More months passed by, bringing this little story to Christmas Eve. Cheer abounded everywhere except in the heart of the Grinch, who 18 years ago had decided that pink was his new favorite color. However, a sedulous sapphire-shrouded seraph sought to change that.
In the time preceding this very special day for couples across Japan, the Grinch had used his time to set the Mystic's counsel into his heart. Though he would tell you it was "acceptance of his fate", he was not fooling anyone. Perhaps he said it as an assurance to himself to aid in mollifying his heightening anxiety.
He and the seraph had continued their clandestine rendezvous, thawing his icy heart little by little. She knew it was working; the planning for what the Grinch refused to admit were dates had reached parity.
But this begs the question: why had the seraph kept this up for so long? What made her believe that Christmas Eve would make any difference during their journey? Or, less obfuscated by pedantry, why did she think he was worth the trouble?
They were not destined to be together any more than an average couple solely because they were uniquely and equally powerful. They could have easily passed each other by without a whisper. They could have been born in different countries. There were too many junctures that they could have failed to navigate. These and many other scenarios were all very possible. Despite all of the logical reasons their relationship could have gone wrong, all of the difficulty they had put each other through, and all of the crushing pressure they had to endure to preserve a semblance of their lives outside of each other, she couldn't help but have faith.
Maybe it was just a high school flame; a capricious thing that burns brilliantly when stoked by the hormones of adolescence but fades when not maintained by effort both earnest and reciprocated. Despite that, she couldn't help but try.
He challenged her, took care of her, and, most of all, cared FOR her. By the most charitable of measures, he was not forthright with his thoughts and emotions, but had more than proven his mettle with his actions. He had no reason to tell her about what happened with Aiura's kiss, but he did it anyway. He was far from perfect at it, but he made a conscious effort to face conflict head on. She more than sensed his fear, but he still worked with her to pull away the thorn studded vines wound tightly around his heart. It was likely unintentional, but the fact that he was able to keep coming back to show her that tender look despite his embarrassment meant the world to her. He put more effort into his gifts for her than anything she'd ever seen him do. So, despite everything, she couldn't help but love him.
These were the thoughts that provided the air beneath the seraph's wings as she descended upon the Grinch's cave in the crisp morn before Christmas. Today's outfit was a deep red zip-up parka, black beanie, khaki scarf, neat, form-fitting black pants, and black ankle booties; blending bold neutral colors to complement her cool-toned, feminine hue. Of course, she would look great in a burlap sack, but wanted to look as good as she felt today.
"Merry Christmas, Saiki-kun!" Teruhashi chirped merrily as she crossed the threshold to the household. He wore a plain purple sweater with a plain white collared shirt underneath, plain khaki pants, and plain white shoes. Clearly, he had no intention of stepping outside today.
He greeted her with a coy smile and a head shake. Wait, what was that? Did his eyes just shimmer?
"What am I going to do with you?" he snorted.
Teruhashi uses Angel Upward Beam™! "Take me out for coffee?"
"Too early for that." It was not very effective.
"That's every couple's first date, you blockhead." Her face scrunched in an equally ineffective attempt to intimidate him.
"We're not a couple."
"Then why are we spending Christmas together?"
"Why are you like this?"
"Because you're an idiot who doesn't realize how good he has it."
"Is having a nuisance who keeps pestering me supposed to be a good thing?"
"I thought I was already long past the nuisance stage."
"I'm simply making an observation."
"Well, would a nuisance give you a present?" she said, presenting the box she had been holding to him.
He eyed it cautiously and then took it from her. "I get presents I don't want every year."
"I promise this is a good one."
He grunted and opened the box to reveal a beautifully stitched plaid scarf with a red base and accented with black stripes. She had a similar skin tone to him, so it should work with his outfits as well.
"Could you be any more cliché?"
"Take your glove off and touch it, then."
He cocked an eyebrow at her but obeyed.
She didn't know how he perceived it, but he should have seen her blissfully humming as she knitted the scarf. She made sure to take her time, so she could weave a good memory into every stitch. Knitting while drinking hot chocolate, watching a bad romcom, and staring at some of the show-and-tell pieces she had brought over to his house were a small fraction of the psychometric photo album she had woven. It was some of her best work, so he'd better like it.
He gripped the scarf tightly and smiled at her, the tender look returning in full force.
"The gift was better than most, but still only ok."
"Stop being a brat, it took me weeks to make that!" she whined.
"Only because you dragged it out."
"How dare I try to make it special?" she scoffed. "Let's see your gift then." She shoved her hand toward him with petulant fervor.
"I didn't get one; we're not a couple so why should I need to?"
