AN: A little bit switching back and forth in reference to Saiki Kusuo. Aiura almost always uses "Kusuo" because she uses rather rude language. Toritsuka uses "Saiki-san" to denote respect since Saiki is Toritsuka's ESP master. Hopefully, it's not too confusing. Akechi uses "Kusuo-kun" with the honorifics because he's familiar with Kusuo and is a long time friend.

Also, many thanks to Asou Shuuichi for creating such a great series.

Chapter 10 - Roof Top Talk

Generally, at school, Aiura and Toritsuka avoided each other, Saiki, and Saiki's 'normal' friends. Their boss, Saiki, had said, with no minced words, that he disliked attention, especially at school, and the consequences of them disturbing his singled-minded goal could be dire. If either one of them wanted something, they can just repeat in their heads and if Saiki deemed the "something" worthy of note, he would respond to them.

For the two PK Academy Psychikers, not counting Akechi, who was more of an honorary Psychiker, the avoidance of each other was not a difficult request.

Aiura had her band of worshippers and grateful people who found her sexy and reliable. While she was no match for Teruhashi or the Rifuta in Year 2, she was attainable. Her words of advice were trusted. Her best friend was Chiyo, who cheered Aiura on nonstop about getting together with her soulmate. Outside of Aiura's usual pestering of Saiki from time to time outside of school through her specialized skills and 'accidentally' bumping into him, Aiura had plenty to keep her from getting bored.

Toritsuka was, in one word, perverted. His habits were certainly in violation of whatever purity vows he had made long ago. He preoccupied his time with skirt-chasing, Kokomins activities, rare occult club activities, and dealing in x-rated magazines. Since the start of the third year, though, he had matured a bit. He became a little more responsible and kept his skirt-chasing to more like an 8-hour a day addiction instead of a day-long obsession. He still indulged in temple mischief, self-benefiting possessions, but kept the consequences of those activities to himself.

However, Saiki had been absent for three, going on four days now. The two PK Academy Psychikers had to meet to discuss the methods to deal with the poor karma that seemed to be plaguing the school.

The first day of absence, Tuesday, was probably the worst. That day, Aiura dealt with some of the more difficult ramifications. No one died, but many people got wet, uncomfortable, experienced romantic and pet heartbreak, went to the nurse's office, and a couple of rare hospital visits.

The second and third days were much better.

For one, the number of disasters seemed to have reduced to only a fraction of day number one.

Secondly, Aiura and Toritsuka prepared.

Aiura took the time to read the fortunes before school started. She ordered Toritsuka, on the threat of burning his porno collection, to channel the appropriate spirits to deal with disaster while she took her share of the problems.

A wet spot that wasn't mopped up and would've caused a chain reaction of a cracked jaw and broken elbow? Aiura took extra time with cleaning duties and got scolded for getting to class late.

Luggage falling from an airplane? They stole gym mats, cones, and caution tape and placed them at the landing site on the school track.

A bomb left at the school door? An experienced police bomb squad tech spirit possession for which Toritsuka almost pissed his pants.

Both espers made a point to bump fists with Satou in between class, due to the superstition that Satou's near ESP level of average everything canceled out whatever deliberate danger and misfortune they were putting themselves in. This may sound easy, until they've considered that Suzumiya was Satou's girlfriend. So far, though, both espers managed to avoid the girlfriend and the tactic seemed to work as neither of them had gotten hurt.

At the moment, Aiura and Toritsuka took some time to cut the third and fourth periods to take a breather on the rooftop. Earlier, they had to be plumbers and prevent a nasty sewer backup this morning. Without their efforts, all those excited students at the exam ranking board would've been wading through ankle-deep pool of urine, muck, and poop.

They sat underneath the roof access door awning, looking at the overcast sky that threatened rain.

It had been raining for the past three days, going on four. Not too usual, considering the valley terrain and the summer weather patterns. It was only unusual to Aiura whose previously fail-safe weather forecast, including this morning, had proven false.

