I'm not sure how long I stay on the floor, breathing in and out through clenched teeth. The faint headache never disappears, but eventually I successfully will myself up and make my way to the kitchen.

The glass is still standing proudly, though the water is now probably hours old. I sip it and put away the Advil without taking any—I doubt that it would help anyway. I carry the glass upstairs with me to my room. I really want to lay down.

I push open my door and set down the glass on my desk, but then I pause. A chocolate bar? I don't remember buying any recently, let alone leaving one next to my computer. I pick it up and inspect it.

It looks brand new, and it has yet to soften from the warm temperature. It's the brand I usually get when I want a quick fix, since it's found in almost every convenience store…

I have no idea where it came from, but it's exactly what I need.

I peel open the wrapping and bite off a piece, letting it melt silkily over my tongue.

I have to hold back my temptation to sigh from the pure joy that blossoms within my heart.

Perfect.

I feel alive again.

I crawl into bed and settle under my covers, chewing my treat with delight. It's a small comfort considering how scary my weird power has become, but something about eating chocolate as usual makes it all seem okay.

Yeah, I'll be okay.

And I was fully convinced of that, too, until two days later, at school.

Of course I was going to go back to school. I couldn't skip it. I'm by no means a model student, but that doesn't mean I'm a delinquent. I know education is important. I attend my classes and do my homework.

Okay, so maybe I could have thought it through a bit more. Going to school requires looking at people. The teachers, the people sitting in front of you, and anyone else you glance at throughout the day. I wasn't really thinking, okay? I did say earlier that I was dumb sometimes. It just seemed like the best option. Makoto was bursting in all worried at night, and Kokomi was fussy too, and I was worried that if I stayed home another day they'd make me go to the hospital. Which...might have been better, actually.

Huh. Maybe I'll just go myself. Wouldn't they be able to figure something out with my power?

No, no. I shake my head to myself. It's common knowledge that, if someone has powers, they must keep it a secret. Because...government. Or other types of villains? I'm not sure, but I know it's not good if anyone finds out.

Then again, I've never heard of a power so useless that it incapacitates the user after glancing at someone's face. I'm kind of lame, aren't I?

"Hey, Nomi, glad you're back!"

I catch myself from glancing up just in time, refusing to move the book away from my face. I came early today so that I wouldn't accidentally see someone as I made my way to my seat, but I forgot that Gina has no problem coming to talk to me.

She won't think that it's weird if I don't look at her, right?

"Hey, what'd I miss?" I ask into the pages.

"Not much. School, school, and homework. What are you reading?"

She moves around to see the cover and I flinch, pulling the book closer to my face.

"Ohh, good choice," she hums, pulling away. I relax. "Shirigami Fudekichi is such a great writer. Did you know he makes manga books, too?"

"Oh, really?" I turn a page. I don't read any of the words, but I need to pretend this book is super fascinating.

"Yeah," she continues. "His one series is actually really popular...Ah! Class is about to start, talk to you later!"

I hide my breath of relief and put down the book when the teacher begins to talk, but I don't look anywhere except down at my notebook. I base all of my notes on what I can hear and immediately put my book up again when class ends.

When school finally, blissfully, ends, I shove all of my stuff into my backpack and run out of the classroom, ignoring Gina's calls for my attention.

It continues like that for a few days.

Yes, I continued to go to school.

Again, not a delinquent.

I had a few...urm...episodes of accidentally looking at people's faces a few times, but I managed to keep it to the minimum. And never Gina. I never want to pry into Gina's life again.

"You've been avoiding me." Gina says.

Uh-oh.

There's no question in her voice, nor room for escape. She's trapped me at my desk, face furrowed in a book, unprepared for confrontation. I can't even hope for the class bell to ring—school has ended and everyone was already getting up to leave.

I close my eyes and shake my head, leaning down to put my book away inside my desk.

"What are you talking about?" I pretend.

"Don't lie, Nomi. I thought we were friends."

Friends.

The word stings, for some reason.

An apology plays on my tongue, but I swallow it. What would I say? Sorry for making you think we were friends? That would get her to leave me be, but...an apology would mean that it's all over. The laughs, the ice cream, the everything.

Instead, I begin to mess with the organization of my books.

"It's not that we aren't friends," I say, hoping it's true, "I just…"

Can I even explain it? Will she even believe me?

Will she still want to be friends after?

"You just what, Nomi?"

But what about her? I have questions for Gina, too. Yuria said that Gina was busy, and Gina never denied it, but she never told me what she was busy with. It must be important, so what is it?

So what if I keep my secret?

"Nomi, please. I'm...I'm worried."

My heart drops. I want to look at her, gods, I almost do look at her. I want to see her brilliant smile and sparkly barrettes and adorable glasses. I want to see my friend. But... "I can't."

"What?"

"I can't," I whisper.

There's a pause.

"Why not?" She whispers back.

"I'll get hurt," I try to explain. I try. I try I try I try. "I'll get hurt so bad, and you won't even believe me."

"Please, Nomi, I'll believe you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" I snap. An accident, an accident, I swear. "But I won't have to worry about getting hurt if you weren't here." My mouth blurts whatever it wants, only the core truth, nothing that actually matters...

The pause is longer this time. So long, I wonder if she's still there. But eventually, I hear her mutter a "fine" and her footsteps as she walks out of the classroom, the door shutting definitively behind her.

She never tries approaching me again.

After a few more days, I stop going to school.

I guess delinquents aren't the only people who skip school.

Sad people do, too.

Forgive me for any mistakes, I don't have a beta reader.

Also, sorry that the story is kind of...depressing...? right now. I think, when I created the outline for the story, I fell into my habit of writing depressing and sad, which seriously isn't the feeling of the show Saiki K, but...hey, that's what fanfiction is, right? Making it your own? idk