CROSSING BRIDGES

I: another one of those days

"Kusuo! I'm going to be late!"

The sunlight through the blinds hits his face before the voice reaches his ears. Saiki suppresses a groan, covering his eyes with one hand and reaching for his glasses on his nightstand with the other. He fumbles around, only catching air between his fingers.

There's nothing on the table, save for his alarm clock resting innocently in the corner.

His eyes snap open with the sudden realization, and his hands immediately reach at his head, searching for something – something that should definitely be there. But there are only tufts of hair beneath his touch, no sensation of the familiar plastic.

That can't be—

And then Saiki takes a deep breath, tries to still his heart.

Right. That's right.

He rubs the sleep from his eyes, sitting upright in his bed. The usual scene unfolds before him.

"You'll take me to work, won't you, Kusuo?" His dad's in the middle of securing his tie in front of Saiki's mirror, struggling to put on his jacket at the same time, his arms getting caught in the process. He looks just as pathetic and desperate as he sounds. "Please! I'll even buy you a coffee jelly after—"

"Papa," Kuusuke tuts, now leaning against the doorframe of Saiki's room, presumably drawn in by the commotion. "Have you already forgotten?"

"Eh?!"

Kuusuke takes a prolonged sip from his cup of tea, and waits.

Their father looks back and forth between his sons, finally settling on Saiki's piercing stare, no longer shielded by his usual toy glasses. Startled, he breaks his gaze and begins patting down his torso and legs in a hurried panic.

His dad decidedly does not turn into stone.

"Oh, right." He gives an embarrassed laugh, scratching at his cheek. "Kusuo gave up his powers…"

"I have a spare jetpack you can use," Kuusuke offers instead. "It's still a prototype, though, so there's no 'stop' or 'eject' button—"

Saiki opens his mouth, feels for the words stuck in his throat. It's foreign and awkward, and his voice is still hoarse from sleep. "Just call a taxi."

"Ah, is that so?" Kusuuke says, his attention snapping towards Saiki for the briefest moment before turning back to their dad. "Should I do that?"

"Really?! You'll do that for me, Kuusuke?"

"Of course. As long as you pay me back for the cab fare."

"Hey, wait! Don't you have more money in your savings than us?! Taking advantage of your poor Papa…"

"Do you want to make it to work on time or not?"

His dad shuts his mouth, falling complacent to Kuusuke's words. He shuffles past Kuusuke and out the door, leaving the two brothers alone in the room. When Kuusuke turns to follow him, his hand paused on the doorknob, he looks over his shoulder at Saiki.

"By the way, Kusuo," Kuusuke says, glancing down at his watch. "It only took you 22.4 seconds this time. That's a steady 13% increase from yesterday. You're getting faster."

Saiki falls onto his back in response, staring silently at the ceiling.

Just another ordinary day.

—

"Kuu-chan!" his mom calls for him from the kitchen as Saiki bounds down the stairs. The steady stream of water from the sink fills his ears, and he guesses she's in the middle of washing dishes from the morning's breakfast. It seems they let him sleep in considering they didn't call him down to eat with them.

When he reaches the end of the staircase, she rushes up to him with a smile on her face, still patting her hands dry on a dishrag. "You're awake! Are you feeling better?"

Saiki says 'good morning' in his head before he even thinks about opening his mouth, and it's the way his mom looks at him like she's trying to decipher his thoughts that makes him realize his mistake. He nods instead, holding back a sigh of frustration.

"This is perfect timing! Your friends just called to let me know they're on their way."

Saiki freezes. And like a curse that has long since been placed on him finally coming to fruition, the intercom buzzes to life.

"Ah! That must be them," his mother says cheerfully, bouncing over to answer the intercom.

"Oh!" The static over the speaker isn't strong enough to disguise the all-too-familiar voice. It sends a chill down his spine. "Is Partner there?"

"Idiot! You're supposed to ask if Saiki's available!"