She was beginning to think that someone was deliberately screwing around with the weather and she had a good idea who.

"Man, this is the pits, Tits McGee," groused Toritsuka to Aiura. He had been slapping himself on the cheeks, trying to keep the spirits organized and not end up possessing him. "When is Saiki-san going to come back? I don't think I can take any more of this."

Aiura kept on watching the sky, seriously thinking about the Toritsuka's question and Kusuo's words a couple of nights back. She was still processing what she had seen, the unnatural fear she had felt. She had witnessed Kusuo distraught, something she thought was not possible for the overly powerful esper.

And over what? Some nameless blonde?

Aiura still had not figured out who the blonde was. Even with her fortune-telling abilities, her internet savviness, the results were blank. Granted, she had seen the portrait for only a few minutes, before Kusuo burned it. Still, this failure of her prescience to just find a person really bugged her.

Aiura could ask had Toritsuka if he knew more, except that Aiura did not want to tell Toritsuka of Kusuo's visit to her fortune teller house, at least not until she figured out what was going on. Kusuo was touchy about his personal life, and Aiura had to go through the difficult trial of earning his trust by keeping her mouth shut about things that he divulged to her, as imperfect as she was at it at times. Her attempt to maintain that trust was the reason why Aiura had yet to ingratiate herself to his parents. She wanted Kusuo to like her, not tolerate her like he tolerated his 'normal' friends.

"What? Our chicken shit spirit medium PK Psychiker already calling it quits?" teased Aiura, deciding that was the appropriate response to Toritsuka's complaint. She had to get him back on the name-calling.

"Well, yes! I am about to, you leather-skinned bimbo. All of this would be so easy for Saiki-san to fix," said Toritsuka, adding his own insults back at her. "He needs to shape up and come back to school. This is so damn death-defying that I'm not even pissed about midterms anymore."

"Oh yeah? How did you do on midterms? I made 157th place."

"Well, I got 163th place!" said Toritsuka. "I'm dumber than Nendo!"

"So what? It's an improvement. Didn't you rank in the 170s before, perverted scum?" asked Aiura with a light tease. "It's not like either one of us wants to or needs to attend college. I'm planning on working my fortune telling gig until the day I die so I don't care how I do."

"Speak for yourself, you brainless broad," groused Toritsuka. "Do you know how many chicks will refuse to talk to me because now I'm certified-dumber-than Nendo?"

"You have always been certified-dumber-than Nendo," said Aiura. "Penis aura."

"Hey! I resent that!" complained Toritsuka, then added, "Gyaru floozy."

"Never mind that, you pit-stain germ. Did you see Kusuo's score?" asked Aiura. She still recalled the odd, begrudging feeling when she saw his ranking. Was he not already so perfect that he had to also showed up everyone else? "I know that he expects to go to college and all. I just didn't think Kusuo would cheat though."

"Cheat?" Toritsuka made face at that comment. It caught him off guard. "What do you mean by cheat?"

"He made first place, you nitwit," said Aiura as she rolled her eyes. "I know he's telepathic and can read the teacher's thoughts so it would be easy to cheat. I just never thought he would actually do it, you know, him being all righteous about not using his ESP for such obvious personal gain like that."

Toritsuka scrunched his nose and thought about that. "Oh, I really doubt that. I going to guess that this is the result of him not cheating."

"What? He was cheating before?" asked Aiura. The possibility never occurred to her.

"Well. Of course. Saiki-san's life revolves around trying to look normal," said Toritsuka. "He's so all around overpowered that the challenge for him is to appear average. Why do you think he has such a weird obsession with Satou? Saiki-san didn't seem to be doing too hot that day so I'm guessing that making 1st place is his natural default."

Aiura took that logic in and frowned. Kusuo did give off the brainy impression, she never got the hint that he was a super smart or anything. "Just what makes you think that?"

