Saiki slipped his shoes off and crossed the threshold to his last sanctuary. He wanted to play Monster Hunter but he was way too tired given the events of today and the fact that he had to hold hypnosis from essentially across the entire world. His mother had planned on preparing chicken katsudon for dinner, but Saiki needed a snack to tide him over. He would not sully his coffee jelly by eating it when the conditions were not right to fully appreciate it. There were some leftover vegetables from last night's dinner so he would have those.

"Welcome home, Ku-chan!" his mother cheerfully greeted him.

Good afternoon, Mom. I'm going to eat some vegetables and go up to my room. I didn't have lunch today, he said politely.

"Oh, did something happen with Kokomi-chan?"

I made some mistakes and cleared them up. Nothing more. Unfortunately it took the entire lunch period. he replied curtly.

She was skeptical but respected his wishes.

"Ok! Dinner should be ready at the normal time," she recovered, complete with the earnest demeanor that had drawn all of his nuisances in.

Saiki reheated the vegetables, ate them in silence as his mother prepped for dinner, and then headed up to his room. He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He blew air out of his nose at the memory of being roasted by Teruhashi. It was one of his bad endings when she came over the other day, but for some reason reality hadn't been so bad. For once, someone had actually attempted to help him feel normal. He actually got teased like a normal person would by someone he considered his equal. It may have been at least partially done to satisfy a personal agenda, but he had seen much worse. It was more benign than most people who knew about his powers and especially compared to how she herself used to be.

As it stood right now, he could probably pay his debt without trying to avoid conversation at all costs. He had acknowledged that he liked troublesome things, but he still kept a degree of separation from them.

This was his first time attempting to interact with someone the way they did. She had been able to grow and change, but she still stayed true to herself. Her transition to the person behind the mask was seamless and genuine, which greatly impressed him. How difficult it must have been for her to do that considering that mask was her entire persona could not be understated. When she discovered his powers that character break was circumstantial, but this time she meant business. Her bravery always had a way of surprising him. Regrettably for her she only had one more debt from him, so after that they would go back to how they normally were. This time, she wouldn't need to fade away though.

"Ku-chan! Dinner is ready!"

He stood up and went downstairs where he found his mother and father, who had recently returned from work. A place had already been set for him so he sat down, thanked his mother for the food, and started eating. His father had other plans for him.

"Oh, Kusuooo, now that Kokomi-chan discovered your powers, does this mean I'm going to have a…" his father proclaimed melodramatically.

No, idiot, Saiki cut him off with a glare. Plenty of people know about my powers, she just happens to be one of them. She also happens to be annoyingly persistent.

"I'm just glad Ku-chan has a better friend now," his mother chimed in cheerfully.

She is not my friend. She just follows me around to her detriment, Saiki attempted to deflect.

"There's that trademark Kusuo scowl! Why does it look like you're dismembering just me with your eyes, your mother spoke up too!"

Don't you dare rope her into this, he warned, his words steeped in venom.

"I guess I just can't win," his father relented. He was oddly docile. "So what is your relationship with her like right now?"

She's probably going to keep coming around, so the best course of action seems to be not to fight it. I won't get involved with her because she represents a direct threat to my identity.

"You know, Kusuo, Mama and I tried to give you the best life we could. We did our best to keep you from being a hero on everybody else's terms; but there was no way for us to understand, much less take away how isolated you were and are. Your journey will be different from most people's. It can be suffocating to have no one to relate to, but it can also be liberating. Even if you don't do it right you are free to take whatever path you want in life. Your situation isn't better or worse than anyone else's, it just is. It's ok to be nice to yourself. You don't have to carry the world on your shoulders. I know I ask you for help too much, but what am I supposed to do as a professional shoe licker?" He chuckled uncomfortably as no one laughed at his self-deprecation.

Look at you, being a parent. Why aren't you always like this? It was unsolicited advice, but at least it was earnest.

"So in relation to Kokomi-chan, it's ok to let her in. You said it yourself, she'll always come back around whether or not she annoys you. She's been kind to you in the past, and she seems to genuinely care about you. What's the harm in having her around?"

"But I really just want a cute…"

Stop right there, criminal scum.
_

Saiki woke up, quickly ate breakfast, and headed over to school. He heard something big and thoughtless closing on him rapidly. He quickened his pace but could not escape this morning's disaster.

"Oh, aibou! It's been forever since I've seen you!" Nendou accosted him with a cheery wave.

He's not necessarily wrong, I haven't interacted with him directly since Chapter 6 so unfortunately this meeting is overdue.

"Remember that weird bug I found? I caught 'im again and now I'm keepin' 'im at home! Haven't decided on a name yet though…" Nendou stared off into space, seemingly ignoring the obstacles in front of him. If he ran into a pole, Saiki could escape easily. Then again, this is Nendou we're talking about, he could probably walk through a pole if it meant locking down Saiki.

