JadeNoRyuu - Yes the necklace will tie into Kuusuke's meeting with Lotus.
This is Lotus
This is Saiki
This is Saiki and Lotus
~This is the thoughts of others~
Noisy New Year - What's That Memory?!
"Mom! Dad! Merry Christmas!" Violet greeted
"Merry Christmas!" Her parents echoed back.
"Are you having fun dear?" Mrs. Yamaguchi asked
"I-"
A loud crash in the background cut off Violet. A shout could be heard followed by a strangled gasp of "Let me go!".
Violet smiled looking back at the computer's camera. "I'm having a blast."
"That's good dear," Mr. Yamaguchi said
"How did you like your presents?" Violet asked
"We loved them! You and your sister know us so well," Mrs. Yamaguchi said
"That's great. How did you guys like the house? Ethan picked it out himself," Violet said
Mr. Yamaguchi and Mrs. Yamaguchi blinked confusedly.
"What do you mean dear? We aren't at your home," Mrs. Yamaguchi said
". . . . what?"
"Were still in Italy working," Mr. Yamaguchi said
". . . . What?"
"We told Lotus, did she not tell you?" Mrs. Yamaguchi said
". . . . WHAT?!"
Violet stood up quickly knocking her chair over.
"Lotus is home alone on the holidays!" Violet screeched
"WHAT?!"
*RING RING RING*
"Wha...argh….."
A lump of soft blankets moved as a groaning noise emanated from underneath the plush bedding. A mop of pink hair poked out revealing the source of the noise to be Lotus.
With bleary eyes, Lotus peered around her room.
"Is….that the phone?"
Lotus craned her neck checking her clock. "It's 3 am…...must be some desperate telemarketer."
The phone rang a few more times before finally stopping. With that over Lotus tucked herself back into her blankets hoping that sleep would quickly claim her. Her eyes had only been closed for a brief second before the phone started ringing again.
"Geeze…."
Lotus left the comfort of her blankets and with sluggish movements made her way to the house phone.
"*YAWN* Hel-"
"Lotus!"
Lotus jumped dropping the phone.
"You're in big trouble, Missy. How dare you not tell Ethan and I that Mom and Dad weren't coming home. Do you have any idea how worried we are? Oh, my gosh I can't believe we just let you there! I'm a terrible sister….."
Lotus just stood there allowing Violet to continue her ranting. It was almost two hours later when Lotus was finally able to calm down her sister. Even after explaining her reason behind everything Violet was still adamant about catching the first flight out back to Japan.
"You can't just fly out. It New Years, your's and Ethan's tickets would cost a fortune. Rushing over to me isn't worth the cost," Lotus said
A heavy gasps filtered through the mic of the phone. "How could you say that! Lotus you're worth more than anything in this entire world!"
"You're over exaggerating," Lotus said
"I never over exaggerate!" Violet countered
"Suuure you don't."
"Listen, Violet, this is the exact reason why I didn't tell you nor Ethan. I wanted you two to enjoy a nice holiday. I've been fine here, I had Sir Henry to keep me company. I want you and Ethan to stay there and enjoy your trip," Lotus said
"B-B-B-But….."
"How about this I promise to call you every morning and every night while your away, and the second I get lonely then you can hop on the next plane. Sounds good?" Lotus said
The other line was silent for a moment before Violet finally spoke.
"Lotus you really are a selfless girl you know that," Violet said
Since there was no chance of her going back to sleep Lotus started cooking a delicious New Year's morning breakfast.
"Alright, Sir Henry, for you two soft-boiled eggs with some fresh salmon. And for me fancy waffles with bacon. Also, let's not forget the New Years Tea Ethan's family mailed over."
Sir Henry was at the table, sitting on top of a stack of books, so he could actually reach his meal. Lotus was just getting the tea kettle off the stove when the doorbell rang.