"Well, look at him when he was without psychic powers a while back when we got assigned writing a report on a G7 country. He managed to turn in that thick report on Canada, handwritten, in one night, on a team of two people, and got the only full homework grade in our year. Sure, he had Teruhashi on his team and she's pretty smart, but Yuemahara said that Saiki did most of the work while Teruhashi watched him. I'm sure that barely scratched the surface of what he can do."

Aiura recalled that assignment and the circumstances surrounding it. Kusuo did get his psychic powers erased around the beginning of third year. How that was possible and why, Kusuo didn't say. Aiura only noticed because Kusuo's aura changed from canceling out everyone's aura, to an aura so bright that he became this overly bright pinkish-white thing that moved around school.

Then one day, after that freakish broadcast of an end-of-life-as-we-know-it-meteor and its miraculous dispersion into the Pacific Ocean, Kusuo came back to school wearing those green-tinted glasses of his again. He did stop wearing those power limiting hairpins though, at least from what Aiura could tell. It made him look a little more normal, and more handsome in her eyes. As usual, he never said anything about the details.

"But that's just crazy," said Aiura. "You're saying that outside of his psychic abilities that he's actually a genius?"

"Pretty much. I used to think he is just a self-righteous surly dude with more useful and powerful ESP than me. But after meeting his older brother and seeing how they interacted, I wouldn't be surprised if Saiki-san is peculiar in the head too."

Aiura stared at Toritsuka blankly, then her eyes widen, fascination stars in her eyes. "Older brother...?" she repeated. "He has an older brother?"

"Oh. Crap," said Toritsuka, his eyes widen in realization of what he just said, "I'm not supposed to say that." Toritsuka began to beat his fist against his skull. "Damn it! Those two are telepathic. They'd known I've flubbed the moment they talk to me or you. Ug. Kill me now. I want to live the life of a ghost where only the nicer one can threaten me."

Aiura was not going to let this go. She had so many questions. A wide smile was on her lips as her positive imagination ran wild. "What's his name? What's he like? Is he like Kusuo? Is he an esper too? Oh my god! How come I'm just learning about this now?"

Aiura imagined what Kusuo's older brother would look like. Probably someone with similar magenta-pink hair and none of Kusuo's gloominess. She dreamed of herself between them, Kusuo calling her "sweetheart" and her brother-in-law calling her "little sister." Further into her fantasy was Christmas and New Years at the Saiki family, happily having the Christmas cake with her inlaws then later hitting the rave scene with the hip Saiki Grandmother, Kumi. Maybe Aiura can get her mother-in-law to join too.

Toritsuka seemed to understand what was going on in Aiura's head, judging by the dreamy look on Aiura's face and all the sudden fog of sparkles around her face. He held up both of his hands and shook them for emphasis. "Look. They are not what you think. There's a reason why Saiki-san doesn't talk about him. I mean, Saiki-san even refused to tell me his older brother's name, saying that it's not his place. All I got was a "Ku-" something from when I first met him and I spent a week with him. It's been half a year now and I still don't know his name."

Aiura was completely not hearing the warning tone in Toritsuka's voice. She was still in her dreamland, now thinking of how she could get this mysterious brother to get Kusuo out of the current depressive rut. "Is he is anything like Kusuo? Tell me, I must know!"

Toritsuka shook his head. "That's the exact problem. He is a lot like Saiki-san in that they are both on a completely different level of messed up."

Aiura made a face at that description. Trust Toritsuka to be dramatic. "Yeah right."

Toritsuka did not look like he was kidding. In fact, he looked like he believed those words.

"How are they mess up?" Aiura pressed.

At that prodding, Toritsuka shook his head. "I've already said too much. I don't want both of them to be mad at me. You know what Saiki-san can do. Now imagine someone else who is just as capable, but have none of Saiki-san's scruples. I might be stupider than Nendo but even I'm not stupid enough to piss off both of them."

"So you're just saying that you're already dead meat. You might as well spill the beans." Aiura reasoned. "How about this. I'll 'fess up to the boss with you. You know he likes me and won't make a spirit out of me."

