Author's Notes: This is the first thing I've ever written outside of school. Thanks for reading!

Originally I wanted this chapter to be a flashback in the next chapter, which will take place when Saiki has the bookshelf fall on him, but I figured it was too much to fit there, so it serves to set up the story instead.

Act I - The New Normal
Chapter 1 - The Beach

Kokomi was laying on a cheap reclining beach chair, facing the sea, with a plate of cake on her lap. She took a sip from a drink and watched as her classmates ran through the water. It looked like Chiyo, Kaido, Nendo, and Kuboyasu had formed some kind of team game. She looked over her shoulder and saw Mera sitting on a bench eating the rest of the cake, and Hairo making polite conversation with her. Well, making conversation at her; she was obviously focused on her current task.

Saiki was standing by himself about halfway between Mera and the water. His lips were pursed and he kept looking back and forth between the various groups of classmates, seemingly trying to figure out which group to join, or if he dared join any at all. Normally, Kokomi would normally be trying to get Saiki's attention, but today she was trying something different. During the last week, she had felt as if something had changed, as if the world had moved on - moved on from ... what, exactly? She couldn't quite explain it, but she felt like had been "stuck" somehow, and now she wasn't anymore.

Not that she was ready to move on from Saiki, but she had gotten a few moments of clarity.

She had been trying to get him to say "Oh wow!" for about three years now. Clearly her tactics of throwing herself at him hadn't been working; maybe it was time to be a little more subtle. Then if that didn't work, it would be time to look for other prospects - she couldn't wait for him forever. She sighed. There just didn't seem to be anybody else who could see her for her, who could see beyond her beauty.

Saiki was different in that he could see her as a normal person. He had only given her the smallest of hints that might be interested - and there might have been an "oh wow" once, maybe…. She remembered seeing him smile at her on the day of the school play, and he had gotten her out of a few binds when no one else noticed… But did that mean he was interested?

If he wasn't, then what she needed was somebody who was - there was no shortage of those - and could see her like Saiki did. She sighed. She didn't know anybody else like that.

So she decided to back off a little and be a little less in-your-face, and tried to act normally toward him, whatever that was, while not quite going all the way to "playing hard to get". So today, instead of wearing a more flattering swimsuit like she wore in Okinawa, she donned a simple light blue one-piece with frills.

It was nice of Saiki to put this outing together. Nice and unusual - Saiki had never planned a social outing, ever. He had felt a surprising amount of guilt when everybody realized they had forgotten Mera's birthday. He normally wouldn't take something like that so personally.

Kokomi and the others had been at the cafe the day before. Saiki had arrived before they did, and he was trying to look like he wasn't avoiding them, but she knew better. They sat by him, and had a nice time, and he had even smiled a few times. They had agreed as a group not to pester him about why he was being weird the Sunday before unless he brought it up, and it seemed that he loosened up after a while. Overall, it was a nice afternoon, until they saw Mera sitting in a corner, eating a small birthday cupcake by herself. They did invite her to join them, but it was only for a few minutes as she had to run back behind the counter to get back to work.

Kokomi paused to consider that - normally Mera's birthday was during the school year. That must be why they had forgotten it. School was supposed to start this week, after their trip to Oshimai, but after they got home, they received an announcement that school wouldn't start until the next week. Everybody seemed to just accept it, and they had another week to themselves.

Maybe that was why the beach was uncrowded. All the other schools had started, and, even though it was Saturday, they had started normal school routines.

She sat up, took off her sunglasses, and started eating her cake. She ate in blissful solitude while watching the others in the water. She studied them for a moment. Everybody had shown up because Saiki asked them to, and they jumped without hesitation. These were Saiki's friends, and it felt like he spent most of his time trying to be rid of them. What she would give to have them be her friends, too. She knew they were all right with her company, but she felt like she was always just a tagalong. She felt like she would follow Chiyo, whom she was closest to, and Chiyo followed Kaido, and he and the others followed Saiki.

Kokomi noticed that Mera, having run out of cake, and there being nothing else to eat, had silently left, and Hairo went to go join the others in the water. Saiki, having fewer options to choose from now, appeared to have replaced his look of uncertainty with determination, and had started coming toward Kokomi. She tensed. Was this really happening? He came over and sat in a chair beside her. Yes! Oh, thank you, God! I can't believe this is happening!

She tried to not let her excitement show; not that it would matter, he was always one step ahead of her. She gave him a smile and said, "Hi, Saiki."

"Why are you sitting here by yourself?" he asked, without any other greeting.

"Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy a quiet moment by yourself," Kokomi responded.

Saiki nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I get that." He turned and watched the others in the water.

That look confused her. Wasn't Saiki by himself most of the time? It seemed like being alone would be the norm for him, not something to seek out.

They sat in a comfortable silence for probably half an hour. She hoped he would say something, but he didn't. However, he did look over at her a few times, wearing an unreadable expression. The first two times she pretended not to notice, but the third time she smiled gently at him. Was he checking her out? Her heart was pounding at the thought. She suppressed a grin as he startled at her gaze, turning away quickly, with his cheeks turning a soft pink. Was Saiki embarrassed?

