Chapter 43 - Normal School Friends
The after-school ramen trip was nothing out of the ordinary.
Saiki's closest normal school friends, who must have incredible psychic powers of their own, had somehow bamboozled Saiki into an afterschool hangout session at a local ramen shop.
The tactic was simple. Saiki's friends from Class 1 ended up alternating hall passes and roamed the hallways during the last period to make sure that Saiki did not somehow escape their clutches.
Takahashi, who was in Class 4 with Saiki, was also roped into the surveillance and made to provide text updates every 5-minutes. Saiko bribed the Class 4 teacher to make sure that Saiki did not run away unannounced. Nendou followed Saiki to the restrooms, insisting that it was not unusual for two dudes to be in adjacent urinals.
The homeroom teacher back in Class 1 was curious about why so many students in his needed to go to the bathroom, and for so long.
Were they all defecating?
Gentle reasoning from Teruhashi, about how it was not good for their health to 'hold-it-in,' though, completely appeased the teacher's concerns.
And since Teruhashi could get away with everything, she took the risk of not being present at the last bell and missing the ending farewell bowing ceremony to the teacher.
Saiki was not going to be out of their sight!
Teruhashi had to pay for such deception by holding a brief court for her admirers and teacher, reassuring them that she was, in fact, okay; that she did not have a stomach ache, or that the last class period before summer vacation was not too dull. The cooks in the cafeteria did not need a beating for serving bad food. The teacher did not need to pay penitence at a monastery for failing his life calling.
Hairo and Mera came immediately to Class 4 to say hi after school. Hairo, the over-enthusiastic class representative of Class 1, also hugged Saiki in a Nendou-like manner, with the same amount of tears, less snot. Mera politely greeted Saiki, saying the usual platitudes before rushing off to her job as she happily munched on a curry bun someone left in her locker sometime between the last two periods of the school day.
Saiko went back home for whatever business Saiko Corp had. Rumor had it that the Saiko Conglomerate just had one of its biggest insults to injury by a business rival and was told to go home and help devise a corporate strategy. So Saiko threw the pink-haired classmate an I've-noticed-you-and-tolerate-you-as-a-so-called-friend-look before sauntering into a limo.
Those who were free, which were Nendou, Kaidou, Kuboyasu, Teruhashi, and Yumehara, escorted Saiki to a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop for a last end-of-term pow wow.
This time, the food offered at the nondescript shop was reasonably decent. Everyone slurped their ramen, chattering about their summer plans, finalization of their post-high school plans, hangout dates, promises to finish the summer homework early, and whatnots.
In all of this, the walk from school to the wait and eat at the ramen shop, Kaidou talked far more than usual. Kaidou was seemingly trying to keep the topics general and away from the obvious burning question that was on everyone's mind. For most of the ramen eating, Kaidou kept on bombarding everyone, except Saiki, with questions about one thing or another. Each time anyone tried to ask Saiki about something, Kaidou interjected.
Kaidou's questions were mostly directed at Nendou, too, who shamelessly and loudly argued with Kaidou. Once they got into it, they quickly filled up the air, allowing no one else to barge in.
Eventually, it was Kuboyasu was broached the question on everyone's mind. Finding a moment after Kaidou had been verbally beaten by Nendou, Kuboyasu looked to Saiki and asked loudly, "So...Saiki. Where have you been?"
By then, everyone had more or less finished their ramen and was paying steady attention to their pink-haired friend.
Saiki, though, looked at his own bowl of full noodles. He barely took a bite. He stirred the wavy noodles that were now soggy and cold, pensive.
The pause must have been far too long and Kaidou opened his mouth, trying to redirect the conversation again.
"England," said Saiki before Kaidou had a chance to insert a word. He began to wrang his hands a bit, twisting a fancy-looking gray band on his finger.
Before anyone could ask why, it was Nendou who chirped up. "Wow! That's sounds really great, Aibou. I had a lot of fun over there, with you and Chibi. How was it? Did you go to a soccer game? Go shopping?"
Without waiting for Saiki to respond, Yumehara screeched, "You were in England? You were on vacation? in England!? That's why you completely ghosted us!? You withdrew from school for a freaking vacation?"
Kaidou's expression turned almost livid at Yumehara. "Chiyo, tone it down will ya?"