"Eh? Didn't I say that?"

"How's she gonna know who 'Partner' is?"

"Who else? Partner is Partner."

"Get out of the way, I'll do it! Ahem. Uh. H-Hi, Saiki's mom, i-i-i-is Saiki available?"

"Bahaha! Why are you talking so weirdly? 'I-I-I-Is Saiki available?'"

"Shut up!"

His head is starting to pound. Saiki massages his temples for some relief, already pathing out the possible outcomes of this situation. At least it's just Nendou and Kaidou. Troublesome Person #1 and Troublesome Person #2 are the easiest of the group to handle, thankfully.

He settles on just telling them to get lost before they barge their way into the house, or worse – his mom invites them to stay over. Kuusuke is home and he wants to avoid mixing them together as much as possible.

Saiki opens the door to do just that.

"Saiki-kun…!"

It's Troublesome Person #4. He barely refrains himself from slamming the door shut.

Out of everyone, it's a bit jarring to see Teruhashi willingly hanging around these two. In a roundabout way, it makes sense, though. She probably saw this as the perfect opportunity to surprise him. He can imagine her thoughts, now: "And he'll think 'Teruhashi-san came all this way just to see how I'm doing?' That's totally an 'oh' moment!"

Or something like that. Saiki takes a mental note to stop trying to read someone's thoughts when he doesn't have to anymore.

Either way, this is bad news. He gives them a look that hopefully reads: Why are you here?

"Oh, here, Partner. We came to drop off your missing homework assignments," Nendou says, pulling a stack of papers seemingly out of nowhere. Saiki doesn't even want to know where he stored them.

He accepts the packet cautiously, reminding himself to use his pyrokinesis later to burn off all the germs on his hand. Then, he pauses.

Okay, he really needs to stop doing that.

"You missed almost a whole week of school. You're not one to skip, usually." Kaidou frowns, and then lowers his voice, "Could it be… the Da—"

"Yeah! And you made Teruhashi-san present your history project alone!"

"A-Ah, no, it's fine, really," Teruhashi says, frantically waving her hands around at Nendou's accusation. Her gaze eventually settles on Saiki, though, and it's a little overwhelming considering he can actually see her now. What's worse is that she genuinely looks worried for him.

He looks away. It's harder to keep her at bay without his powers.

"You said you were alright," she says, giving him a once-over like she's assessing for any injuries. "Are you sure that the bookcase didn't hurt you, Saiki-kun?"

I'm okay, Saiki thinks. Then, he frowns, clears his throat, tries again. "I—"

"All Partner needs is a good bowl of ramen," Nendou says, clapping a hand on Saiki's shoulder and pulling him through the doorway. "Wanna go to the usual place?"

Frankly, he doesn't want to go anywhere.

It's a shame that his mom has been conspicuously hanging around the front door, listening in on their conversation with the usual fervor. Her aura is almost impossible to ignore, shadowing his every move, and he can barely help from shuddering.

Saiki lets himself get dragged away, hanging his head.

—

One consequence – no, not consequence, but rather side-effect – of not having powers is that Saiki can't predict people's walking patterns anymore, nor can he dodge any incoming pedestrian with superhuman agility. It's a liability, and part of the reason he hasn't been to school since the day he accidentally teleported home. He needed time to recollect himself before he can stand to be outside with other people without his powers.

And evidently, after knocking shoulders into the fourth person within the span of ten minutes, not enough time has passed. Saiki offers a slight bow of apology, choosing to ignore their scornful gazes.

Nendou snickers, poking a straw through the top of his banana milk he just purchased from the convenience store. "Partner, I didn't know you were so clumsy."

It's even more embarrassing that this is happening around them. Really, if he had his powers, he would just disappear and let himself be lost in the crowd.

Bitter thoughts consume his headspace, and Saiki's hand accidentally brushes against Nendou's drink as he raises it to take a sip. His grip is tight around the plastic bottle, so it doesn't fall.

