Teruhashi bobbed as lightly as a flower taken by the wind on the route to PK Academy. Now that the shock from the world-shaking events of that fateful night had started to wind down, Teruhashi decided that she wanted to explore her newfound… whatever this was with Saiki. Despite her better judgment, she couldn't contain her excitement at the possibility of seeing him again. She smiled and waved at her admirers with a more genuine smile than she had in a very long time, though they didn't need to know it had nothing to do with them.
"Offu, Teruhashi-san, your radiance is somehow even brighter than normal today!"
"Well, thank you so much! I had a great day yesterday!" She smiled sweetly, taking care not to let it linger too long. Thankfully, her fan club did not inquire further. She pushed them out of her mind to ponder how to see him again. No, she had bigger things to be concerned about now. She was utterly humiliated while playing video games with Saiki. She had tried to cover it up by pretending that she was too focused on teasing him, but now the weight of her failure lay heavily on her shoulders. She was not about to let her pride get damaged by a video game. She needed to practice somehow without going to his house. A delusion entered her mind.
Offu, Teruhashi-san, you suddenly got so good at the video game! You're so nice for letting me win to help boost my confidence, your perfection truly knows no bounds! The pathetic Saiki said, waving its hands, flustered by her graciousness. Dream on.
He's going to figure it out immediately, but the ridicule is inconsequential next to the humiliation.
She somehow needed to get her hands on a game and a console which would have been ordinarily simple enough for her; Angel Gaze™ and Angel Wink™ would be more than enough payment, but people would probably wonder what she needed it for. "Offu: Teruhashi-san Becomes the Perfect Pretty E-girl" was not a headline she wanted to see anytime soon. Going to a store was out as well because the clerks would end up producing the same result. She could ask Makoto… Nope. When she realized the truth, she swallowed hard.
The correct solution is to… pay full price with my own money…
She felt ill as her face became pallid. Despite the fact that her plan was the correct decision, her reaction certainly was not. She was immediately beset by her ravenous fan club.
"Offu, Teruhashi-san, do you need water?" Kazuma Aoba said.
"Offu, Teruhashi-san, do you need a snack?" Kyoya Satou said.
"Offu, Teruhashi-san, do you need a towel?" Souta Mitsurugi said.
She had inadvertently stirred up a big commotion, but she was more than acquainted with recovering from situations like these. She quickly glanced around and saw her out.
"No need to worry about me! It was a floodlight that made my face look like I was sick," she said, pointing to a floodlight that some maintenance people on a rooftop were inspecting. They seemed to be turning the light on and off as if testing it for functionality.
Whew, that was close, she breathed, ensuring that she didn't give herself away this time. Her followers stood speechless, but were interrupted by someone near the outer part of the crowd loudly muse, "That makes sense!" All present erupted into cheers. It took Teruhashi all of her will to maintain her gracious smile, holding back her bewilderment at their reaction and how she managed to get away with that.
The rest of the way to school went as it normally does for Teruhashi, signing babies and declining to kiss autographs with one of her over 4,000 prepared responses. She needed that time to prepare for her dreaded course of action.
Saiki was fortunately able to avoid Nendou this morning, so he took the time to think on some unresolved plot threads.
I need to get Teruhashi's shoes back to her at some point. I guess it wouldn't be weird to just teleport to her house at this point, it's by far the easiest and most discrete option. Simple enough. Moving on, when will be the best time to eat that coffee jelly that I got a few days ago? I didn't eat it last night because that idiot being a nuisance really made me scowl and ruined my appetite, yare yare what a pain. I'm very grateful for restoration, but I need to figure it out soon. No, I must wait until the time is right. That is the only way. I will not miss my chance to lose myself in this coffee jelly, the opportunity may only come once in a lifetime.
His mind then turned to the impending reveal.
I still haven't figured out a way to properly do this. What will happen? What will they say? How will this affect the future? This type of situation is unprecedented.
He remembered what his parents told him, but that certainly didn't mean he liked it.
"Sometimes, you have to open yourself up to being hurt to actually enjoy yourself. This fear of the future is normal.
I wouldn't want you to get to your deathbed and wonder what your life could have been like."
His face mustered the foulest grimace it had made in a long time. It was time to move forward into the unknown.