"Shun, why are you..." Yumehara would've gotten out more words, except that Kaidou held a hand over her mouth.
"Not right now," Kaidou bit out, trying to be quiet enough so that only Yumehara heard.
"England? Why didn't you tell us, man," asked Kuboyasu with a frown, his reaction far more muted. "I mean, that was what Takahashi said, but I thought he was making up one of his nonsense stories. And you had an older brother?" There was a brief silence before his expression became stern. "You worried us a bunch. We thought you were sick or something."
In all of this Teruhashi was also mute. She did gaze upon Saiki with a strangely critical look, as if trying to piece together a puzzle.
Saiki continued to nervous wrang his hands and eventually twisted the ring on his finger off, with a slight twitch in his facial muscles.
"Saiki, you don't have to tell us," said Kaidou.
Kaidou's words struck Kuboyasu as odd. "Shun. What's with you? I'm just asking Saiki an innocent question here." The street-smarts in Kuboyasu were buzzing. He said, "What are you trying to hide, Shun?"
"Nothing!" said Kaidou, taking his hands off Yumehara. "I just don't want Saiki to be uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable with what?" asked Kuboyasu. "Telling us about his vacation? Withdrawing so he didn't have homework to do?"
"Well," Kaidou squeaked. As much as Kaidou was used to Kuboyasu's rough exterior, Kaidou was just not used to having that scary expression directed at himself. "It's not what you think."
Kuboyasu's eyebrows furrowed in irritation. He saw what was going on here. "Hold on a second. You knew? And you didn't tell the rest of us?!"
Kaidou began one of his hand-waving exercises, trying to keep the heat off of himself.
"Kuboyasu," called Saiki.
It was one of those moments where everyone's attention was immediately captured and turned to their pink-haired friend. In none of their recollection did Saiki ever directly addressed their steady, purple-haired Kuboyasu Aren.
"If you must know, I was in England," Saiki's was steady. His eyes never left the bowl of soggy noodles as he took a pregnant pause and said, "to put Ani's affairs in order."
"What do you mean by "Ani?" began Kuboyasu hastily, "And what's it about putting 'affairs in order?' You only do that when..."
It was then that Kuboyasu caught on to Saiki's mood and noticed how Saiki seemed more quiet than usual, if that was even possible. There was a background agitation added to the perpetually detached exterior.
Still, Kuboyasu was the type of person who needed clarity. "You have an older brother?"
"Had," Saiki corrected.
Suddenly, Kaidou's chatter to pull all attention away from Saiki made sense.
Kuboyasu and Yumehara stared, frowning. Neither of them knew that Saiki had an older brother.
Kaidou looked away, looking like he had failed at something.
Teruhashi and Nendou frowned, with lips parted, as if not fully understanding.
"Sorry to ruin the mood," Saiki muttered, not looking at his friends.
There was another moment of silence before Kuboyasu spoke up.
"And your grades?" Kuboyasu pressed on.
"Aren," called Kaidou in an admonishing tone. "Don't you think that..."
"Oh screw how he doesn't want to talk about it. We've waited patiently for him to come around," said Kuboyasu. "We're all friends and he owes us an explanation." He redirected his attention to Saiki again. "You've made first place for midterms and finals. I can kinda understand midterms because you always make 100% on homework. But finals? You haven't even been here for classes!" Aren crossed his arms. "Have you always been this smart?" The word made Kuboyasu feel an unjust burn in his chest. If Saiki kept such secrets, were they even friends? First a brother that Saiki never mentioned. Now the weird things with grades? "Was your scores during second year a lie? Did you deliberately missed questions during second year to get an average score?"
Saiki took a breath. There were too many questions, so he answered the last question first. "I did."
"You did what?"
"I deliberately answered the questions wrong during second year so my grades would be average of the class."
"Why!?" demanded Kuboyasu. "Why would you deliberately sabotage your scores back in second year? You know that they register our names to colleges based on our rank scores. You know that hurts your chances to get into good colleges and your future."
"I didn't want to stand out," said Saiki.
"Didn't want to stand out?" echoed Kuboyasu.
Saiki barely nodded his head.
"That's it?" Kuboyasu asked again, incredulous.
"Of course that was it," said Saiki. "I wanted to be normal."
"Why would you want to be just normal?" asked Kuboyasu.