Instead, it changes into a soda drink. Saiki pauses, blinks.

Was that—

He flinches at the sound of Nendou spitting his drink out through puckered lips, coating Teruhashi in the syrupy liquid. Luckily for her, it only slightly dampens her dress, avoiding her hair and face. God's work, Saiki guesses.

"Oh? I thought I bought banana milk?"

He tries to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his head.

Banana milk? No, he's holding Baron Cola. Nendou's just imagining things. It's just him being stupid like usual.

"Nendou?!" Kaidou screeches. "What are you doing?! You can't just drink that out here! T-Teruhashi-san, are you okay?"

"I-It's fine, I'm sure Nendou-kun didn't mean it…" Teruhashi smiles innocently at Nendou, though Saiki's sure she's fuming on the inside. It'll take a lot more than a spit-take for her to break.

"Wait here!" Kaidou says insistently, already backtracking toward the convenience store. "I'll go and grab some napkins."

Saiki sighs. They're already causing a scene. He digs into his pocket for his handkerchief, debating whether or not to hand it to her when he hears it.

I can't believe Saiki-kun had to see that! Is this ramen trip worth it? Should I just make an excuse and go home?

His blood turns cold.

No. Saiki must be mishearing things. His fingers twist around the cloth of his handkerchief, and he shakes his head, takes a step back, then another. None of this should be happening.

It's not.

It can't be.

Saiki's head snaps up at the sound of a car honking. The traffic lights flicker ominously, rapid-firing through red-yellow-green, and even a faint hint of pink, and it sends his mind running. He swears they were just red because Kaidou just crossed the street, didn't he? So why are the pedestrian crossing lights no longer lit up?

In the peripheral of his vision, Teruhashi's already taking her first step onto the street, following after Kaidou back to the convenience store, much too upset to concern herself with her surroundings. The honking blares in his ear as a car shuttles forward at a law-breaking speed.

This shouldn't be concerning. Even without his powers, Teruhashi Kokomi is loved by God, isn't she?

Teruhashi begins to take her next step, and the car barrels forward, unyielding.

So why isn't anything happening?

None of this makes sense.

Everything needs to stop.

Stop.

Stop, stop, stop.

In the blink of an eye, everything stops dead around him like a glitch in the system. Pedestrians are paused in the middle of their daily activities, birds caught mid-flap, and the car is stopped inches away from Teruhashi, her head turned towards the car, frozen in shock. Saiki looks down at his hands and belatedly realizes they're shaking. Did he do that? Can he do that?

He doesn't care at this point. What he does care about is making sure that Teruhashi doesn't walk straight into oncoming traffic.

Saiki wastes no time, grabbing onto her hand and pulling her towards him, safe in the reaches of the sidewalk. Time flows once more as she stumbles into his arms, the whir of the car passing by with a honk. He sees Kaidou across the street, and he's saying something – yelling, probably? – hands cupped around his mouth, but Saiki only hears the blood rushing through his ears.

"Partner! Teruhashi-san!" He knows it's Nendou because he shoves himself in front of Saiki's face, fully prepared to start performing CPR. "Whoa, what was that?"

"I—" Saiki starts, the words tumbling from his mouth as he struggles to catch his breath, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and Teruhashi's still in his grasp, mute with wide eyes, but he can't focus, can't think, can't answer Nendou's innocent, simple question. "I… I don't know."

"Don't let yourself get caught in your emotions and accidentally try to use ESP." Kusuuke's words from earlier this week drift through his head like a forewarning, ghosts of pinpricks against his skin. "Just try to live a calm, peaceful life like an ordinary person."

A calm, peaceful life. An ordinary person.

That's who Saiki Kusuo is now.

He stares down at the girl in his arms, the remnants of Baron Cola on the sidewalk, the crowd of people gathering outside of their cars to check up on the malfunctioning traffic lights. They flicker through each color, taunting him.