"But that doesn't mean he won't make a spirit out of me!"

"It'll be fine, Reita-toto," said Aiura with a wheedling voice. "We PK Academy Psychikers need to stick together. And in order to do that, we need to know about the boss's older brother. You know, to help the boss out."

Toritsuka seemed to consider it. "Well..you're not wrong about his older brother being able to help him..." Then Toritsuka vigorously shook his head. "But no. Absolutely not. Saiki-san is going to be mad if he knew we went to his older brother without his knowledge. And that's not counting what his older brother might do to us!"

"Reita, Kusuo has been absent for three days, going on four," reminded Aiura purposefully. To be honest, she was getting concerned. "House calls are not answered. When Chiyopipi delivered his homework, she said no one was home. His mom is ALWAYS home. The last time I saw him, he was...distracted, like something very serious had happened, something even he can't handle. Maybe if we all get together, we can fix whatever was bothering Kusuo."

For a straight minute, Toritsuka and Aiura stared at each other intently, almost like one of those overly long power stares between to the hero and villain in a movie, with a tedious convoluted hero monologue dissecting the merits of a reveal.

"Okay. Fine," Tortisuka relented. "If you think it will help Saiki-san out. But I'm using you as a body shield if this goes south."

Aiura only smiled merrily, finally getting her way. "Yeah yeah. Whatever. Now, spill! What's Kusuo's older brother like?"

Toritsuka thought about the things he witnessed, trying to put it into words. He had not thought about the older brother in some time. It was like there was a mental block there. That mental block seemed to have receded, somewhat, probably due to time.

"He is actually a lot like Saiki-san," Toritsuka began. "You know how Saiki-san appears normal, like how he completely blends into the background like air. But something is just off. Like, Saiki-san is really striking looking when you think about it, and you're just inexplicably drawn to him. When you're close to him, he gives off that vibe where the hair on the back of your neck stands up and you can't quite tell why. Then you see what he's capable of, and how straight forward he is, and you're just awestruck."

"Saiki-san older brother is like that in that he appears pretty normal. His looks are striking, in a different way from Saiki-san, and he has this natural magnetism about him. He is very personable, makes you put your guard down, makes you feel so great about yourself, tells you more about yourself than you know. He is so charming that you forget to ask why would someone like him would be interested in you and you just do what he told you, even if it sounds insane. Then something in the back of your mind just screams, but you just couldn't stop doing what he wanted you to do. You see his capabilities, how none of it makes sense, and you're just afraid."

Aiura took that all in, stared at Toritsuka seriously, and scoffed. "Great. Sounds like you almost fell in love with a sociopath."

Toritsuka looked like a light bulb went off. "That's right! A sociopath. That's the perfect word to describe him."

Aiura almost rolled her eyes. Trust Toritsuka to be so easily manipulated. "So what? You just told me that this older brother is just a socially well adjusted Kusuo who took the effort to woo you into doing his bidding. How's that result any different than Kusuo's usual method of just telling people what to do to their faces? Or you with one of your pickup-artist ghosts?" Aiura asked with a huff. "This is like the worst secret reveal ever. It's totally not worth me being a meat shield for you."

"I'm getting to it!" said Toritsuka. "I'm getting to the messed up part. Remember sometime back in 2nd year that I was absent for a week?"

"Dude, you skip class so often that people stopped keeping track," noted Aiura. "We just guessed that you got caught with a sex doll at the temple and they forced you into another absolution session."

"But not for a week straight! Even that's excessive!"

Aiura waved a hand. "So what? Let me guess what else his older brother did. He took you to a cafe and you two guys had a date."

"Well, that did happen..."

"I'm going back to class," said Aiura, completely losing interest. She leaned forward, already trying to get up.

"Aiura, Saiki-san's older brother tricked me, brainwashed me, taught me how to possess another person all in the grand scheme of getting Saiki-san to fight him to the death over getting a hairpin out of Saiki-san's head," said Toritsuka.