"Why would I want to be just normal? You of all people should know why," Saiki threw the question back. "Aren't you at PK Academy for the same reason?" No one said anything as Saiki let the question sink in. "Does the name 'Ibaraki' mean anything to you?"
The hypothetical question seemed to strike a chord within Kuboyasu. The reminder of the life that Kuboyasu had to leave behind, to live a straight and narrow life, held too much raw emotions. "Are you challenging me?"
"Aren, calm down," interjected Kaidou, trying to keep the emotions from flaring.
"No. I'm providing an explanation that you can comprehend," said Saiki coolly. "What does who you were back then matter now? Do you still want to be remembered as 'the man who leaves no bones of his enemies?'"
Though the answer was uncanny in its sharpness, and it poked at a fire within Aren, one that reacted and lashed out whenever it could.
Luckily, Teruhashi was there to calm the nerves. She laid a hand on Kuboyasu's shoulder. "Kuboyasu-kun, don't get angry. Saiki-kun is just trying to say that the past is the past. That you have your reasons for being what you are now. Isn't that what you believe also?" She gave Saiki a furtive, puzzled glance while keeping her voice dulcet and gentle. "As your friend, we shouldn't question. Only accept." She gave one of her most winsome smiles, cranking up her glow, forcing a radiating peace that seemed to wash the entire ramen shop. "When you're ready, you'll tell us. Just like how Saiki-kun was ready to let us know now of what happened. He didn't tell us before, because he wasn't ready. And that's okay."
"And if it's never, then it's never," Yumehara followed up, surprisingly. "And if you want us to pretend that we never heard it, then we will. Nothing will change the fact that we're friends. Right? We'll always be there for each other."
It was a bold declaration, one that everyone agreed with a nod, if not hesitantly.
Kuboyasu took a deep breath, shrugged, and agreed too. As per Kuboyasu's bro code, a man's past is a man's past. The one fact now was that they were friends and friends make allowances for each other.
Kuboyasu faced Saiki.
Saiki was still staring at the nearly full ramen bowl, looking pensive.
"I'm sorry, Saiki. I was out of line," said Kuboyasu, his voice steady and sincere. "Will you forgive me?"
Expectedly, Saiki seemed to take longer than usual to formulate a response. "There's nothing to forgive."
Per the bro code, Kuboyasu took the words as they were.
Then, like a leaf spun in the wind, Kuboyasu's expression turned sly. "So...August 16th. Teruhashi's house. You game?"
Saiki stared at the ring that he had been fidgeting with, which was now off his finger and on the table. Up until now, he had done his best not to look directly at his friend, seemingly listening to or thinking about something else.
At this moment, though, Saiki did look up. Sharp purple eyes and a knowing expression told everyone that Saiki knew of the secret plan, but was gracious enough to play along, to not ruin the surprise.
"Yes."
Saiki made an excuse to leave soon, something about going to a job. It was odd, but no one questioned it. After all, it wasn't unusual for students at PK Academy to have a part-time job.
To almost no one's surprise, as soon as Saiki made his exit, Teruhashi made an excuse to leave too. She muttered something incoherent about ginkgo nuts and how she needs to sweep them off certain streets near the PK Academy as a member of the sanitation committee. Then she stalked after Saiki like a skilled paparazzi.
Kuboyasu, Kaidou, Nendou, and Yumehara watched the girl leave, slightly incredulous but not at all surprised.
If only Saiki was not so oblivious to Teruhashi's blatant pining.
"That girl needs help," said Yumehara blandly.
"She does know that everyone else knows, right?" Kuboyasu followed up.
"Doesn't help. Kokomi has never had a boyfriend before," said Yumehara. "Saiki is her first crush."
"What? No way!" exclaimed Kuboyasu incredulously. "Teruhashi-san has never liked someone in that way? She really never had a boyfriend?"
"Not even a sugar daddy," added Yumehara. "Well, more like people just give her stuff. But yes. Kokomi-chan told me that she feels 'different' around Saiki. Like, she really wants to spend time with him but he's always preoccupied. It feels like she's been crushing on him for years. I've always told her that if Saiki is that big of a dolt, then just tell him. I even made her practice on people and dummies."
Yumehara then shook her head like a disappointed kung-fu master at the failed young grasshopper of a student. "I thought she would've made her move on our spring break trip to Oshimai. I mean, she sat next to him on the train there and back. Sat next to him at mealtime, even rode camels with him at the zoo. Like, I kept on telling her, the whole trip, to just tell him but nothing ever happens."