"Who could that possibly be?" Lotus questioned
"I will go and investigate," Helios declared
Helios glided out the room. The guardian spirit as only gone for a split-second before he returned.
"It appears to be a courier with a package for you young Lotus," Helios said
"A delivery man? On New Years?"
Lotus set down the cups before walking to the front door, Sir Henry trailing behind her. Using the peephole to take a peek outside Lotus confirmed that Helios was right. She opened the door and there was a delivery man holding a box and a large bouquet, jasmines and white carnations to be exact.
"Hello Mam Happy New Year," The Delivery Man greeted
"A Happy New Year to you too," Lotus replied
"A delivery for the Goddess Lotus." The man said handing the package and flowers over to Lotus.
"I've heard that line before….that means it's from…"
Lotus broke out in a nervous sweat when she realized who these gifts were from.
The man bid Lotus goodbye left leaving behind a concerned teen.
Walking inside Lotus set the box down on the living room table. Sir Henry climbed up on the table and Helios hovered next to Lotus.
"Should I open it? Honestly, I'm nervous and a bit scared to find out what's inside."
"Do not fear my young descendant I will protect you," Helios said
"Well I don't think anything inside can harm me, it's more about how it's gonna creep me out. The last gift had a dress in my right size."
Deciding her anxiety wouldn't dissipate unless she knew what was inside Lotus opened the box. What was inside? Well another box, or to be more precise a present.
A box about half the size of the one it was in, wrapped in white shimmering decorative paper with a gold bow on top.
"Man, even the wrapping paper and bow look expensive."
Carefully opening the gift Lotus was finally able to see what was inside.
Lotus along with her other two companions in the room blanched at the contents of the gift.
"This is….yeah I don't know what to think of this."
There were two things in the gift box, the first was a New Years kimono with matching shoes and hair piece accessories.
"If Ethan saw this he might implode then explode."
The other thing in the box was a silver photo frame, with a photo already in it. The photo was of the guy who had sent it.
He was posed sitting in an empty field winking to the camera. Captioned at the bottom of the photo were the words, "With All My Love To My Pink Haired Goddess Angel."
"Goddess Angel? Yeah, no, return to sender."
"Agreed."
"~Agreed.~"
Lotus opened her closet pulling out her outfit for the day. She got dressed in a red peacoat with a cinched waist the bottom designed to mimic a skirt. To keep her legs warm she pulled on some thigh high black stockings. She slipped on a pair of brown calf high boots and some leather gloves that matched the boots. To finish off the outfit Lotus placed a red beret on her head.
"Okay, Sir Henry all bundled up?" Lotus asked
The ferret was decked out in a cute little sweater, scarf, and a hat. All pieces of his mini outfit matching, of course.
"~Perfectly,~" Sir Henry replied
"Awesome I got the bag ready, let's get going." Lotus opened a pink bag, that had a blanket resting in the bottom, and Sir Henry hoped in. "Helios you ready to go too?"
"Affirmative young Lotus!"
"Alright let's go!"
All Saiki wanted was to spend a nice quiet New Years home, but for the psychic, it seemed like he was asking for too much. That's how he found himself at the shrine New Year's day with is two lovebird parents. To make things even worse somehow his parents had run into Kaidou, Nendou, Hairo, and Teruhashi. Kurumi being the pleasant friendly woman she was invited every one of them over.
Kurumi had been the most excited to meet the group since her New Year's wish had been for her son to make lots of friends.
Saiki was hoping he could have slipped away but with so many people around his chances of making a clean getaway was slim, also let's not forget the watchful eye of his mother.
Nendou didn't know how to properly make a wish at the shrine so Kuniharu took it upon himself to show Nendou how to properly pray at the shrine.
"Okay, first you give an offering." Kuniharu tossed a coin. "Then you ring the bell. After ringing the bell you bow twice. Then you clap your hands twice like this and pray like this."
"~I pray that Kusuo's new girlfriend doesn't dump him.~" Kuniharu thought
"Wait what did you just say!"
