The new couple had decided to meet in Saiki's room on Teruhashi's request to strike the first of many cute couple activities off of Teruhashi's bucket list: ear cleaning. Ear cleaning is a relatively common grooming practice in Japan, but that did not diminish its danger. Allowing another person to clean your ears is a serious exercise in trust as it is very possible for a wayward tool to do severe damage and is thus typically reserved for mothers and children. It is dangerous enough to give an all-powerful psychic second thoughts.
While anything easily visible on his body was nearly impervious, he was not so sure about internal. His brain went a mile a minute running through all the possibilities. What was the nature of his body's natural fortification? It obviously had something to do with his psychic powers beyond hardening his skin and musculature, but altering the physical properties of his body felt wrong. Certain structures in the body are purposely held in a particular state of tension because they would be otherwise the vocal cords: they are tightened to emit a frequency and pitch in the range of human hearing when air moves over them. Without this characteristic, one is rendered mute or unintelligible. It naturally follows that the eardrums, the antennae that receive the longitudinal waves produced by the vocal cords, have similar characteristics. If the physical properties of his body were affected, he would be unable to hear or speak outside of telepathy. This points toward his psychic energy simply preventing anything from harming his body. However, this did not explain the fact that he required a jackhammer to provide even the slightest semblance of physical stimulation on his back. It worked if he considered it as a play on how tightly wound he was, but broke down under scrutiny.
In short, he had no idea whether or not Teruhashi could hurt him while cleaning his ears. Maybe he could telekinetically keep the ear pick away from anywhere dangerous. How would he do it without alerting her? The only thing he knew for sure is that she would be furious if she figured out he was doing it. But she wouldn't mess up, would she? She was a perfect pretty girl, right? Wait, why did she even suggest this if her ears were already going to be clean? He didn't understand girls at all.
"Saiki-kun, are you ready?" Teruhashi said sweetly. Her voice helped ease his nerves, but even that couldn't mollify the helplessness he was feeling now. He was more than capable of being hurt emotionally, but physically was new territory for him. His existence was predicated on…
"Saiki-kun?" Teruhashi asked, tilting her head quizzically. Lying to her about what was going on would be an insult to her intelligence.
I'm… just not used to something like this. Is all, Saiki muttered. That was the best way to encapsulate this feeling.
"I'm not really either. My parents are never around and I would never let Makoto anywhere near my ear. I don't know, I just thought it would be nice…" She tucked her hair behind her ear shyly.
Yare yare, don't make this so difficult, he groaned. …Where do you want me? She brightened at his sudden change of heart and patted her lap. There was a mat already set up on the floor next to her such that his head would be cradled by her thighs, so he wasn't sure why he asked. He slowly lowered himself to the floor, gingerly shifting his position until he lay on his side facing away from her body. He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt her weight shift to get her tools. It was too late to back out now. He felt a static unlike one he had ever felt before as her delicate hands approached his ear. It contained all of the elements of the pleasant feeling he had become accustomed to whenever she moved close to him for no reason, at least one that was not carefully planned or thinly veiled subterfuge, but also included unpleasant elements that seemed familiar yet somehow not at all. It was as if her touch would electrocute him, closing a circuit loop that would send a current straight through his brain.
"Are you ready?" she said soothingly. Of course he wasn't; but he still slowly nodded.
Her hands gently made contact with his head, closing the circuit that he feared seconds ago. It was an unbelievably light touch, reassuring, warm, and careful; she avoided placing her hands over the cluster of nerves and veins on his temple to ensure she didn't put any pressure on them. However, this was not top of mind for him; he jolted upon seeing the world through her eyes. She quickly recoiled, but he still had plenty of time to dip his toes into her emotions. He found nerves, happiness and that feeling of nearly unfathomable comfort they had experienced together during that shared vision, but he felt a minute twinge in his chest in response to her guilt and concern as her hands were leaving his head.
"I'm sorry, Saiki-kun. Are you alright?" He heard a contrite tremble in her voice. "We can stop if you want…"
No. Why did he say that? He wanted nothing more than to get out of this situation, but he found himself unable to recant.
"A-Alright," she swallowed. He felt her body temperature rise as she lowered the pick toward his ear once again. Her perspective smoothly connected to his this time, revealing her furious blush. Despite the chaos in her thoughts, her hand remained steady. But before he realized what was going on, the pick made contact with his ear canal. The slight scratch of bamboo imparted a sensation on him he had never felt before, overstimulating him far beyond any limits he might have had. He felt a shiver run through his spine as his muscles contracted.
