's party? How dare you?" She gave him a playful whack.

"Great! Get all your other little psychics together."

Group message to the Sci-Kicks:
Kokomi: Guys, can you meet at Miko's house in an hour tonight?
Toritsuka: Absolutely
Kuboyasu: okaaaay?
Chiyo: I'll be there?
Kusuo: Did you really call this group 'sci-kicks'?
Nendo: Is that the crazy girl with the bedazzled crystal ball?
Miko: fake pouty face emoji
Kokomi: I didn't know they had that emoji
Nendo: But they have this one: poop emoji; poop emoji

Kokomi and Kusuo were already at Miko's house waiting for the others. "Should we have added Akeshi? And Hairo? They know, right?" Kokomi asked.

Kusuo made a groan, not sure of the right thing to do. People and their dumb feelings. "I don't know. Maybe just those with powers for now. Are you sure you don't want Kaido? I was going to talk with him tonight about what he really knows about Dark Reunion."

"Yes." She said with a scowl. She told him about which side Kaido was on this morning, and the things Chiyo said.

"Poor Chiyopipi. She deserves better," Aiura added.

Chiyo was the last to show up. Aiura greeted her with a hug, and almost looked like she was going to pass out again.

"Oh, so that's what's going on here." Aiura said.

"What?" Kuboyasu asked.

"Whenever I touch Chiyopipi, my fortune powers get - intensified."

"Let me try that." Kuboyasu said. He rested his arm on Chiyo's head and raised his other hand. Kusuo braced for the house exploding or something, but instead the house was filled with a light and a warmth so intense they all had to shield their eyes. His face filled with satisfaction.

Toritsuka tried, too, and found that he multiple spirits inhabit his body at once, and let his own stay in. He just had to make sure they all got along.

Chiyo never looked so happy. It's nice to be the one who can help others out, for once. "Kokomi, why don't you try?"

"What am I going to do, get more invisible?"

She went invisible instantly, instead of waiting the full minute. "And the telepathy?" Kusuo reminded her.

Right. She was used to letting the ring control it for her. She turned down the controls.

She felt an infinite sea of thoughts available, but, using the ring she was able to focus on which ones she wanted to hear, or none at all. She reached out to the closest ones and heard what was in the room.
I'm helping everybody! Even Kokomi!
What's going on in there, Kokomi?
Yeah, I'm awesome.

She still couldn't hear Nendo.

That was only the tip of the iceberg. She reached out to the limits of what she saw.
I hope taking my girlfriend to the top of the Eiffel Tower will let her listen to me long enough to apologize.
Hawaii really is beautiful this time of year.
Why did I let him bring me to Vegas again…?
The view of that lava spiral from the Space Station was incredible. I'm still geeking out about it.
Next week, we should invade that pesky country to the east.

Holy shit!

"Kokomi, language! Do you always curse in your head?"

She blushed. "Well, you might be surprised. I tend to bottle things up, remember?"

Kokomi worked on clairvoyance, and found she could see things that far away also, but that she couldn't do both at the same time at that range. She remembered that even Kusuo had trouble doing both at the same time without getting exhausted.

Kusuo took a minute to think about his own powers. Yumehara had been slowly bringing them back, one at a time. Each time they came in contact, he felt that feeling like rusty pipes being repaired and cleaned, but it never stuck around. Something's missing… It didn't feel like he, or any of them, were powerful enough to need a limiter. Except maybe Yumehara… but she can't do anything on her own.

On the other hand, he still relied on her to "restore" his ability to use a particular power without accidents. He wondered if there were any useful powers he might need in a pinch that he could get her to "fix" for him, but nothing came to mind. Certainly don't need any of the useless powers right now.

"Why can't I hear Nendo's thoughts? Even with super telepathy?" Kokomi asked.

"Permission to speak freely?"

"When have you ever done otherwise?"

"Pretty much never. Best theory I've come up with - there's not much going on up there." Kokomi smacked him in the arm. "But, there's more going on in his heart?" He actually almost meant it.

Nendo was still working out everybody combining powers with Yumehara. He had already tried teleporting with Yumehara before, but he said, "So we keep combining powers with Yumehara, but what if we combine powers together?" He waved his arms around gesturing to the others.

Idiot - don't you think I've tried that? Actually, he hadn't tried that. Nendo walked over and grabbed Kusuo's shoulder.

"Focus on something at your house," Nendo told him. He did, and then the latest issue of Jump and enough coffee jelly to share materialized on the coffee table.

"We didn't even have to go get it! Oh, I could have fun with this! Everybody, brace yourselves." "Nendo follow my lead." He sent Nendo some instructions telepathically, but nothing happened. "Crap, we still have the cooldown." Yumehara offered her hand without being instructed. Then the others just zapped away.

He and Nendo were able to teleport anything from one place to another without being at either place. With Yumehara allowing him to bypass the cooldown, he teleported all the others to their own houses, then to Okinawa on the roof of the hotel, then to the deserted island, and back.

Kusuo had rarely been so excited. The others, however, looked a little nauseated. "Sorry, I guess I got carried ..." Kusuo couldn't finish his thought. Kuboyasu had sat down and had lifted his glasses to rub his eyes. At that moment, Kusuo felt something weird happening to him. His skin was getting harder, and his joints more stiff...

Kokomi watched as Kuboyasu set his glasses back down, he looked up, and found that Kusuo had turned to stone. Kuboyasu jumped. Kokomi started rolling with laughter. Nendo scratched his head. Kuboyasu started to pull off his glasses to examine them.

"No, wait!" Aiura held her hand up.

"Don't!" Toritsuka said.

"What time is it?" Kokomi asked.

"Um, around 8:00." Kuboyasu said.

"And what time does the dance start tomorrow?"

"Seven," Chiyo said.

"So he'll miss the first part of the dance." She said. They all nodded. They knew it would wear off in 24 hours. "And we can't let the jelly go bad…"

While they were eating, they thought about Nendo's idea.

"Hmm, it feels like Saiki's always had to be close by when he uses his powers. What if we can use Nendo's teleportation to make things happen far away?" Kuboyasu wondered.

They looked at him funny. He went outside for a minute. When he came back in, he said, "See, normally, I can only ignite something I touch. Nendo, I'm going to try to start a fire. You picture teleporting the fire to that trash can out there.

Nendo bunched his face up in concentration. Then his shirt was on fire. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Chiyo put a blanket on him and put it out.

Kokomi said, "Maybe you have to picture the fire over there, too."

They tried again. Sure enough, there was a small fire in the trash can.

"Try it again," Chiyo said, adding her hand. They screwed their faces again, and this time, flame seemed to shoot out of the trash can 100 meters up, and then lightning struck it for good measure.

They all looked out the window in shock, and decided they had better stop before they blew up the neighborhood.

They made up some more food, played some music for a bit, and discussed how much they should worry about Dark Reunion, and then decided to call it a night, but not before dropping Kusuo off at his parents' house. They needed Nendo and Chiyo to teleport Stone Kusuo and all of them there. Kusuo's parents both dropped a glass this time.

"Why is it always in the living room? Can't you knock?" Kusuo's dad said. Then he saw Stone Kusuo, and said, "Serves him right. Do you know how many times he's done this? What did he do, look in a mirror?"

"Uh, something like that," Chiyo said.

A/N: I was saving the real introduction of Dark Reunion for later, but I realized they needed to make a statement earlier, or their later actions wouldn't make sense.