The heat rising in her face prompted her to bite her lip to prevent herself from doing something on Kokomi Teruhashi's "list of things she must never do." Even though such a list never appeared in the source material, her penchant for organization makes its existence more than plausible.
"Why are you like this?"
"You make yourself an easy target."
"I could slap you."
"Your idle threats do not intimidate me."
"If you keep it up…"
A small, black box appeared in his outstretched hand. Teruhashi's lungs stalled mid-sentence and her hand uselessly hid a silent gasp.
Teruhashi's perception of time slowed to a crawl and her mind fell silent as she gingerly took the box from him. It was wrapped in incredibly luxurious cloth that reminded her of a… jewelry box? The back hinge of the box slowly opened to reveal a beautiful gold brooch with a purple gemstone inset. She had never seen one quite like it before. The gold clasp and body were fashioned into a resplendent halo accented with 6 small wings, and the gem set snugly in the center. Though the description makes it sound gaudy, a great amount of care was taken to ensure that it stood out as little as possible.
However, even with the neurotic attention to detail, Teruhashi's expertise in jewelry allowed her to notice nearly imperceptible imperfections in it. Despite its ubiquity, gold is notoriously difficult to work with, especially at higher purities; its softness makes it very sensitive to pressure when worked and causes it to warp the more it is worn. That property allowed Teruhashi to spot minute details where the jeweler was ever so slightly off. The same could not be said about the gemstone. It was cut and polished to perfection, the surface shone as brilliantly as glass and the angles cut for optimal reflection. That gemstone… was that a purple sapphire?
She shook her head in disbelief. "W-Where did you get this?"
"I made it."
"W-what? H-how?"
"I'm a psychic with an eidetic memory."
"I thought you didn't want to bring attention to yourself…" she stammered. Despite the lack of dialogue stylization, it took her about 10 seconds of stuttering to get those words out.
"I made an exception. It looks normal on you anyway."
She hugged the brooch to her chest, making no effort to quell her exponentially expanding aura. Unbeknownst to her, satellites had started to pick up her signal and worship leaders in far off villages had begun to see visions of their deity's descent to earth. Suddenly, the signals became untraceable, and the visions evaporated.
"Are you done dawdling?"
"Eh?" She felt a chill run down her spine once she became aware of her surroundings again. "M-My aura…"
"Cone of Silence."
"What's…"
"Classified."
She pouted. "You must have known something like this might happen and planned the 'Cone of Silence', yet you still have the gall to be so cryptic about it." She had more important things to do now than scold him, though.
"But… thank you, from the bottom of my heart. This is by far the best gift I've ever gotten," she humbly bowed, her heart swelling with warmth and comfort and bearing a smile giddier than she thought she was capable of.
A tremor rocked the ground. She shot up, wide-eyed, to stare at Saiki's countenance; his lips were pressed in a tight line and his eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"What was that…"
"Nendou farted. Particularly spicy bowl of ramen. Aren't you hot in that coat?"
Her eyebrow quirked, but she blushed and nodded. Her arms were gently splayed out by an invisible force and her parka lifted off her shoulders and neatly settled itself on a hanger, revealing the woven white turtleneck under it.
"Uh, thanks." Her blush deepened and she fidgeted with the hem of her non-existent dress.
He nodded and beckoned her toward the kitchen. His gait was a bit stiffer than normal. Was he nervous about something?
"I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind. You didn't do anything wrong."
"You look more troubled than you did when I discovered your powers. Is it wrong for me to be concerned?"
"Stop reading into it. Memorizing how I walk is creepy."
He's fine.
"Someone's grumpy today," she teased, poking his back. "Using my list of prohibited phrases against me is a low blow."
He stopped briefly, grunted, and shook his head, a small smile peeking out from over his shoulder.
"Do you want coffee?"
"I'd love some, actually," she beamed.
"Sit at the table, then." She sat and watched patiently as he brewed a pot of coffee the way a non-psychic would, but instead of joining her at the table as the coffee brewed, he moved toward the refrigerator.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? Breakfast."
"Eh?" She flushed beet red.
"Why do you do that for the most insignificant reasons? It's just breakfast. I already know you're hungry."
"It's rude to intrude on my bodily functions like that."
"I hear it all the time. Even perfect pretty girls get hungry, have to go to the bathroom, and hold in farts at some point," he said drily as he prepared his kitchenware and raw foods.
"Y-You're the worst!" she stammered, her irises gaining vortices that spun out of control as she frantically smoothed down her form-fitting pants.
He shrugged. "You already know that this is my existence. Even you can't hold that back for as long as we've spent with each other."
"I used to never do that, though…" she whispered.
He paused briefly. "Hm. I guess that is true," he mused before going back to cooking. The coffee machine beeped.