His father might have the wrong idea about Saiki dating Lotus, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be offended.
"~Now that I know my son has a girlfriend, I really pray that he gets married and gives my wife and I lovely grandkids.~"
Saiki blanched at his father. "He wants what now?"
"Then bow your head one last time," Kuniharu instructed Nendou
Now Saiki really wanted to go home.
"Poor Saiki."
A voice filtered into Saiki's his head, the psychic instantly realizing who it was. Scanning the crowd Saiki spotted a red hat obscuring the pink hair beneath it.
Not too far was a snickering Lotus. She felt rather bad for the predicament Saiki was in, but it was also quite amusing.
"What are you doing here?"
"It wouldn't be New Years if you didn't go to the shrine. I haven't been able to do this tradition in years."
The two psychics conversed using their thoughts, not having to move from their current positions in order to hear one another.
"Looks like your the only one who didn't get their New Year's wish granted," Lotus said
"Tell me about it."
"I've got an idea. I could make a big scene and that could give you a chance to escape," Lotus thought
"Too late my parents already invited them over."
"You could come over to my house. No ones there, I'm sure you can hide out there for a while," Lotus offered
"That could possibly work."
"Then-"
"Lotus dear is that you!"
"You've been spotted."
Saiki was right, cause in a manner of seconds Lotus was face to face with Kurumi and Kuniharu.
"How lovely seeing you here," Kurumi greeted
"Come to make a wish at the shrine too?" Kuniharu asked
"Yeah. I don't get to come to these that often with my parents traveling so much," Lotus said
"Traveling?" Kuniharu questioned
"Yeah, my parents' work has them traveling on a regular basis. When my sister and I were younger we used to travel with them," Lotus explained
"Oh, you mentioned that before. If you don't mind me asking what do your parents do?" Kurumi queried
"Oh they're monster hunters," Lotus stated
Kurumi and Kuniharu stared blankly speechless.
"They're….what?"
Lotus giggled at their expressions, she always got the same funny expressions when she told people that.
Lotus's laughter eased the tension. "This is the part where someone says just kidding, but I'm not. My parents are really monster hunters, to be more accurate my they're ancient Cryptozoologists. They travel around the world researching creatures that are thought to be myths. They just like to call themselves monster hunters for fun."
"Oh that sounds exciting," Kurumi said
"Yeah they love what they do," Lotus said
Lotus spent some time chatting with the Saiki's. Sometime during the conversation, Kurumi invited Lotus over to their house, and of course, the pink haired girl couldn't say no.
Lotus couldn't come over empty-handed so while everyone went directly to Saiki's house she went back home.
"Good thing I already planned on making this. All I had to do was put the finishing touches on it."
Lotus packed up her dessert then got dressed back in her winter clothing. As she stepped outside she hustled over to the Saiki's house, the sun was setting so the temperature was dropping.
After ringing the bell the door was quickly answered by Kurumi.
"I brought some dessert. Cheesecake," Lotus stated holding up a box. "It's something my family and I have every New Years. I thought I'd bring it over to share with you all."
Kurumi took the box from the girl. "Such a sweet and lovely girl. I'm sure it's delicious. Now come in, come in, get out of that cold."
"Thank you." Lotus smiled stepping in inside taking off her winter wear.
"Everyone else is inside I'm sure they'll love some of your dessert too," Kurumi said
As Lotus entered everyone was gathered at the table chatting and eating. Well, all but Saiki. He was off to the side sitting in his own chair watching everyone.
"Wow, mashed chestnuts!" Nendou cheered
"Have some more," Kuniharu offered
"Pigging out rules!" Nendou dug in devouring his food.
"They've overrun my only sanctuary," Saiki lamented
"This food is amazing would you please teach me sometime?" Teruhashi asked Kurumi.
