AN: This was one of the earliest chapters that I've written, but didn't have a place for it outside of a terrible cliff-hanging one shot. I'm happy to see that it fits in this space.

In the anime, there are way too many scenes of Kusuo wondering around in his night pajamas. The funny part about how it's so relatable because those damn pale blue pajamas are so stupidly ordinary. They resembled the same exact ones that I've purchased for my male relatives or that they own. It's like you can't be a Japanese man without one of those things.

Chapter 5 - Realization

It was around 11:45 p.m. On June 15.

Kusuo laid in bed, in his ordinary everyday baby blue pajamas, taking deep breaths, rubbing his eyes, still trying to will this mysterious whatever-this-was away. He felt that a good night's sleep, a clear head, would be far more useful than attempting to resolve the issues now.

By now, he had finally seen everyone in the family through their pre-bedtime routine, including himself. The precognitive images seemed to have gone into overdrive within that same time. Now the images included random Shonen Jump Magazines, academic papers, books, certificates on the walls, limiters, random board games, and even fistfights. None of it made sense. It was like having psychometry, one of his less welcomed abilities, active at all times when he was not even touching anything. Unlike earlier in the day, despite the headache that came and went, he was able to still function, mostly. Now, this was so distracting that he could not sleep.

Kusuo stared at the clock on his nightstand, watching the seconds tick by.

If there is a God, please make this stop, he thought to the universe.

As if answering his prayer, the nonsensical images all suddenly stopped. The relief was much welcomed, but brief. A whole new set of mysterious physical symptoms manifested.

His entire body trembled uncontrollably and his heart began to pound. He could barely catch his breath as he felt the bottom of his stomach drop out.

The change was so severe and noticeable that he sat up in his bed immediately, hands gripping the bed sheets tightly.

The anxiety he felt earlier had increased, like having the world watch him in P.E. to look out for anything abnormal but many times worse. His entire body felt tight, his nerves were tingling and taut.

What is happening?

Did he catch something because his psychic powers were inactive for a while? A delayed infectious onset? He already tried to burn out whatever it was out three times with pyrokinesis so that could not be it. What about brain tumors? His x-ray vision did not bounce off mirrors. That cannot be it either since he was thoroughly checked out when his powers returned.

Maybe this is a side effect of his power returning and physical growth? People seemed to attach growth with the age of 18 and he was going to turn 18 in a couple of months.

Perhaps it was an issue with the five-time loops that he had to utilize? He could tell that his physical body turned back along with the time loop, but not his psychic abilities or his memory.

Or was his physic powers still trying to warn him about something? Like some sort of cataclysm so severe that even he could not resolve. Was humanity about to be wiped out? Was he about to die? His precognition was fickle and it seemed broken somehow, not with the amount of pain that it was giving him.

He needed answers now.


"Aiura." Kusuo called out to the girl telepathically and got straight to it, "I need your foresight."

There were some sleepy mutterings and tossing and turning. But the girl got up quickly enough. She was alone in her heavily decorated sparkly bed. She had already gone to bed much earlier. A chick can only stay beautiful if she got enough sleep. "Kusuo...it's almost midnight...can't this wait?"

"No. It cannot." His voice was firm.

At the tone, Auira felt like a cold bucket of water had been poured on her. Kusuo was known to be straight to the point. Maybe Kusuo was about to confess his eternal love for her? Encouraged by her positive imagination, Aiura got up immediately and grabbed her crystal ball that was on the nightstand. "What do you want to know? You got a question?"

"Where do you see of me, say a month from now?"

"You woke me up for question as vague as that?" asked Aiura. You're not even going to ask me who your soulmate is?

"It's a question."

"Oh fine..." There was a moment of brief silence. "My crystal ball shows you still going to school, looking gurmpier than usual," responded Aiura. Her thoughts were immediately followed by an internal commentary. If that's even possible. My soulmate is a crabby and selfish enough of a man already.

"Thank you, Aiura-san. And no, I did not hear that."

Auira made a devious and impertinent expression. Kusuo was feeling generous enough to attach a "-san" to her name. But the question was strange enough that Aiura had to ask why. "Is something going on, Kusuo? Is this another end-of-the-world as we know it, again?"

"I'll let you know when I discover something."


So that was his answer. Whatever it was, he would be able to overcome it and continue going to school. But something bad was going to occur between now then. He picked up on the "grumpier" part so whatever it was, it was going to be upsetting, but not upsetting enough to mess up his routine a month from now.

But what? He never felt anger or sadness in his life because nothing was surprising. Mild annoyance, or even vengeful when his dessert disappointed his expectations, that's for certain. What would actually upset him? Another sports festival? His secret being out in the open? The ultra fancy coffee jelly was so disappointing and he had to burn down the manufacturer's factory for revenge? No, those were just irritations of life. His precognition ability did not activate at irritation.

But he knew that he cared deeply for people so maybe that was the source of upset.

Activating clairvoyance for far too many times that day, he crossed his eyes.

Did something happen to grandpa? And grandma? No. Clairvoyance told him that grandpa was recuperation just fine at the hospital and the doctors were still certain that he'll make a full recovery. Grandma was already asleep back in her home. They're fine.

What about his friends?

Did Nendo or Kaidou meet up with unexpected violence? His friends were accident-prone. No. That could not be it. They were both asleep in their bed, likely dreaming about ramen and Jet Black Wings.