What is that supposed to mean? No comment came; he seemed to be busy with her coffee, pouring it and placing the cup in front of her before going back to the range.
"By the way, where are your parents?" she asked between sips.
"Prepping for the party that we're going to have later this evening. You're free to come."
"I'd love to!" she chirped.
"Figured you wouldn't refuse," he chortled.
"What are you making?"
"Oyakodon with miso soup," he said in sync with a crackle from the burner.
She couldn't help the warmth spreading through her chest. A warm, comfortable meal for a cold winter morning. It felt so… domestic. Natural.
Normal.
She could get used to this.
But… was this a life that she deserved? It certainly was one that she wanted, but was she allowed to have it? It should be her up there cooking, right? A relationship had always been the endgame for her, but wasn't it supposed to be different? All her previous notions of relationship norms were not far off from arranged marriages, so was an equal partnership something she could have? With all that she had done, did she deserve it? Her breath started to shake. She couldn't let herself…
"Quit moping. Breakfast is ready," she heard as he set her bowls and utensils in front of her before going back to retrieve his. His concise command rang through her head as if he were snapping his fingers to get her attention.
"Ahem. Right. Thanks," she whispered mousily.
As Teruhashi closed her mouth around a spoonful of miso soup, she felt a gentle heat from her throat and stomach suffuse the rest of her body. It sent a wave of contentment through her body, one that she could not help herself from humming some tune and small dance she had improvised from how it made her feel.
She looked up at him to see a coy smirk, but his eyes betrayed the soft look she had become much more acquainted with in the past months.
"Thank you, Saiki-kun! It's great!"
He gave her a small grin. "Glad you enjoy it."
Quiet, comfortable conversation, giggles and grins, and warmth filled them as they enjoyed a mundane, home-cooked meal together. After they finished, they moved to do the dishes in perfect sync and danced with just as much precision until everything was clean, each close pass leaving behind a pleasant static.
These types of days had become more common, though Kurumi-san was almost always the one cooking meals. Their next activity was almost always the one that followed a meal and idle chatter: watching movies together. This time was particularly special as it was one of the rare times that they got to spend it on the couch together, a situation Saiki-kun never bothered to object to anymore. They always shared a blanket, but kept a chaste distance; it brought a feeling of security and provided them an avenue of touching each other, even if not directly.
Today's movie was one that involved a significant number of extreme sports; parachuting, wingsuit gliding, and skiing down the peaks of mountains were very well represented. As expected, the plot was sparse at best due to the focus on the beautiful shots of raw, untouched nature juxtaposed to the terrifying prospect of navigating such extreme terrain. Some of the most common shots, no doubt to build suspense, involved one of the characters staring down from the precipice of a mountain, or the plane from which they were skydiving. Despite the harrowing reality, they always took the plunge.
"I have a question." Saiki paused the movie and turned his head toward her, attempting unsuccessfully to focus his gaze on her.
"Eh? What's that?" Teruhashi jolted. A ponderous silence weighed upon them. Eons passed before Saiki finally posed his question.
"What is a normal relationship to you?"
She furrowed her brow and chewed on her lip.
"I think it depends on how you define it; at least that's the way I choose to believe it."
Her voice faltered. She stood motionless. His question forced all the ghosts of the past to flood back into her mind. The expectations from others, the expectations from herself, the weariness of the act, the transactional way she viewed relationships, and the revulsion at her stunted perception of the world crashed into her.
"But…"
She struggled under the pressure, but still stood strong.
"I refuse to let life pass me by."
She postured into the current.
"I refuse to be suffocated by the past."
She stepped forward.
"Who cares about perfection? Who cares about power dynamics? I don't care whether I know what's going on! I just want to be able to make mistakes like everyone else! I deserve love too, so why can't I make it my own?"
She sprinted headlong into the immeasurably powerful current until she finally pulled herself onto the shore behind it, her spirit exhausted but still burned brilliantly with the will to live.
Outside of the land of metaphors, her body shook as she sobbed deeply; lamely attempting to dry her tears with her wrists. Her ragged breaths stopped when she felt a hand clap down onto her shoulder. She turned her eyes upward to find Saiki's outstretched arm and a soft smile.
It was a smile that she had never seen before, soft, but confident. Proud of her?
She shyly hid her gaze and pressed her fingertips together. "I'm really sorry for the outburst, I don't know what came over me."
"No, don't apologize. I understand." He released her shoulder, leaving a burning energy behind.
His eyes shut and his brow knit tightly, deeper in thought than she had ever seen him. Silence weighed heavily on the room. Her thoughts were torn asunder, her shallow heartbeat the only sign that she was alive. Minutes passed.
"If you wanted to ask someone to be in a relationship, how would you do it?"