"Are you ok? I wouldn't want to hurt you…"
You're doing fine. I just need to get used to it, he lied. He saw her nod in his peripherals and lower her hands again. He couldn't keep troubling her with his unsatisfactory reactions, so he decided to do what he had briefly thought of earlier: using his telekinesis to prevent her from touching his ear canal. He didn't have time to think of how to make it convincing, so he hoped her lack of experience would carry him through this. He focused his mind to hone his control over the power, preventing the pick from going closer than a fraction of a millimeter from the walls of his ear canal.
I'm sorry, Teruhashi. Please don't figure this out, he thought. He allowed himself to relax a bit when she continued to move the pick as normal.
"You have a fair amount of wax, I'm glad I'm able to help you get it out," she said cheerfully. "I think you'll feel a lot better when it's all gone."
He winced when the pick touched the wax. The stimulation was intense, but it felt much more manageable than the first. It also felt surprisingly… good? How? He felt his brow relax a little more. This wasn't so bad. The pleasing sensation prevented him from keeping the pick from touching his ear canal. It felt good to let it push against the sensitive skin.
She carefully pulled out the pick again. "Eh, Saiki-kun? Why does it feel like something just gave in your ear? Did I hurt you?" she said shakily. The last thing he wanted was to see her cry, so his only way to get out of this situation was to admit to his cowardice.
…No. I was using telekinesis to keep the pick away from my ear. I'm sorry, he apologized, the words stinging his pride. He waited for her to chastise him, but the words never came.
"I understand, I would be afraid too if I lived like you did. We don't have to keep going if you don't want to. I loosened some of the wax, but you'll have to get it out on your own," she said sadly, ducking her head to the side.
He felt bad, something he could not claim often. At least he thought so; he didn't know what else it would be. The tightening in his chest and the nearly all-consuming urge to fall on his knees and beg for forgiveness seemed to point to that. He did feel "sort of bad" for unavoidable consequences to his various avoidance strategies, but this one hurt a lot more. It hurt enough for him to sit up from her lap and lock eyes with her.
"Maybe it would help if you cleaned my ears?" she nearly whispered, averting her gaze. Her eyes had darkened with embarrassment and sadness, but the furious blush still remained. Was this gap moe?
But the larger issue was one of trust. There's something I need to tell you that I've been holding off on for a long time, Saiki grimaced. In truth he could have told her this long before they got here, but he struggled with an emotion he had plenty of experience feeling but never bothered to actually address: fear. Whatever gap moe she had completely disappeared when she looked up at him.
"…eh? Is something wrong?" she said, catching his tone. He was grateful that her thoughts indicated her awareness of the fact that this was another one of the times he would broach a difficult topic with no warning.
Why do you trust me? The wheels turned in her head. She noted that he had asked a question before a large reveal several times before, but seemed unable to discern what it would be about this time. Was that fear he heard?
You said you trusted me that time before I passed out. Why? he repeated.
"I-I just do. You always take care of me and look out for me. Even if you hurt me, I know you don't mean it."
What if I told you that I've already killed you? Deliberately.
"…Saiki-kun? You don't mean that, right?" She already knew this wasn't something he would joke about, but he needed to drive home the point that she was wrong for trusting him.
Do you remember what I said about the memory erasure procedure? Or more accurately what I didn't say? She searched her thoughts, easily recalling the night in question but also the threat he made to Akechi during her Psykickers initiation interrogation.
"What happened? What do you mean?" Her eyes darted back and forth, not even crossing his intense stare.
Memory erasure involves 2 steps. The first is that I use a heavy, blunt object to hit people on the head to erase specific memories or phrases as I told you back then. The position and strength of the hit depends on the specific memory and its complexity, but it invariably causes death without the second part. Her face blanched and her body trembled. She looked like she wanted to say something, but no words came out.
The second part is that I restore the victim the moment the object makes contact such that the memory stays erased but the body remains intact. Though I didn't let you die, I still made an active decision that could have resulted in your death. I'm sorry, Teruhashi-san. He bowed his head for an executioner's axe. Her breath shook, but not with sadness. What he was about to get was arguably worse than capital punishment.
"Why do you insist on being so infuriating?" she whispered, her voice quivering with fury. His head shot up to meet her gaze. He heard worship leaders all around the world simultaneously having a vision of Earth being consumed by hellfire as punishment for their sins. Typhoons instantaneously formed and defied the laws of physics to head straight for Japan. Normally he would not be able to perceive this without his limiter removed; maybe it really was the end of the world. Despite the imminent calamity, he knew that alerting her to it would make things far worse for both him and Japan.