She opened her mouth to speak, but it was then he abruptly said goodbye and ran off to join the others in the water.

Kokomi could feel her hope in her chest starting to dwindle, but she paused to consider what had just happened. Saiki had come over to her, something that just didn't happen; had asked her a somewhat personal question, also uncharacteristic; and had looked at her for no other reason but to look at her. Wow. "So it begins," she said quietly. She waited a few more minutes before smiling once again and joining the others in the water.

Six days earlier, Kusuo had gotten home from saving the world - well, Japan at the very least, but why not play it up? He deserved it.

As soon as he had the chance, he had practically collapsed onto his chair and uncharacteristically plopped his feet onto his desk, pulling out his brother's new pin and spinning it between his fingers. This was it. He could finally get rid of his powers, of his burden, once and for all. It was then Kusuke had come in to talk. "You're sure you want to go through with this?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kusuo said, resolute. He did have some reservations, but he knew it would be a net win, not having to deal with stupid people's thoughts, not seeing through everything all the time, and not blowing up ships his friends were on. It would be better in the long run, and there was no denying it.

Crap, he thought, as he realized he had referred to them as his 'friends' again.

His parents had come in and freaked out, but they didn't have much to contribute so he sent them away.

Kusuo held the device up to his head. His brother made his way over to Kusuo's desk and leaned casually against it, as if he wasn't about to change his life forever. "Sooo," he started nonchalantly, "you're going to erase your powers and then just go to school tomorrow?"

He was right; they had planned this dumb trip on the last two days before school started again. He decided to use his powers one last time - to make it normal for PK Academy faculty and students to think that school would start one week later, so that he could have time to adjust to life without powers. Also, he could use a break after saving the world. Twice, really, since he had rewound the world and done it again so his friends wouldn't catch him in the act.

Then, before he could change his mind, he inserted the poop-shaped hairpin into his hair. Before he could even let go, he passed out.

When Kusuo picked himself up off the floor a few minutes later, he felt lightheaded and nauseated. But it was quiet! So wonderfully quiet! He had almost forgotten what it was like to hear his own thoughts, and to actually be alone. However, he was feeling quite dizzy, so he sent Kusuke away so he could go to bed and get some much needed rest.

The next day was the best day of his life. He just sat on his chair, or lay in bed, and did nothing. It was so quiet and peaceful. He tried it again on Tuesday. It started out great, but then in the afternoon it started getting a little old, and he pulled out his video games and TV.

He had had to spend a large portion of the last few days practicing actual speech. Of course he had spoken before, but it was really limited to a few words on any given day, saying things such as "You guys are such a handful". He had to build up the ability to do it for large periods of time. Kusuke was beside himself being better than him at something.

By the middle of the day Thursday, Kusuo had gotten bored of games and TV too, even though he had been through a few seasons of a rather addicting soap opera. His boredom was so bad, he even confided in his mother. "Where are your friends?" was all she had to say.

Friends.

He stopped to contemplate that. Were they his friends? They seemed to enjoy being around him for some reason, when he didn't offer very much in return. He had never really sought out their company, but he had never felt right about outright rejecting them and always ended up going along with their crazy ideas. Maybe they were his friends after all. He certainly hadn't wanted them to be, with how irritating they all were.

He tried his father. "What if everybody who wants to be your friend is annoying?"

His dad said. "Hmm, sounds like you want somebody who isn't too clingy, but still comes around, somebody who shares your opinions on everything, who doesn't drive you crazy, is great to talk to, but still understands you need your space?"

"Yes! See? You get it!"

"Sure do. Problem is - that person doesn't exist. So either you have no friends, or you choose the friends that annoy you the least."

So what he had to look forward to was a perfectly quiet but incredibly boring world, or his pick of annoying people to be around? What a pain.

Come to think of it, though, he had never seen his father try to socialize with anybody outside the family.

Kusuo went back upstairs, sat down on his bed, and made a few mental lists.

People who don't entirely drive me crazy. These were the people who he let follow him around, and though they were unusual, had gotten used to their company. They accepted him for who he was. Well, as much as they knew about him, anyway. These were Nendo, Kaido, and Kuboyasu. And, recently, he had to admit, Teruhashi, too.

People who drive me crazy. These were the people he ended up stuck in groups with, but didn't really have the same connection as others. These were Hairo, Yumehara, Mera, Aiura, Toritsuka, Akeshi (grudgingly), and way down at the bottom of the list, Saiko. Aiura probably deserved an honorable mention, but wow, did she rub him the wrong way.

Family. After some thinking, while family was different, he decided that his relationship with each of them still fits into one of the other categories. So he scrapped this category, and added his mom to the first category, his dad and grandparents to the second category, and ultimately made a special category for his brother.

Enemies. His brother Kusuke. He was showing some promise recently, but he still felt like him acting benevolently was all in his own self-interest. Oh, and he couldn't forget half of the Teruhashi Fan Club. The president and at least some number of its members were okay (as long as Kusuo made Teruhashi happy).

As he lay down for the night, he decided to rename the first group Friends.