The 5 of them met up at the park at the prescribed time. Teruhashi was able to evade her fan club for just a bit, but Saiki knew that they would be hot on her heels. He added an extra layer of insurance by teleporting them to his training grounds. Naturally Toritsuka and Aiura wondered what Akechi already knew. Akechi had apparently pulverized their psyches about the philosophy of keeping secrets so completely that they gave up trying to figure out what Saiki was going to tell them. Saiki never called them together for any reason, but once they saw Teruhashi among the elite, exclusive group that was the PK Academy PSIkickers they figured out the truth.
Saiki lead off the conversation as someone who calls an emergency meeting is wont to do.
Yes, Teruhashi discovered I had powers. You can stop acting so incredulous. It's getting annoying, Saiki said.
"Offu!"
"Yes! Now I have exclusive access to the hottest girl in the school! This more than makes up for the sausage fest that prevented me from seeing her the other day!" Toritsuka thought, not even attempting to conceal his fist pump.
He cowered like a kicked dog after Saiki gave him a death glare. He knew better than to think like this in front of Saiki, but he just couldn't help himself. Then again, he never filtered his unabashed lecherousness in the first place. Toritsuka turned toward Akechi.
"Hey blondie, why didn't you bother telling us this instead of rambling on and on about Freudian psychology being outdated and incorrect?"
He actually listened to Akechi?
Akechi sat wide-eyed, spellbound by Teruhashi's impossible beauty. His thoughts were blown away the same as when he first met Teruhashi now that he was unfettered by any pressing mysteries to solve.
"Yeah, who's the monkey now?" Toritsuka taunted, more than willing to insult someone that couldn't fight back.
Aiura paid Toritsuka no heed as her surprise lingered a little longer than his. She collected herself and made the first attempt to address the issue at hand, joining her palms and placing them on one of her cheeks.
"I'm totes excited for Teryukoko to be part of our little group! I'm sure we'll have lots of fun together!" She said cheerfully, but made an active effort to tone down the heavy-handed flirting that usually pervaded these affairs. It could not have been more awkward.
No initiation test this time? Not worried about being the only girl?
Teruhashi mirrored Aiura's expression of geniality.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance! I know we haven't talked very much at school, but I know we'll get along well!" Teruhashi replied in her usual perfect bishoujo persona. Saiki had anticipated this, but knew they had to work it out themselves. Saved him the trouble anyway. Their smiles lingered a little bit longer than they should have, ever so slightly straining as the tension tightened its grip on them. Fortunately, the tension was about to be washed out to sea by a deluge of words.
"Although I regret that this meeting had to be placed right when I wanted to play with Kusuo-kun because he likely wanted to avoid me…" Akechi barged in.
Tch. He ratted me out immediately.
"I am glad to welcome a new member to this team of misfits! I grew weary of the two other members of this outfit. Monkey #2, I hope you do not feel threatened by the fact that there is another girl in this group, especially one that you consider competition for your "soulmate". Although I do not understand love, or at least the stultified concept of it portrayed by popular media, I believe the existence of a 'soulmate' is an inherently absurd dogma perpetuated by those who intend to use it for their own ends…"
"So, uh, Teruhashi-san, how did you like, uh, figure out that my b-I mean Kusuo-kun had powers?" Aiura sputtered.
Jeez, she even dropped the nicknames. Also, she answered to Monkey #2?
"Do I tell her the full truth or not? It might be even more awkward if I tell her I was at his house. Well, as a perfect pretty girl I must be truthful at all times!" Teruhashi thought, unable to conceal her embarrassment and trepidation.
I'm not even going to get into the amount of contradictions in that line of thinking.
Teruhashi had done her best to prepare, but worked herself into a dither when finally faced with the situation. She had forgotten how to lie effectively with an equally compelling countenance.
"Well, I happened to be over at Saiki's house for cooking lessons with his mom and she accidentally revealed his powers", she explained, maintaining a superhuman level of composure given the circumstances. She gave just enough to answer the question and signal that she did not want to discuss details. Unfortunately, the one member of the PSIkickers who was obsessed with details did not heed her silent request.
"When exactly did that happen? Given my difficulty in confirming the existence of Kusuo-kun's powers I find it hard to imagine that he would so readily make such a blunder. He even put a sniper in a window to prevent me from conclusively identifying the use of psychic powers while stopping a bank robbery resulting from Kusuo-kun being dragged into Kineshi Hairo's excessive shows of goodwill," Akechi waylaid all present.