"Why do you feel the need to push me away? Why did you hold onto this for so long? To run away when you were uncomfortable? You've made so much progress and then you sabotage yourself like this?"
But…
"Don't you dare 'but' me!" she said, stabbing her finger in his face. "You're probably going to say something about guilt, but you and I both know that you just wanted to protect yourself by keeping something like this. It's just so… you because you use things that feel trivial to you but would drive away anyone else because you have this constant need to separate yourself from other people. You can scare other people, but you can't scare me!" she admonished him."When you tried to erase my memory after I discovered your powers, you didn't go through with it because you didn't want to hurt me. Is that not enough for you? Please, just don't push me away…" she said, her voice shrinking.
Why do you trust me then? Why am I worth the trouble?
"Because you just are. In the beginning, I was nervous because there was a side to you that I couldn't fathom in my wildest dreams. Not only that, I had to face the reality that the mask I wore never even worked on the one person that I wanted to show my best to, even if it was disingenuous. I felt dirty, violated even; but I knew your reality is just as abnormal as mine is. I learned to accept you for all your flaws. You knew I was going to keep coming around until you rejected me because it's just not in my nature to give up. Despite my willfulness, you still let me stay around and never made me feel like I was wasting your time. I've already accepted all of you, so please don't reject me," she said, tucking her knees into her chest and burying her head.
He was stunned into silence. Telepathy was a crutch that allowed him to pretend he understood people and thus caused him to separate and compartmentalize them. At this point he was well aware of its shortcomings, so why did this issue keep rearing its head when he already accepted that reality?
Jealousy. His green glasses were poetic in a sense. Being normal was his goal, yet he sneered at normal people for their vulgarity, though he wasn't sure his father and Kuusuke deserved that clemency. He clung onto the idea of Satou even though his ability to be ordinary was anything but. Not even he could stay around Suzumiya without receiving a death flag, yet Satou could with relatively little difficulty. He had always envied normal people, but picked and chose out of some sort of unattainable ideal of what he wanted normal to be. He became so infatuated with that ideal that he rejected and eventually came to loathe anything else. She knew exactly where and how hard to hit him, striking the perfect balance between anger and earnest concern. At this point he wasn't entirely sure whether she knew him better than he knew himself. She really was something.
That being said, cataclysmic storms were still headed toward Japan so he should probably do something about it.
Please, continue, he said quickly.
Were this a manga, a question mark would have appeared above her head as she tried to process his meaning. However, she quickly caught on as he lowered himself back onto the floor. Utter confusion replaced her righteous fury; the visions disappeared and the typhoons evaporated as quickly as they came.
"Wait, hold on, what's going on? You didn't even say anything. I poured my heart out and you didn't even respond. That's cold even by your standards…" she trailed off, her voice unsure.
We both know anything I say right now will probably make it worse. Look, I trust you. Do you want to clean my ears or not?
If he thought she was confused before, it did not even come close to this. Her eyes were wide open, but there was nothing behind them. had encountered a fatal error. Right now she definitely did not seem like someone that had spent her entire life practicing bouncing back under superhuman amounts of pressure. He was stuck laying on his side as she took her time rebooting. Thoughts swirled and melded in her mind, leaving no discernible pattern for him to latch onto.
"Grocery list, right," abruptly popped into her head. "Does that mean he trusts me? He really trusts me! Well it's to be expected after all. As a perfect pretty girl I am also perfectly trustworthy, even Saiki Kusuo is no exception to this rule. Does this count as an offu?"
Yare yare, what a pain, that's not it!
"He's probably making color commentary to the effect of 'Yare yare, what a pain, that's not it!' right now but I'm still counting it as my victory!"
His jaw slackened. Now I feel violated.
He expected her to press her advantage and ask him what he was thinking, but the confrontation never came. She instead chose to let go of her legs and return to her lap pillow position, patting her lap for him once again with a bright smile. He snorted, shook his head, and placed himself exactly as commanded. He had no choice, really.
"Are you ready?" she paused carefully. Once she received his nod of consent, he felt her gently touch his face, tethering her perception to him. What she was feeling was similar, but somehow different than before. The warmth of connection was still there, but there was also a contentment to it that hadn't been present before. What was a bit more concerning was the burning sensation deep in the pit of her stomach that he hadn't felt before. It was making her heart so noisy that it made him nervous just listening to it. It also seemed to make her face flush, which seemed in line with her increased heart rate. His encyclopedic knowledge of illnesses was of no use when it came to diagnosing this mysterious ailment. He would have to remind her to see a doctor later, he wouldn't want her developing a fever.