"Oh, I'd love too. Speaking of cooking Lotus here brought over a lovely cheesecake," Kurumi said
"That's right made from scratch," Lotus spoke gesturing to the white box she had brought.
Teruhashi made silent gasps covering her shocked expression with the back of her hand. "~My rival can cook!?~"
"Again with the rival thing?"
The box was set down on the table as Lotus took a seat at the end of the table. She opened the box revealing her decadent dessert.
"Wow, girl buddy that looks awesome!" Nendou complimented
"Looks great Lotus!" Hairo spoke
"~No way! I can't believe she made that! It looks like it came from some bakery or something! This can't be is my rival some kind of expert home chef!~"
"Thanks, guys. I make this every New Years, and I think this might be one of the best ones. Glad it's not going to waste. But if I'm being completely honest if I wasn't sharing it with all of you I'd probably end up eating all myself," Lotus chuckled rubbing the back of her head.
Slices were handed out and no one wasted time tasting the confectionery.
"This is incredible! You're going to make a good wife one day," Kuniharu praised Lotus
Lotus's face turned red embarrassed by the compliment but then she felt a spine-tingling chill run up her back.
Teruhashi had given Lotus a sharp look that was mixed with loathing, disbelief, and shock. It was only brief but the pink haired girl caught it.
"~Wife? Wife?! Did Saiki's Dad just say my rival would be a perfect wife?! What about me!? I'm the perfect girl wouldn't I make the perfect wife.~" Teruhashi shook her head clearing away some thoughts. "~No. He must already think that I'm a perfect wife but just didn't feel the need to say so since it's clearly obvious. Because he just said a general statement it's not like he said she'd be a perfect wife for Saiki or anything thing like that.~"
"Thank god for that."
Lotus really didn't need any more fuel added to the flames of her so-called one-sided "rivalry" with Tersuhasi.
"What a terrible way to start the year." Saiki got up walking out of the room.
"Thank you all of you. For being Ku's friend," Kurumi spoke expressing her gratitude.
"You don't have to thank us for being his friends. We're here because we wanna be," Hairo said
Kurumi gave a soft smile. "That's right you're sincere. I'm just so grateful for you-"
At that moment, unnoticed by all, Saiki paused in the doorway eyes widening and Lotus froze mid bite of her food, mimicking the same facial expression as Saiki.
"-my Ku's always had a really hard time making friends with him being a psychic and all."
The room went deadly silent, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
"Well...at least it's finally quiet."
"Uhm….you may've just said too much," Kuniharu said
"Why?" Kurumi questioned the full gravity of her words not yet registering.
"Now would be a good time for divine intervention."
"What do you mean by he's a psychic?" Teruhashi questioned
Lotus sat unmoving, not sure what to do in the current situation. She had no clue on how to help Saiki. At that moment all she could really do was watch helplessly as the group gaped at Saiki's parents.
Kurumi finally realized her little slip-up, and she froze with a smile on her lips but a worried look in her eyes.
"Honey you should say something," Kuniharu said
Kurumi gave a panicked awkward laugh, "Oh dear."
"Calm down there's nothing to panic over."
"There's not? Because it's your secret she just told and even I'm panicking. My face may be calm but I'm seriously panicking," Lotus thought to Saiki.
"Well here's an example if your friends' Mom had said that how would you react?"
Lotus calmed her troubled thoughts thinking it over. "Well, I'd probably laugh it off and not really take it seriously. Like when a parent brags about their kids saying they're a genius or can lift a million pounds."
"That's right just look at their faces."
Lotus looked over to the group. Teruhashi, Hairo, and Kaidou were making these awkward faces that were a mix between trying to give a polite smile and not cringing.
"My Mom says all kinds of crazy things. It's only if you panic that it sounds suspicious. All you need to do is calm down and change the subject."
Kuniharu coughed into his hand loosening up the tension. "Hey, you know that one Manga logo? That pirate face on Shonen Jump."