At that, Aiura sat right back now. She nearly glared at Toritsuka, as if daring him to take those words back. When she saw that he was not kidding, she relented. "Do go on."

Toritsuka was silent for a while, trying to think about which part of his interaction with the Saiki brothers he should leave out since his participation in it was less than honorable. He had never told anyone else about that incident, partially out of gratitude to Saiki-san's friendship and forgiveness, partially out of that nagging fear of the older brother.

"They had some sort of competition going on," said Toritsuka. "Where his older brother booby-trapped the hairpin on the right side of Saiki-san's head so that it's his older brother's win if it was removed. But doing so also means making the whole world know Saiki-san's psychic powers. His older brother was deadset on removing that hairpin to win as part of that competition. I figured into all of this because I was supposed to break Saiki-san's left hairpin. I didn't think it would be a problem since it just means that Saiki-san is naturally more powerful."

Aiura was shocked. "But he is the older brother! Why would he threaten to reveal Kusuo's secret? And you know what that left hairpin does! Why did you break it?!"

"I've told you. His older brother can get to people to do what he wants them to do. He wanted it broken and I did it! As to revealing Kusuo's secret, there was some sort of stupid explanation about Saiki-san being special, and having the world know of his existence would reduce crime and poverty thing," said Toritsuka. "It made no sense to me, but apparently it made sense to Saiki-san. He ended up removing the right hairpin himself, calling the match a draw."

"Wait, if it's removed, then why..."

"It turns out that his older brother had disabled the trap a long time ago. Like this whole thing was just a competition between the two."

"That makes absolutely no sense!" Aiura yelled.

"It made sense to them!" Toritsuka swallowed as he recalled the fight between the brothers. "You would get it if you were there. Because if you were, you would know why Saiki-san is so different from us even as an esper, why he is so guarded around us.

"The way he interacted with his older brother was just reckless. They were actively trying to kill each other over this competition. It's like they got a thrill from risking their lives," Toritsuka shook his head. It was like a dam broke in him, having to no one to tell these events to all these months. It was a relief to share a secret. "And it's not like a you're-annoyed-with-me type of 'killing-each-other.' Like, Saiki-san actually tried to petrify his older brother and smash him, without his wearing his limiter.

Aiura was not certain of what she was hearing. "Kusuo would never intentionally petrify people! Just look at the length of trouble he went through when he accidentally petrified Nendo and Kaido!"

Toritsuka continued to talk. "My point exactly. For his older brother, Saiki-san went straight to petrification. And you know how strong Saiki-san is physically. He finger flicked his older brother, without his limiter. I've never seen Saiki-san even try to physically hurt people, because he's constantly afraid that he'll accidentally kill people. With his older brother, it's like Saiki-san's restraints were off, and he actually deliberately hurt his older brother.

"What's even more freaky was that his older brother blocked the petrification and survived the smashing. His older brother had some sort of energy weapon that just easily shoot a beam clean through a meter thick wall and whatever trees or mountains within a kilometer radius and gave Saiki-san's red welts so Saiki-san had to teleport to dodge it. His older brother was laughing while trying to shoot Saiki-san down like some kid with a blaster toy. And if Saiki-san wanted to be even more physical, his older brother said that he would hold the world hostage if needed, like his brother didn't care if he died in the process either.

"Their fight was just madness. What's worse, was that, at the end, Saiki-san told him that he'll "stay as his playmate," like they were just having a kindergarten schoolyard scuffle to see who won. It really was just two of them trying to win some sort of a game.

"Don't you see the messed-up part here? That's Saiki-san's 'normal.' When he's not held back, he can easily destroy things and people, and he only does this with his older brother who is just as ruthless," Toritsuka shivered, despite it being almost summer. "It's like watching two gods smack on each other for fun then make up. I can't imagine what it was like for them, growing up together. It must've been twisted."

Aiura was not sure how to respond to Toritsuka. She had never heard him talk so much without a mention of a female body part or some schemes to get rich.