He decided to go out on Friday, even at the risk of running into ... people. He sat in a cafe eating some coffee jelly, when Nendo, Kaido, Kuboyasu, Yumehara, Hairo and Teruhashi came in. His original impulse was to hide. However, the memory of the boredom of the last few days overcame his desire to remain hidden. Still, he didn't feel like he could just call them over.

It didn't take them long to notice him. "Hey look! Saiki's here!" Kaido said.

"Saiki! Where you been all week, buddy?" Nendo said.

So they ate, and they talked for a bit. Kusuo actually contributed to the conversation with his actual voice. Surprisingly, the trip didn't come up at all.

"Oh, Saiki - Chiyo and I are going out now! We have a date planned for tomorrow night and everything." Kaido said, bursting at the seams. Yumehara was at his side holding his arm, grinning ear to ear.

Kusuo dropped his spoon in total shock. In what world would either of them ask the other out?

"Why are you so surprised? You were there when she told him she liked him on Sunday." Teruhashi said. "Well, the first Sunday anyway," she added as though there were nothing unusual about it.

All the color drained out of his face. How could this be happening? He reviewed what happened after he saved the world. First, he was totally drained, mentally and physically. Second, his friends confronted him about why there were multiple Saikis, why he was on top of a volcano, and why he was in Aiura's arms. He couldn't hide the fact that he had a secret.

Then, in a remarkable display of solidarity, Nendo convinced them that a true friend would wait for Kusuo to be ready, and they all decided to wait. Yumehara pronounced her feelings for Kaido, and then Kusuo rewound the entire world one day.

Oh no. He didn't erase their memories. He just rewound the world, made them think that reliving a day was normal, and they kept their memories. Was he too tired to remember to erase their memories? Now that he was thinking clearly, he realized he wouldn't have been able to do it anyway, since he could only erase about one minute of memory per person, and he would have had to erase the entire morning for a lot of people. Even if he had removed his limiter again, he was drained and wouldn't have had the strength.

Okay, how bad could it be? They were here surrounding him. They still knew he had a secret. It didn't look like they hated him; they had come to him. He sighed. He could live with that.

A "true friend", Nendo had said. "We're friends, aren't we? At least you are to me," Kaido had said. These people had been acting like they were his friends. Kusuo had not really reciprocated, but they indeed were acting like true friends. Of course, it seemed Nendo was a true friend to everybody.

Apparently Kusuo had been blankly evaluating this for a while, Nendo was waving a hand in front of his face, and Kuboyasu poked him in the arm. Kusuo took a few breaths and recovered. He looked over at Kaido and Yumehara. Clearly they were expecting him to say something. "That's great, Kaido. It sounds like it has been building up for a while."

Of all the times to wish he knew what they were thinking.

They talked some more and laughed for a bit, and Kusuo eventually recovered. Then Nendo looked across the room and said, "Isn't that Mera over there in the corner?" They looked over. Mera was in fact sitting alone, eating a small piece of cake. Nendo invited her over.

Yumehara asked why she hadn't joined them before. She replied, "Oh, I'm not supposed to eat with customers when I'm on duty. I was covering the other side of the cafe when the owner gave me some birthday cake and told me to go take a break."

Kusuo opened his mouth again, but didn't say anything. Kuboyasu said, "Hey, happy birthday! Hang on, isn't your birthday normally during school?"

"I guess school's starting late this year. But yeah, April 15th's my birthday," she said sadly.

Everybody lamented her having to work on her birthday. Nobody wanted to admit they had forgotten it, since they weren't used to anybody celebrating birthdays during the break. When she went back to work, they decided it was time to go.

Everybody said goodbye, and as Kusuo was walking home, he smiled, and was surprised to realize how good he felt being with people.

On Saturday, he didn't want to be left alone again, so he decided, for perhaps the first time ever, to initiate an activity with his friends. Yes, his friends. He also felt particularly badly for ruining Mera's birthday, so he suggested they get together to celebrate her birthday.

As he didn't have a phone, he walked to Nendo's house, and asked if he could get the group together to go to the beach and to celebrate Mera's birthday.

After he picked up the cake, which had cost him the rest of his allowance, he realized that Teruhashi would probably be there, trying to get his attention the whole time. He spent the entire time wondering what he was going to do about it.

"Why are you sitting here by yourself?" Kusuo asked, as he sat down next to her. He had planned to ignore her, but was taken aback by her ignoring him.

"Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy a quiet moment by yourself," Teruhashi said.

Saiki nodded knowingly. He stared at his feet for a few moments pondering why she of all people would think that - she relished the attention, didn't she? - and then he looked over at her. Perhaps for the first time he really looked at her without his xray vision. She really was pretty, but he felt awkward staring at her in her swimsuit for extended periods of time and looked away. She noticed, and smiled, and then he felt more awkward at her noticing. He blushed.

For perhaps the first time ever, he felt something stirring inside of him. He decided he wasn't ready to deal with that just yet, so he said goodbye, and ran off to go play in the water with the others. After a while, Teruhashi came into the water, too.

This time, at least he didn't have to save anybody from drowning.