"Yeah kinda, sure," Hairo said
"Get this if you turn it 90 degrees it looks like the profile of little girls face. I uh just thought I'd point that out," Kuniharu said
Once again those three made that strange face.
"How you gonna come back from this one pops?"
"Yeah, I don't think that was a good change of subject."
"He just made this party even more awkward."
"Oh he's right it really does!" Nendou suddenly exclaimed
The Mohawk teen had a manga in his hand pointing out the logo.
"Guys look!" Nendou pointed out.
"I see it!" Teruhashi said
"Nendou….I'm somewhat grateful you successfully exchanged the subject."
"I'm just wondering where the heck he got that Manga from?"
"So my buddies a psychic huh?" Nendou said
"Get out!"
"Did you know that female sunfish lay up to 300 hundred eggs each spawn," Kuniharu said
"You get out too!"
"At this point, there's only one thing to do. A huge distraction!"
Lotus quickly stood up from her seat. "Hey everyone!" She shouted causing everyone to turn their attention to her. "That cheesecake wasn't the only surprise I brought." She grabbed her bag opening it. "May I present Sir Henry!"
The group peered into the bag and a pair of black eye peered back.
"Whoa, a ferret I've never seen one of those before!"
"It's cute."
"Where you get him from?"
Lotus reached into the bag petting, Sir Henry. "I rescued him."
The tense air in the room finally lifted as everyone started talking about the animal.
"It's a good thing I brought my bag over. Sir Henry was so comfy I didn't take him out."
"A good distraction but I think it might be too late."
The night came to an end and the guest got ready to leave.
"Thank you for the meal!" Hairo said
"We're forever in your debt. Thanks," Kaidou said
"You can stop by anytime okay," Kurumi said waving the group off.
Hairo, Kaidou, Nendou, and Teruhashi left, when they were out of earshot Lotus spoke up.
"Soooo what are we going to do about your secret Saiki?" She asked
"Wait did you already know Kusuo was a psychic?" Kuniharu asked
Lotus nodded her head, "Yeah. Technically speaking I'm psychic too. Saiki's kind of like my supernatural tutor. I promised to keep his secret and also to keep my own powers a secret to help keep his secret."
"Isn't that sweet. You're even more suited for my son than I thought you were," Kurumi gushed
Lotus's cheeks flushed embarrassed.
"~Kusuo.~"
Saiki turned his attention to his father who gave him a thumbs up.
"~Good job. I don't know how you did it, getting a cute nice girl who can cook and is a psychic, but good job.~" Kuniharu thought giving his son a thumbs up.
Saiki frowned, or was that just his normal expression?
Like he did most of the time, Saiki ignored his father as he grabbed his coat.
"Come on Lotus let's go."
"Where are we going?" Lotus questioned grabbing her coat too.
"I'm about to give you a psychic crash course lesson. Today's subject rewriting someone's memories."
"Wait you can do that?!"
Saiki teleported himself and Lotus to the group. The two hid behind a light post observing and unfortunately, Saiki had been right. The damage had already been done and the group was conversing about Saiki being psychic.
The group reached a four-way intersection and split up going different directions home.
"So what do we do now Saiki?"
"Well nobody really believes I'm a psychic which is good, but thanks to my Mom's big mouth the idea's been planted in their heads."
"And from that single seed of thought, something can sprout and before you know it that single thought has bloomed into a full-blown tree."
"Exactly." Saiki started to follow Nendou with Lotus right next to him. "It hurts my conscious to think about what I have to do but there's no other way."
Something appeared in Saiki's hand causing Lotus to raise a brow.
"Isn't that thing that mascot from television?" Lotus questioned
Saiki nodded his head before he raised his arm and stuck Nendou in the head. Before Lotus could get out her shocked cry Saiki teleported the two into a nearby tree.
Nendou was fine albeit a bit dazed, walking back home as if nothing had happened.
"Things should start going back to normal soon."
"What heck did you just did to him?"