The pick crossed the opening of his ear canal with a gentle dexterity that contradicted the worsening condition of her illness. If this kept up, he'd probably have to catch her again. She picked up where she left off, while he allowed himself to be carried away by the sensation, or more accurately sensations. He couldn't say he hated having her hands on his head. It added depth and body to the already pleasing stimulation. What scent was she wearing today? It wasn't lavender, but some other bright floral note. It felt clean and relaxing, something he was 100% certain was calculated, but he wasn't complaining. For some reason his acute sense of smell had been acting up recently because anything she wore always tended to blend with some other scent that he had trouble identifying. All he knew was that he only ever smelled it when she was around. Questions for later.
"One more ear to go!" she chirped. "Please switch to the other side."
…huh. Where did all the time go?
As you command, ma'dam.
She huffed and made a circle motion with her finger, her thoughts just as fed up as her body language. She had gained a lot of ground today, but he wouldn't let her have everything just yet. He couldn't afford to lose his edge.
When she started to work on his other ear, he couldn't help his amusement at the fact that she stayed upset at him for far too long for such a low-hanging joke, but she eventually relaxed and focused on what she was doing. Now that he changed positions, he couldn't help but notice the extra layer that tied this experience together like a well-crafted dessert. He hadn't noticed it before, but her legs felt nice to lay on. Though they were covered by clothes, there was a certain quality to them that transcended the fabric, as if they would be unmistakable were she wearing a space suit. They were comforting and warm, both soft and firm in a perfect balance that he found difficult to conceptualize much less explain. Her body blocked a bit of the light from the ceiling, providing a small pocket of shadow between his face and her body. He felt his eyelids grow heavy and sleep starting to…
Wait. He should be able to see through her eyes too, right? Why couldn't he even hear her thoughts? It must be his powers weakening, but he couldn't explain why despite all of the things going on around him. If he could figure out how to make this work with petrification…
"Saiki-kun," she whispered so as not to jolt him awake, "I finished but you looked so peaceful sleeping I didn't want to wake you. How do you feel?"
Now that she mentioned it, his ears felt pretty good. It wasn't quite the change that others had marketed it to be, but that was probably because they could only hear through their ears. Why didn't he notice the results in his first ear?
"After you're fully awake, I think it's my turn!" she said.
Hm. You did a good job, so I suppose I owe you.
"Were you not going to clean my ears if I didn't do a good job?" she said, raising her eyebrow at him.
Well that implies that it was even possible for you to do a bad job as a perfect pretty girl.
"I don't know why I expected anything but praise obfuscated by pettiness. Just get up, you're being difficult," she huffed, but he didn't need telepathy to know that he was already forgiven.
He stood up and motioned toward his bed.
"Wouldn't it be easier for us to switch places? That way you wouldn't have to get up," she said sweetly, tilting her head to the side and flashing a fake smile.
My legs probably wouldn't be comfortable in that position. It'll be easier for both of us if we move to the bed.
"I don't think it will be as uncomfortable as you think, really… And why are you still moving over to the bed?"
He plopped himself near the head and set up to enjoy the incoming pouting. And pout she did, crossing her arms and snapping her head to the side. She wasn't going to let him off easy either, though.
"You play this game and yet I got you in bed without even saying anything," she said, earning herself a glare.
Don't be so misleading. You're all bark and no bite, he said as he narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"Do you want to put that to the test?" she said dangerously, but her incoherent soup of thoughts verified his assertion. The two sat in silence as the tension exerted a pressure that overcame Teruhashi's aura, forcing her glow back to her heart. The aura seemed to be too much for the heart to handle, causing it to audibly thud against her ribcage, her face turning a brighter shade of red than he could have made with pyrokinesis. He found himself unable to speak; if the pressure was too much for Teruhashi's aura, it certainly was more than enough to keep his mind shut. The only thing he could do now is determine the nature of the tension, with which he found very little success. It effected an uncomfortable buzz in his mind, seeming to tickle at something deep within him that he didn't know existed. He really hoped it would go away soon.
Breathe, Kokomi. This is going much better than you expected. Of course it would, though! Perfect pretty girls should always trust in their ability to create the perfect situation to suit their needs, right! This is just like one of the situations in Ero High School Host Club, so all I need is to follow through! she thought to herself, but her internal feelings were anything but sure.