Maybe that was why Toritsuka had wised up somewhat. That experience must've, at some level, traumatized and humbled him.

In a way, Aiura felt a little hurt to hear Toritsuka's story. Was she not good enough of a friend to both of them for them to divulge such significant detail to her?

At some point, the bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. Both Psychikers were so absorbed that they ignored it.

"So you're saying that there's no way in hell that we should pester Kusuo's older brother for help?" Aiura concluded.

That seemed to surprised Toritsuka. "Just what makes you think that?"

"You just told me that they tried to kill each other," said Aiura. "I think that's a hint."

Toritsuka shook his head. "No. On the contrary, he's the best person who can help Saiki-san if he's in trouble."

Aiura made a face. "How so? They sound more like enemies to me."

"Well, how did you think Saiki-san had his powers erased for a while? It's because his older brother created a device that did that. I'm pretty sure it was also his older brother who created those hairpins in the first place. You know that they limit his ESP to the point that Saiki-san can be normal and attend school."

The detail was another shock. Aiura never thought too much in-depth about Kusuo's hairpins. She knew that they limited his power. She never thought about who made them. She had automatically assumed that Kusuo created them because of how amazing and responsible he was with his psychic powers.

The idea that someone else who could've created them never crossed her mind.

"Think about it," Toritsuka continued. "His older brother is someone who defeated Saiki-san's god-like level of ESP, even if it's not permanent. Like, how you saw Saiki-san made those clones of his, teleport to anywhere he wanted, always knowing what you're thinking, and suppressed a volcano that can destroy Japan. I'm sure that the meteor from the beginning of the term was also Saiki-san's doing. All of that power to do all of that, erased, briefly, because of one of his brother's devices. It was a gift, really, since that was ultimately what Saiki-san wanted, was to be normal like us.

"Having seen all of that, it isn't surprising to me why Saiki-san doesn't talk about his older brother because of percisely how different they both are from the rest of us."

Aiura considered Toritsuka's words. There was something she was missing here. "So, wait, are you telling me that he an esper too?" asked Aiura. "More powerful than Kusuo?"

At that Toritsuka looked confused, as if he never considered the question before. "I'm...not sure." He seemed to have surprised even himself.

"Wait. How can you not be sure? Didn't you say you spent a week with him?"

"I did. And that's why he's so goddamn freaking scary, it's almost like you can't ever know anything for certain with him. It's never simple."

Aiura frowned. Why did it seem like she had heard about this person before?

"He told me that he's an esper who can read minds, but then he said that he was joking. I couldn't tell if he's just a really good guesser or he really can read minds. Then there's just a bunch of little stuff that can't be explained. At some point in their fight, he was able to fix Saiki-san's broken limiter in seconds. He had devices that prevent telepathy and robots that mimic people. I mean, if he's Saiki-san older brother, you'd think that he'd have sort of overpowered ESP too, but he never displayed any outward ESP like Saiki-san. Everything he did can be explained by science or his machines, but what he did was so amazing that I can't be sure. The more I think about the things he did, the more it makes my skin crawl.

"That makes no sense," said Aiura, echoing her earlier sentiment.

"You're telling me! Imagine how I feel when I was in the middle of it! I'm so only so lucky that Saiki-san protected me when they were trying to blast each other to pieces. I get the sense that his older brother would squash people just for fun. And you know how Saiki-san never bothers to explain anything. Guess who has that disgusting habit, too? Yes. His older brother, who is much worse, if that's even possible. I mean, I didn't even learn that they're brothers until the very end, and it's not because they told me. It's because Saiki-san was referred to as a younger brother and he didn't deny it."

At that conclusion of that sentence, the personnel door to the rooftop opened.

It was Akechi.

The midterm second-ranked student looked behind him furtively before shuting the door. His black gaze quickly settling on the two espers.

Aiura and Toritsuka immediately wanted to go back to class.