"I erased part of his memory. A very tiny part. Just the keyword psychic."
"How you do that?"
"I channel my psychic energy through this object. I can only erase up to one minute of memory."
"Ooooh. So that's why you couldn't erase my memories when I first found out about you being psychic. It'd been too long so there'd be too much information for you to erase. Erasing a fleeting moment, no big deal, but erasing a whole day who knows what could happen," Lotus concluded
"Yeah, that's right. But there's also the biggest drawback to this ability." Saiki said
"Drawback?"
Lotus walked with Saiki to school. Lotus had been anticipating what the day held. She fully believed that Saiki had erased the idea that the others thought he could be psychic but what was this drawback he was talking about.
"Hey!" Kaidou walked next to the two. "Back to spending our days at this boring school huh?"
Saiki ignored Kaidou and continued walking.
"~He's probably still embarrassed about how awkward dinner ended at his house. I never would've expected….~"
Kaidou thoughts drifted off to the dinner, the moment Kurumi blurted Saiki's secret.
"~Ku has a hard time making friends because he fantasizes about being a hero.~"
"Wha…..? What the heck?" Lotus questioned
"~Ignorant idiots often accuse me of the same problem. I know exactly how it feels. So don't you worry I support you as someone who shares your same pain can.~"
"Saiki!" Kaidou called out. He made a weird hand sign as the pink haired boy turned around. "This is our friendship sign cool. Never forget it."
"Don't worry can't forget what you can't remember."
"I….am so confused right now? Kaidou's memory of that moment is all warped."
"It's the drawback I was talking about. When I erase a memory a blank space appears and when that happens the brain's natural mechanism kicks in and fills that void with a different memory."
"Ah, I understand. It's kind of like how people do the same things but their memories vary on the subject depending on the person. So Kaidou's new memory is sort of a reflection of himself too. That would mean everyone's memory of last night will be different."
"Right."
"~Oh it's Saiki.~" Teruhashi thought as she entered the school. "~I haven't seen him since New Year's day. It was very surprising to hear what his mom said about him. 'Ku's always had a hard time making friends because he doesn't trust people.' He has trust issues.~"
"Huh? You know I thought Teruhashi's false memory would be a bit different and more self-centered."
"~I bet he liked a girl once who broke his heart. I bet that's why he never says oh wow around me. Don't worry Saiki this goddess will melt your frozen heart.~" Teruhashi thought giving a giddy giggle
"Oh, nope, never mind there it is."
"Sometimes with the replaced memories things turn out good but in Teruhashi's case bad."
"Yeah, now she's even more fired up to get you to say Oh wow about her."
"Hey, Saiki!" Hairo appeared in the hallway. He wasn't able to speak with Saiki as the psychic kept walking.
"~You can't blame him for being cold. If something like that happened to me I'd be messed up too. 'Ku used to be captain of the tennis team, but he was super competitive and obsessed with winning. But the others weren't as into it as he was. So they quit. That's why he has such a hard time keeping friends.~'"
"That a long replacement story."
"Whoo!"
Nendou suddenly appeared. From where? Who knows. He slid next to Saiki and started dancing on the boy.
"Nendou…..I don't know what his replacement memory is and I don't wanna know. Somehow he's ended up more attached to me than before."
The peanut gallery gathered in the hall all of their sights set on Saiki.
"Kusuo wanna come whack some tennis balls?" Hairo asked
"Saiki, do you sense a disturbance in this hall?" Kaidou asked
"Ku," Teruhashi giggled, "I sound like you Mom."
"So there is a god….he just hates me."
"Well Saiki I don't know if it'll make you feel better but I like you," Lotus said
Saiki's brain paused and for some reason those simple words caused a strange sensation to briefly wash over his being. "What?"
"I said I like you. We are friends after all."
Saiki subtly nodded his head adjusting his glasses.
Yes, they were friends. So why did her previous sentence have such impact on him?