Did Kuboyasu nearly got killed by one of his former gang associates? Doubt it. Kuboyasu's ability to survive physical harm was legendary for a human. No, Kuboyasu was getting into bed, after staying up late to read manga.

Was Hairo in some sort of an accident? No. The spikey red-head was sleeping peacefully in his bed after an after-dinner workout and scheduled study time. As expected, their enthusiastic class representative was dreaming about beating Nendo in sports.

Did something happen to Teruhashi? Was there some sort of weird psychic feedback because she had a crush on him and she was god's chosen angel who had all the luck? Or even something happened her perverted brother? A peek indicated that the world's most perfect pretty girl was asleep in her bed, feeling triumphant from her performance on the mid-term exam and the extra time she got to spend with Kusuo earlier. Her brother, Makoto was also home too, too tired from a weeklong movie shoot to bother his sister.

What about Yumehara? No. Yumehara was in her bed, sound asleep, after a bout of heady angst over about how she did less than well on her midterms than Kaido. The fact allowed her to pester Kaido for personal one-on-one tutoring but also hurt her chances of getting into the same college as Kaido. Aiura was back in bed too, already snoring.

And even, god forbid, Akechi and Toritsuka? Nope, Akechi was still up, his mind still racing with disjointed thoughts so he ended up looking into college choices, some of them were of extremely high reputation. Akechi was a smart young man, almost on the level of genius so it should be no problem for him. Toritsuka was sentenced to scrubbing the temple floors for hiding a raunchy magazine in the budda statues again and was currently plotting an escape from his duties.

Did Mera die from starvation? No. Ever since her father came back, Mera had begun to eat more regularly. Kusuo also made sure that he left his uneaten lunch in her locker earlier and he knew she ate that.

What about his parents? Peacefully asleep in their beds, relieved that grandpa was doing okay. Maybe his friend's parents and siblings? Come to think of it, he had never met Teruhashi's parents. What about the magician Chouno Uryoku and his sidekick Michael? Or Takahashi? Or Satou and Suzumiya?

All of his inner circle of friends and family were okay. Except for his grandfather and the ailments of old age, everyone was going about their ordinary lives peacefully.

Kusuo took a deep breath but it did not help. His heart was still beating like there was no tomorrow, and pounding so loud that he could hear it in his ears, feel it in his throat. He tried to think peaceful thoughts like the image of the Earth from outer space, or a world without cockroaches, or a sea of deserts. It was not helping.

Instead, he began to dry heave, trying to catch his breath. His body feels clammy and sweaty, but he still shivered and trembled terribly. It was not even hot in the room. Was he losing control over his pyrokinesis and cryokinesis?

Kusuo felt his throat catch. His eyes and cheeks were burning. Everything somehow ached, his heart was hurting, something he did not think was possible. He grabbed his chest in confusion. He felt emptier, like something, some part of him had disappeared, and not because he had not eaten all day. It was far more potent than the time that he used the second-generation of limiters, the one that took away his psychic powers for a time. That came with a sense of relief, not having to constrain his powers at all times, and not having to worry about every little movement was liberating.

Whatever this was came with an incredible sense of deepseated foreboding, like watching a horror movie, the music was crescendoing for the inevitable, inescapable reveal. Something very bad just happened and he did not know what. On a good note, whatever it was, it must had ended because the headache was noticeably ebbing away and his mind was finally clearing. His sight was becoming blurry though, likely from the exhausting day. Maybe his blood sugar was low since he did not have much of anything since breakfast earlier.

Then he felt something wet dripped on the back of his hand, on to the top of his bedsheets.

Startled, he touched the wetness. A few more drops later, he traced the source of the wetness to his chin and up to his face to his eyes.

Tears were coming out of his eyes.

Kusuo was alarmed at this newfound development. He could not recall the last time this happened. He could communicate his wants well enough as a baby that he never had use for that outward expression to get what he wanted. He had to learn what emotion connected to tears meant through watching day-time television; he determined that tears meant many things, good and bad.

It was not even pollen season so the cause was not something as simple as that.

Were the tears a result of sadness, pain even joy? He was not hurt to the point of unbearable physical pain. Nothing about this day was joyful or funny.

So why was there water coming out of his eyes?

He employed all his will power to stop the waterworks. He had to focus and figure this out now. He was convinced that something was deeply wrong. Now that the headache mostly went way and the images had stopped, he could think clearly again. He took a general truthful reevaluation of his life in an attempt to go from a broad overview to detailed analysis so he could root out the problem.

His powers were in check, mostly. He managed to achieve a relatively normal, peaceful life so far, despite all the disastrous daily troubles. He stopped the destruction of Japan and the Earth a couple of times in the past year. He was a senior in high school with a close circle of friends and family who cared for him and all seemed well. Time was finally moving again. The future looked bright, peaceful, and ordinary. He was somewhat looking forward to it.

He ransacked his brain, trying to think of a reason why he was having such a physical sympathetic response while nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Kusuo looked back at the clock again, noting the time. It was just a little past one in the morning of June 16. Did he just stew on his bed for over an hour? And he still had not figured out why his body and his psychic powers were malfunctioning? What kind of all-powerful, ESP user was he?

Wait...today is June 16th. June 16th is important because June 16th is exactly two month before my birthday but it's someone's birthday...

Kusuo gasped and jumped out of his bed. A blossoming panic was setting in.

He forgot to check on the one person he never had to help or protect.

Kuusuke!