"Ah. There you are, fellow PK Academy Psychikers. I am so glad to find you two here, though it's not unexpected. The probability of you two being here to hide from your inevitable public humiliation of your terrible midterm ranking was high. The society's obsession with education is truly a shame, since testing does not directly correlate with working success. I am also certain that you two are consorting because of Kusuo-kun's absence has caused certain unfortunate heartaches at school. I did notice you two running around, hitting different supply closets. Has this perchance to do with..." Akechi kept on talking, oblivious to the pair of eyes glazing over at his words.

"Do you want to stop him?" Aiura bit off the side to Toritsuka as Akechi kept on talking in the usual matter of many words. It sounded like Akechi noticed what the two espers had been doing to combat the bad karma at school, but was trying to author a verbal novel.

"You can stop him first," whispered Toritsuka back.

"I guess that you considered me 'normal' so that you haven't included me in your school protection schemes," said Akechi, as if he had not heard the commentary about his wordiness. "This happened back in elementary school too. On the days that Kusuo didn't show up, there's seemed to be more disasters around school.

"Anyways, I am here to hide from Kaido and Kuboyasu. It seemed that I've let slipped something that Kusuo would likely want to be kept quiet. I hope you'll let me stay here, and protect me while I avoid them. It is lunchtime and they're waiting to ambush me in the cafeteria. I'm not all that hungry so I don't mind just hiding here, but at some point, I will want to get something to eat. I'll just have to do so without meeting those two since they will want to ask about Kusuo's exam-taking skills. I'm going to guess that they both want to know Kusuo's study secrets. They're going to be very disappointed to know that Kusuo didn't study late into the night."

Aiura and Toritsuka blinked at least three times, trying to catch up with Akechi's thought pattern. "What?" both of them repeated.

Akechi smiled widely, his eyes turned black without the iris. "I'm sure you saw Kusuo-kun's midterm score. While I'm glad that he decided to stop pretending, I have an inkling that was not his intention. I am sure that he'll come clean about it someday, and I don't want to steal his thunder, if you will..."

Aiura finally caught on. "Wait," she interrupted before Akechi can continue. "'Stop pretending' Are you also saying that Kusuo didn't cheat? He really is that smart?"

Akechi tilted his head as if she was stupid. "Of course he is. Kusuo's ability to ace tests in elementary school aside, there's plenty to suggest that he's naturally very smart. He always gets a full score on homework. If he's called on during class to solve a problem on the board, he always answered correctly, even when the teacher is trying to trick him. If you look at what he reads outside of manga, it's always something esoteric or in another language. He doesn't actually pay attention in class, even if he looked like it.

"Intelligence typically tracks well in families too. I know his parents are normal, lovely people, and get along. That's pretty rare in these days and age. The other people in his family are exceptional too. For example, he has a genius older brother who has already graduated from the University of Cambridge with a doctorate, at age nineteen.

Toritsuka and Aiura looked at each other. They were just talking about the same brother earlier.

"Did you know that?" asked Aiura of Toritsuka under here breath. She did not need to know the name of the school to know that it was one of those world top-tiered schools. "The whole University of Cambridge part?"

Toritsuka shook his head, surprise on his face.

Akechi continued on his narrative. "So when Iguchi-sensei said that the university professor thought that Kusuo-kun should be in a doctorate program, that makes a lot of sense since that would make him track his older brother's academic progress at age seventeen. I also heard that he has a grandmother who one of the most renowned woman doctor in the country. Now that I think about it, about how long it took me to confirm that Kusuo was an esper, his ESP almost seemed like a compliment rather than his major trait."

Aiura and Toritsuka looked at each other again. They felt as if another truth bomb was dropped on them.

Kusuo really did not tell people about the details of his life, did he?