What's wrong with the traffic lights?

Come on, my lunch break is almost over…

Oh man, that girl is so pretty!

Someone almost ran her over – the nerve!

Damn, I wish I could've been the one to save her!

Slowly, the flashing traffic lights come to a standstill. Red.

"The only thing you can do right now is try to take it easy," Kuusuke told him.

He was. He is.

So why can't things be easier?

—

The rest of the afternoon passes in a blur. They call off lunch as soon as Teruhashi calms down, no excuses needed. Nendou and Kaidou take the reins, and Saiki staggers behind the group as they make sure that she gets home safely. He doesn't remember when he gave Teruhashi his handkerchief, but she clutches it tightly in her hands the entire walk home.

All the energy drains from Saiki's body the second he passes through the gate and into his house. He toes off his shoes at the entryway, barely remembering to mumble a small "I'm home" even though his dad is still at work and a note on the shoe cabinet reads that his mom went off to a neighborhood meeting.

He just wants to crawl into bed and forget everything that happened.

But his mind is already set on something else, so Saiki trudges upstairs and passes his own room, walking further along the corridor.

Kuusuke opens his bedroom door before his knuckles meet the wood, and Saiki hates the goosebumps that form on his skin, the hair on his neck standing up. God, he really doesn't want to do this.

But are there even any other options?

Fortunately, conveying information to Kuusuke is less taxing than anything else he had to do today. He won't admit it, but his talks with Kuusuke are some of the only things that feel familiar to him lately. Maybe it's the weird way Saiki doesn't need to open his mouth to talk to him, or the weird way Kuusuke knows exactly what's wrong with him before he hears anything about it. Maybe it's Kuusuke being weird.

Whatever it is, Saiki doesn't want to think too hard about it; he doesn't want to think at all, so he just relays the events in his head and hopes the message gets across somehow.

Kuusuke catches on quickly.

"Stopping time, huh?" he says thoughtfully. "Well, I guess you're still growing, so new powers must be developing."

Like Saiki's just supposed to accept that.

"That's not the point," Saiki says. "I'm not supposed to have powers at all."

"Ah, right. Sorry," Kuusuke says, though he barely sounds apologetic at all. "It's hard to remember when you've been using them so often."

Saiki clicks his tongue. What a smartass. This conversation is pointless. He should've realized Kuusuke isn't the type of person to hear him out.

Still, he remembers. He remembers what happened in the afternoon, remembers how one slip of emotion sent everything out of control, remembers how he almost couldn't stop it. So, he stands his ground, stands up a little straighter. "Can't you fix this? You made the device in the first place. Maybe you need to make some adjustments?"

Kuusuke cocks his head. "You think I made a mistake? Are you sure you're not the one making mistakes?"

Saiki makes it a point to not answer, instead choosing to stare him down with a glare. Kuusuke sighs, shaking his head in a way that almost makes Saiki feel like the younger brother in the situation for once.

"Kusuo."

"What."

"How long are you going to play this game?"

"There are no more games. I gave up my power. You won."

"Really?" Kuusuke says, and his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. "So why do you keep running away?"

Saiki's jaw tenses up. His words strike a nerve, right where he didn't expect them to. A long moment of silence stretches between them.

Then Kuusuke shrugs, breaking eye contact and releasing Saiki from his sharp gaze. The tightness in his chest loosens, if only just a bit. He twists a ring on his finger, looking somewhere past Saiki's head. "It's not fun when you take the easy way out, Kusuo."

He refocuses his stare on Saiki and then extends his hand.

"The power sealing device," Kuusuke says. "I'll have my lab look into it."

Saiki narrows his eyes. "Your lab? Hasn't it always been just you? Or have you finally found a team of scientists worthy of your genius?"

There's an odd glint in his eyes when he says, "Something like that."