"Oh yeah," remarked Kuboyasu. "I do remember that! I thought we drew lots to see who gets to ride camels with her. Saiki drew the short straw."
Yumehara nodded before continuing. "I mean, she even got the teacher to make sure that she sat next to him in class. Kokomi-chan told me that he's only ever stared at her like there's fly poop on her face." Yuemhara took a moment to facepalm. " We couldn't be working with two bigger blockheads. I'm at the point of telling her to become a lesbian."
"Well, they need help," said Kaidou. "That's why August 16th has to be perfect. Saiki could probably use something happier to think about," Searching for positive reinforcement, Kaidou looked to Nendou. "Right, Nendou?"
Nendou was looking back at the group with vacantly.
"Nendou?"
Nendou scratched the back of his head, looking concerned and puzzled. "Guys. Something is really off here."
Everyone's attention was instantly on Nendou.
"What do you mean?" Kaidou followed.
Nendou's large human gorilla face scrunched in an effort to push coherent thoughts through the sluggish neurons in his head. "I just can't put my finger on it," said Nendou, "I mean, why is Aibou the one handling things for his older brother? Aren't their parents supposed to handle that?"
The group considered Nendou's question a bit. Eyes blinked, lips parted, and faces twisted as they realized something strange was going on.
"And I know that it sounds like Aibou said a bunch of stuff today," Nendou continued. "I've never heard him talk so much, but it feels like he hadn't said anything at all."
"Well, he is more withdrawn than usual," offered Kaidou, "but I would be too if I just lost Toki or Sora."
Nendou shook his head. "No, guys. That isn't it. There's something that really changed. It's like, he's more distant than before." Nendou touched a finger to his butt chin, in the philosopher pose. "Like, how much do we know about Aibou? Like, what's his older brother's name, anyways? We spent almost two days with his older brother when we were in over there, but I don't remember his name."
Kaidou thought about Nendou's statement and felt an unfamiliar numbness in the back of his mind.
"We spent an entire afternoon playing tag with him," Nendou continued to croak, "Then we had some late night tea together. We both saw him watching over Aibou all night. Shouldn't we know Aibou's older brother's name?"
Kaidou scratched at his head, feeling oddly strange as that feeling of numbness was falling away like someone had pulled the courtains away, revealing a scene that they've always known. "Saiki Kuusuke."
It seemed that the feeling was mutual. Nendou blinked. "Oh! Mr. Normal."
"Mr. Normal?" said Kaidou incredulously. "How can that be? My mom said that the guy went off to college at fourteen and has a doctorate from Cambridge. She kept on ranting to me about how he is a genius among geniuses and helps out with his parents and such. If you ask me, he's a bit out there. He can say the most nerve-racking things, like he can see into your spirit."
It seemed that it was Kuboyaus who caught on this time. He looked thoughtful as he considered the facts. "Now I get it. Saiki must not want to be compared to that," said Kuboyasu rubbing a chin "That certainly explains why his exam results are so ridiculous. And how his grades at Ten Star were so perfect. I mean, if you had that to compete against, wouldn't you feel so overshadowed and work to surpass that? They must have competed so much that Saiki eventually decided to be normal, and be so quiet, you know. So that Saiki is different from his older brother."
Kaidou gawked at Kuboyasu's reasoning.
Kuboyasu was a punk who had the sixth sense of knowing whenever someone was watching him said, "What? That happens with bros. It's common bro sense."
Yumehara stared at Kuboyasu like she was a teacher, listening to a student explain that they don't have their homework done because the dog ate it.
"Whatever," said Nendou with a look that suggests that he did not completely catch all of the reasoning. "Aibou is one of us. And that's where he'll stay."
Everyone nodded affirmatively.
When they were ready to leave, Kaidou made a mental note to himself to look up a little more information on Saiki's older brother. Maybe there would be details that might become helpful in trying to cheer their laconic friend up. Or avoid upsetting topics, at least.
"Saiki Kuusuke, huh?" Kaidou rubbed the back of his head some more as he uttered the name. It felt as if that unspeakable curtain was being drawn and pull away.
Kaidou simply could not shake the feeling that he was not supposed to know something.