Akechi clasped his hands together. "So, what do you think about my current dilemma, PK Academy Psychikers? Can you help me about? Can you help me hide from Kaido and Kuboyasu? I'm sure Kusuo-kun would appreciate that we don't talk about his test score. He is all about keeping as low of a profile as possible. In fact, he might be skipping school because he doesn't want to face his friends badgering him about his test score. I am pretty sure he already knows the materials that are being taught anyways so it's not like he is missing out on an education. Woah. What are you doing, Aiura-san?"

Aiura had enough of Akechi's nonstop yammering. He said so much that it was getting hard to follow his train of thought. She got close to Akechi and put a hand on the boy's mouth. For an added effect, she utilized her feminine wiles. She clung to him, and made sure that her perky boobies were pressing against Akechi's arm, her stance low enough for him to see the cleft of her chest "That's enough out of you, Touma."

Akechi's face immediately reddened and all thoughts vanished. All he could think of were long hair, the smell of summer, long pink acrylic nails, tanned skin and boobies.

Toritsuka looked jealous.

"I'll make sure those two stay away from you," said Aiura as she fished out a miniature crystal ball and looked at it almost negligently. Ah ha, Kuboyasu and Kaido were at the entrance of the cafeteria, definitely looking like they were waiting for someone. Easy enough to avoid. "Until Kusuo tells us what he wants us to do, that is."

Akechi's eyes were too absorbed by the mysterious cleft of Aiura's shapely chest underneath her uniform to realized what she said. He nodded numbly.

"What's this older brother look like anyways," asked Aiura. "He probably looks a lot like Kusuo, no?"

"I've never met the guy," said Akechi. It seemed that having his mind distracted by the female form organized his thoughts. "There was not even a picture of him on the internet, despite being a published graduate at Cambridge and being pretty wealthy man off his business."

Aiura looked to Toritsuka. "Well?"

"What, you're talking to me?"

"Who did you think I was talking to?"

Toritsuka did not even look embarrassed. "Well, they do kind look alike. I mean, their facial structure and skin tone are definitely the same. You would've never suspected that they were related though, since their colorings are so different. It's kinda funny really, how different they looked from Saiki-san's parents. I mean, at least Saiki-san got his mother's eyes. But Saiki-san's older brother is a pale blond, with like this really pale gray, almost golden eyes. Like, he looks nothing like the rest of his family."

Aiura blinked. The description matched the person she was puzzling over for the last two days. "Wait. What did you say? He is blond? Did that hair cover the left side of his face?"

"Yeah. I guess he had some sort of scar on the left side of his face. How did you already know?"

Aiura sucked in a large breath and gasped as she recalled Kusuo's words and actions back at the fortune teller's house. She recalled that brief, uncontrolled, inexplicable rage and anguish beneath his usual nonchalance.

Aiura had finally put the hints together.

Kusuo was trying to find his older brother.

Kusuo must have tried everything he could, throwing all his psychic abilities at it. Aiura did feel that Kusuo demonstrated the usage of his psychic abilities more than normal, judging by how he so carelessly utilized throughtography, pyrokinesis, and teleportation. Kusuo mentioned temporal abilities, another power that she did not know that he had.

She recalled his silence during her fortune reading, and how her crystal ball seemed to be straining through a number of different possible futures, but always ended with nothing. Kusuo must had mentally tried a number of different routes in a last ditched effort to change the fortune and defy fate.

"He came to me because he failed," Aiura whispered to herseslf. "He wanted to believe that he was wrong."

Aiura suddenly realized what she had done when she told him the results of her prescience. "And I told him that there's no chance..."

Aiura began to shake when she fully realized the full ramification of Kusuo's visit to her fortune teller's house.

"Guys. I think something really bad had happened," declared Aiura. She looked to the overcast sky. It had started raining again. "I don't think Kusuo will be coming back to school for a while."


AN: At some point writing this, I realized that Kuusuke is one of Kusuo's secrets. Sure, some of his friends realized that he has a sibling, but only Toritsuka had seen what true one on one interaction between the two looked like.

Wow. Thank you for struggling all the way to the end! Thank you for reading this far. I hope it's worth your time and that you enjoyed it!