He taps his foot, and Saiki feels like if he doesn't accept right now, this opportunity might be swept from right beneath him. He sucks in a large breath, lets everything sink in.

"…Okay," Saiki says, finally. His legs feel heavy still, but he forces himself to move back toward his room, hands trailing the wall for support.

The device is somewhere in his desk. He rummages around for the engagement ring box and he finds it in his topmost drawer, shoved in the corner. It's strange, he thinks. Not too long ago, he couldn't go one day without thinking about this box.

Inside, it held something he wanted for so long, dreamt about excessively, craved more than anything else in the world. He's contemplated it long enough to know every engravement of the limiter, the cool touch of plastic beneath his fingers. The key to normalcy. The destruction of his powers. The encapsulation of everything that can solve his problems quite literally handed over to him.

Of course, he took it.

Of course, he used it.

Of course, of course, of course.

When he moves to grab it, his hands accidentally bump into another familiar object. The toy glasses he was searching for this morning. A lump forms in his throat.

When he used the power sealer the other week, he planned to throw these away; a farewell to a part of his life he no longer wanted anything to do with. But he couldn't bring himself to. The toy glasses reminded him of a manga character he liked growing up, and when he saw these in the store as a kid, it was the one thing he asked his mom to buy for him other than sweets. And it was always just a toy to him until suddenly it wasn't anymore, and these glasses became a telltale sign of his godawful powers. The barrier between who he was and who he couldn't be. Until now, at least.

Saiki's hands move with a mind of their own, and he runs a finger down the frame of his glasses.

Suddenly, he's in another world. His mind plummets into old memories, his memories, and Saiki grits his teeth as he's pulled along for the ride, warping through vignettes of time. He watches himself on the day he got these glasses at the toy store, tugging on the hem of his mom's shirt. He watches every time they break and get pulled back together like magic. He follows himself through all the different schools he's transferred to until finally, there's PK Academy, the same shenanigans he's already lived through.

In one memory, he's up in space. He sees a meteor, approaching close to home, but he's right there, right on time. Certainly, he's been up to space before, stopped meteors before, but for whatever reason, this memory feels out of place, disjointed from the rest.

"—I repeat! A giant meteor—"

The murky sound of a news report rings in his ear, layered with a rhythmic knock that contrasts with the emptiness of space. The feeling of memories that are his but not at the same time. His fingers almost touch the meteor, but he doesn't feel its heat.

Before anything else is resolved, the knocking noise intensifies, and he's pulled out of the memory, shivering through gasping breaths. The glasses drop to the floor, the plastic clattering against the wood.

When did this happen?

Or is this—

A precognition?

No.

No, that's impossible.

Him using his powers is impossible. None of this is real.

Someone's still at the door, knocking away. It tears him out of his trance, and for now, he swallows the feelings down, pushes the sense of dread to the back of his mind. Saiki quickly grabs the engagement ring box from his drawer and answers the door.

Kuusuke stands there, a curious look on his face, but Saiki just shoves the box into his hands and presses himself against the back of his door. He clicks it shut and leans down until he's sitting on the floor, knees pulled to his chest.

The glasses are right next to him. He must've kicked it over here when he gave Kuusuke the power sealer.

He picks them up, thumbs the glasses in his hands. No matter how much he tries, grips the frame tightly, almost crushes it, the vision doesn't come back.

And Saiki doesn't want it to.

"Good grief," he breathes out, letting the back of his head hit the door with a light thud.

Just another ordinary day. This is the path he's chosen.

note: yes, i'm back with another saiki k fic. i know, i have a problem. this will be fairly short imo, but i hope it'll satisfy that craving for "something more" from the series. after all, i strongly believe there are some lessons saiki has left to learn from his friends, as well as feelings he still needs to accept within himself.

i hope none of you are tired of me yet :P i have been loving this series' characters and universe so much, so i hope to stick around for a little while longer. thanks for reading!