I can't believe he found that hercules beetle again, especially before anyone else did. I guess I'm never going over to Nendou's house again, not that I ever wanted to in the first place. Of all the new mascots this series could have gotten, why did it have to be the largest bug in the world? I can't believe I want Amp or the hamster instead but here we are. Wait, does he even know how to take care of a large insect? Maybe it will die soon…

"I had a tarantula as a kid too, so I'm really good at taking care of bugs!"

… of course he did. Wait, tarantulas need different care than beetles, and Nendou almost certainly does not use the internet so there's no way…

"Uh lemme see what I got already. I got a 16L tank, substrate, branches, heat lamp, humidifier, beetle jelly, and we got plenty of fruit lying around!"

… of course he knows. I'm willing to bet my allowance he gets the fruit out of garbage cans.

Saiki had grown used to Nendou's antics by now. Dumpster diving was low on the totem pole of Nendou's annoying habits, so Saiki decided it wasn't worth the effort to get spun up about it.

"By the way, where were you at lunch yesterday? They had plenty of sweets and they were all so yummy!" Nendou leaned uncomfortably close to Saiki, causing latter to recoil back.

I regret missing it, but I had to come up with something quickly to accomplish my other goals.

"The weirdest thing though was Teruhashi-san. I don't know why she suddenly dyed her hair and started talkin' funny. It was almost like she was a different person," he said as he leaned back and scratched his chin. He probably saw that on TV and thought it made him look smarter.

Careful Nendou, I may have to eliminate you… Saiki said as he powered up without Nendou noticing.

"Eh, it was probably nothing," he said as he waved away his previous thought dismissively. "Oh, you ever heard of…"

He started rambling about some movie he saw. He didn't realize he had not been spoken to this entire morning even as they arrived at school. Threat #1 was sitting in her seat as serene and composed as ever.

"Saiki-kun, I figured out your debt repayment plan. There's a yakiniku place close to your house that I'd like us to try on Saturday for lunch. There's a fairly high chance that someone we know will show up, but I figured it would be better to take the chance there and be able to escape quickly than be marooned somewhere far away."

Her ability to scheme definitely paid off in planning this. It's nice to not be the target for once.

I'd like to ensure that the chance of an encounter is as close to zero as possible, so I'll give you a lift. Yakiniku on Saturday lunch is not a bad idea though. I'll come to you. Make sure there's no one else in your room when I teleport. Pick any restaurant you want and as long as there's an area I can safely teleport to we can get there. Be ready by 12:00 so I don't teleport in while you're indecent.

She was surprised for a second that he was actually trying to help plan it.

It's for self-preservation purposes. Nothing more.

"Whatever. You need to get a phone instead of having to guess unless you want me to call your house phone instead. Besides, you've already seen me naked plenty of times; so what's the harm?"

You will do no such thing. Phones are a waste of money. It's very bold of you to assume this will happen again.

"Ooooh, tough guy. I'm Kokomi Teruhashi, so of course this is going to happen again."

He couldn't stop his face from snapping to its signature scowl. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her "I've got you now" evil look. Of course, she was a professional so it was only out long enough that he would notice it. His displeasure was so palpable that he probably telepathically transmitted it to her. She cackled evilly in her head.

I was already gracious enough to plan half of this for you, you would be wise not to push me.

"Oh I'm so thankful that I, the creditor, have to pay for half of my debtor's reparations. Keep it up and I'll start adding interest."

He was getting nowhere, she had him beat. He decided to shut up and stew. She opened a telepathic link to rub in a volume of smugness the likes of which he had never seen before. She was absolutely terrifying when she put her mind to something. He lowered his head and flashed a small grin which, of course, she saw. Her thoughts became much warmer and giddier. She was having a lot of fun.

This version of her was certainly outside of his predictions. Before, she appeared as someone who tried way too hard on the outside but on the inside was a prissy diva. The initial expectation was that she would merely offer her true opinion more often, but she instead combined her pre-existing skills to exceed expectations. Her quick thinking and social skills allowed her to deliver punches of acerbic wit faster than he could keep up with. She even changed her body language, becoming a lot more emotive than she had been in the past. Normally she took much more neutral poses, very rarely ever raising her arms and always keeping a cool and composed face. As a perfect bishoujo, she couldn't do anything that would be considered overly expressive or willful; yet here she was throwing her arms up in exasperation and pointing at him aggressively. This evolution seems obvious in hindsight, but watching it in person was certainly a sight to behold. Once again, he was outmatched.

Teruhashi… She's pretty cool.

… What did I just say?