You could at least attempt to hold me accountable instead of exacting your schadenfreude on someone that has nothing to do with our situation. Also, nice run on sentence, chatterbox.
Akechi had somehow managed to make Saiki regret being indebted even more.
"He did even that?!" Teruhashi thought. She had lied earlier, somehow still surprised at the unfathomable amount of effort Saiki put in to prevent the discovery of his powers. It was understandable, he guessed; his grandparents had made a similar blunder.
"U-It was the day of the meteorite incident. Saiki was out on an errand and didn't make it back in time to stop his mom from slipping up. As for your second question, I don't know why he couldn't prevent it," Teruhashi replied.
I was exhausted from stopping the meteorite and didn't properly cover my bases. As she said, I had teleported out for an errand while she was just out of range of my telepathy. When I got back I tried to figure something out, but my mom slipped up and told her before I could. I tried to erase her memory, but she made it impossible for me to do so safely. I didn't turn back time because altering timelines would have been too dangerous with too little chance of success when it concerned her. Akechi more than proved that for me. People would also notice if she went missing for an hour let alone 24. Keep asking questions and I'll perform the first half of the erasure procedure on you, Saiki said flatly.
"Of course he can turn back time," Teruhashi scoffed.
Toritsuka glared at Akechi and said, "Way to go, blondie, you ruined it for everyone."
This is probably the first time I've ever agreed with Toritsuka.
An awkward silence blanketed the room. With the lull in conversation the two girls frantically tried to allay some of the tension that had tided back in.
"Why do I feel so, like, threatened? I already knew we were love rivals, so I'm probably just like… uh… completely shocked she's here now. Yeah," Aiura thought in an attempt to calm her racing nerves.
"'sides, it's not like she's a bad person or anything. We had that good convo the other day; so I know she's, like, legit.
That's way too many "likes".
"Ugh, this is still unbelievably awkward. No matter how many times I performed my calming rituals and rehearsed what to say I'm still a sputtering mess. So much for being perfect. Aiura's a good person (honestly almost too good), so I really hope we can move past this, unlikely as that is," Teruhashi thought in an effort to calm her racing nerves.
"Besides, we had that good conversation the other day, so I really hope we can move past this."
You said the same thing twice.
They were still unable to say anything. Fortunately, Toritsuka saw the awkward silence and attempted to alleviate the tension.
"Hey, Tits McGee, how does it feel not being the only girl?" Toritsuka sneered playfully.
"Honestly, I'm a lot more ok with it than I thought. I saw Teryukoko before this and she seems pretty chill. Beats hanging out with you two buzzkills by a mile," Aiura said as she leaned back in her seat and folded her arms behind her head.
"This is what I get for being nice," Toritsuka scoffed.
You had it coming. At least you got a 0 this time.
Teruhashi internally breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Aiura for riding the attempt to break the tension. Akechi suddenly realized that it had been more than 30 seconds since he last talked.
"Perhaps you are right about me being a 'buzzkill'. I am deeply remorseful that I have been unintentionally vindictive in a manner unbecoming of my standard of amiability. My tendency to investigate matters that I have very little direct stake in has caused all of you unnecessary hardship. I became so engrossed in what was going on around me that I lost sight of the fact that maintaining friendships is just as important to me as being armed with complete situational awareness. Please forgive me," Akechi said as he bowed his head.
"Apology accepted. Just lay off of the 'monkey' talk in the future. We get that we're not as smart as you," Aiura said somberly, her arms crossed across her chest.
"Yeah, I mean, our powers only go as far as our minds can take them and you've more than got us beat in that," Toritsuka said with uncharacteristic lack of belligerence. He shrugged while putting on a slightly strained smile.
Akechi merely nodded in response.
With that, the table fell into another strained silence. Teruhashi was the one to break it this time.
"Well, like I said earlier I am happy to make all of your acquaintances. I am sorry for causing so much trouble for you all. I am well aware that I represent a large threat to your confidentiality. Thank you for accepting me," she said with a sincere smile.
"Nah, you're cool Teryukoko. Thanks for keeping it real," Aiura replied while flashing a cool smile and waving her hand dismissively.
The group fell into silence again but with notably less tension. Saiki decided to end both the silence and the meeting.
If there's nothing left to say, I consider this meeting adjourned.
They all nodded somberly. Saiki teleported them back and they went their separate ways.