She looked up at him, catching his narrowed eyes.
Is he mad at me? He can't be, right? No, he's obviously lost in thought. About what, though? She clapped her cheeks with her palms, garnering no reaction from him. Hopefully he wouldn't be too startled if she walked toward him. Maybe she should clear her throat after she stood up to alert him.
She stood up and cleared her throat, causing his eyes to meet hers.
"I… I'm going to come over now," she stammered. He nodded slowly. She gingerly stepped toward him and laid herself on the bed next to him while he folded his legs.
"You could at least let me lay on your lap?" she huffed, only receiving a shrug in response. Time for level 2.
"Please?" she said longingly, casting Angel Upward Beam™ on him.
No.
That did it. Time for level 0.
He saw her reach over to his sleeve, his expression looking as if he wanted to stop her but was searching for some half-baked justification that didn't involve him slapping her hand away. Once her fingers gently pinched his sleeve, it was far too late for him to stop her; the conditions for Seraphic Sleeve-Pull™ had been satisfied.
As the blesser of all souls, I shall forgive your sins and redeem you, Saiki-kun. Be born anew.
"Please, Saiki-kun, for me?" she fluttered her eyelids and adjusted her eyes for perfect effect.
He snorted, crossed his arms, looked down, and shook his head. But for some reason his head stopped and moved no more. His eyes were closed and arms crossed, but he looked frozen like a statue.
"Uh, Saiki-kun, are you alright?" No response. She got up on all fours to investigate the potential crime scene. Had she done this? Would she be reported to the police? That was impossible, perfect pretty girls don't go to jail. Even if she did, the guilt from accidentally killing her boyfriend would be far worse.
"Saiki-kun?" she said shakily, reaching her hand toward his face. She didn't kill him. He just fainted. People faint and stop breathing all the time, a similar phenomena to green and white asparagus. They are the same plant, but white asparagus gets its color from being grown underground and green asparagus is grown above. Green and white asparagus may be different colors, but both are equally alive! All she needed to do was dig it out and make sure. She gently moved her hand down his jawbone, but he did not rouse. She needed to wake him quickly; though he could hold his breath for much more than an hour, she wouldn't want him to get hurt in case he didn't come to.
A willful thought entered her mind. He was right, she didn't have the guts to try anything on him. She was who she was and knew what she wanted, but did he want it? Was she forcing herself on him? She had lied with her physicality her entire life before the day that forever changed their relationship and still lied all the time she spent without him. It was partly a defense mechanism, but she still actively enjoyed the attention. How did she know that her desire to be close to him was not an extension of that? Was this another lie to herself, to feed her need for validation, to finally get her "offu"?
But she couldn't change how she felt. Even if it were a lie, she had no other way forward. She just loved him, and right now this was the only way she felt she could express herself.
Please wake up, Saiki-kun. You're needed here.
Her hand cupped his jaw and leaned his head up to where she could see his full face. His eyes were still closed, but his expression was relaxed, peaceful even. Her heart pounded an erratic, high-tempo staccato and her lips quivered as she drew his face closer. She looked at his lips briefly.
No, I won't take that until he means it.
Instead she chose to bring her face close to his cheek, stopping just above it. Her breaths caught as she felt their heat from his face. She shuddered, but closed her eyes and leaned forward. Her lips touched his cheek. All-consuming emotions crashed into her: fear, concern, excitement, connectedness, warmth, and finally, love. She tried to control herself, but she wanted so much more than that.
If you let me, I'll take everything from you. I'm sorry for tricking you into a relationship with someone so selfish.
His eyes squeezed and he started to groan. It made her jump, but relief immediately followed. She quickly sat down next to him and pulled his body flush with hers, wrapping him into a tight hug. Her delicate frame shivered, but she needed to stay strong. Whether it was fear, embarrassment, or both, she made sure to avoid making naked contact with his skin.
"I'm so happy you're ok, Saiki-kun… I was really worried about you."
Once he became aware enough to reciprocate, he wrapped his arms around her back unsurely. He definitely had no idea what was going on, but at least he was nice enough to spare her feelings.
"How long was I out for?"
"Not too long, but you stopped breathing. I know you can hold your breath for a long time, but I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened."
"So dramatic."
"Excuse me for being concerned about you," she huffed. "Ungrateful."
"And yet you won't let go of me."
"…No. Is that ok with you?"
His arms stayed wrapped around her back. "If it bothered me, I would have let go by now."
She nuzzled further into him, his shirt rubbing her expression to an impish, satisfied smile.
Good enough for me.