Time stopped. Was this it? His glowing irises offered no window into his thoughts, but he must be able to hear her, right? If he could, he did not correct her. She had waited, planned, and schemed for this very moment for so many years and yet it somehow managed to surprise her. Her heart caught in her throat, its tremor reverberating through her body like an earthquake.
"I'm not sure, really. I… have never really considered asking anyone because, well, you know why; but if I did, I would want to make sure that they wanted… me."
She swallowed thickly.
"Is this about… you?"
His lips pressed in a line so tight that the color faded from them. He nodded slowly.
"In that case, you need to decide for yourself. I will not accept anything other than a full confession from you, spoken with words from your mouth, not your mind."
His lips remained pursed as his eyes squeezed shut and his brow tightened, straining under the pressure.
"Don't worry. I understand it's difficult. Neither of us are very good at this. I'm willing to wait until you're ready," she whispered softly.
He nodded slowly. This was the moment she had been anticipating for many years yet couldn't help but feel nervous herself. Her aura should cover the entire planet, yet it was practically non-existent. The acceptance of true vulnerability weighed upon them heavily. The pedestals they had been placed on were very high, so it followed that equivalent diligence would be necessary if they wanted this to work. She couldn't stomach the thought of anything going wrong. They were going to give it a try.
"I'm not exactly sure when that will be."
She clasped her hands in her lap tightly and gave him a determined nod; but despite her apprehension, she couldn't stop a warm, giddy smile from embracing her countenance.
The door violently swung open.
"Ku-chan! Kokomi-chan! We're home!" his mother exclaimed, overjoyed.
You already opened the door. Why do you need extra exposition?
"Mr. and Mrs. Saiki, welcome home!" Teruhashi chirped.
"Glad to see you again, Kokomi-chan," his father said brightly.
"Kokomi-chan, we're having a party soon for all of Ku-chan's friends. Please join us!"
"Oh, Saiki-kun invited me already. I appreciate the thought, though!"
His father glanced over at him and fluttered his brow suggestively. Saiki frowned but made no response.
"Ku-chan, please come help us with the preparations! Kokomi-chan, please relax."
"But…"
His mother silenced her with a finger. "Ah, no buts. Guests are not permitted to lift a finger while they are in the house."
This conversation had happened innumerable times, but despite that Saiki felt amused by it every time.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur, his thoughts so distracted that he was surprised when his mother announced the end of the preparation. His mind was on more important things than the silly chatter between Kuboyasu, Nendou, Kaidou, Hairo, Mera, Yumehara, and his parents; but he couldn't say he hated their presence.
After all, how could he assuage the abject terror demanding all his attention? Did he have the courage to go through with this? His resolve faltered when he realized the magnitude of his endeavor.
He shook his head.
I am Kusuo Saiki, the world's most powerful psychic. Should the world stand against me, I will rise to meet its challenge. How I would do that is a good question, but it is not worth considering right now.
Why do people want it? What makes them decide to take the leap of faith?
I dunno.
Aiura was exactly right, and he hated that. His ability to plan and execute made all challenges trivial, but now he found himself at a complete loss. His body had given him all the indications in spite of his decision to compartmentalize it.
Could I ever be normal around her?
He wasn't sure, but all he really knew was that she helped smooth out the finer points of his powers. His best guess is that she had changed him. She pulled him along despite his protests. She led by example. She picked him up when he fell. Perhaps her effect on his powers was worth further investigation.
All I know is that if you didn't exist, I'd want to be SUPER vulnerable with Teryukoko.
He really wished he hadn't remembered that. It made him feel… something. He had reacted before he thought, but in hindsight she seemed to have a purpose for this question beyond voicing her vexing attraction to Teruhashi.
Love.
The part of a relationship that terrified him the most. What was it? Was that something he would be able to understand? Was that something he was willing or able to give?
What if I fail?
He had never truly failed at anything. Being in a relationship was much easier to stomach than being in love. A relationship meant security and continuing to be friends, but what would happen when it came time?
No. If I want to be normal, then I need to meet every challenge head on.
This was his resolve. Passion was something that eluded him despite the fact that he had heard others experience it many times through telepathy. Vulnerability was still a foreign concept to him despite his forays into it. Despite that, something about her just made him want to try.
Game, set, match. You win, Teruhashi-san. He laughed deeply when he was away from prying eyes.
An astute observer would notice that there was no seraph in the story of the Grinch, but she inserted herself anyway. Just like the two of them, the characters bent reality to their will and still achieved the same end.
The Grinch's heart had grown three times that day.
He was overtaken by a fit of laughter unlike any he had ever experienced; a stunt he would not repeat in front of any of the people he considered… close to him.
I wouldn't hate being in a relationship with Teruhashi-san.