"Do you like it?" Teruhashi asked Saiki-kun as he took a bite of her homemade strawberry daifuku. He didn't respond, but that look told her everything she needed to know. She didn't think she'd ever get tired of seeing his walls come down as soon as his mouth touched any of her sweets; every bite seemed to relax him a bit more. Sweets really were the way to this guy's heart. Makoto was in another country for filming, so "they" had decided to have a home date at her house instead. It really hadn't been a mutual decision, though; he was sitting at her kitchen table as soon as she dangled the word "sweets" in front of him.
The vegetal, semi-sweet smell of fresh cut strawberries from the counter behind her piqued her nose. She had decided on a simple light pink high-necked shirt, black shorts, and a cute dog-print apron, tan closed-toe slippers, and tied her hair up into a no-frills ponytail with a red scrunchie. His look was as classic as ever—a simple dark green collared shirt with a lighter green pullover and black pants, and white lace-up shoes.
Her kitchen and dining area were uncommonly spacious, even boasting an island. The countertops were a cream color and the trims and accents were wooden with a distinctly Japanese style, but there was still something about it that felt as unapproachable as the polished, sleek whites and silvers of a professional kitchen. As expected of the Teruhashi family, the table was well-coordinated with the kitchen; but the tabletop shone almost unnaturally, as if someone had applied too many layers of varnish.
"They're very good," he said as he finished the mochi ball and showed her a subdued, contented smile.
"Glad you think so," she said cheerily.
He dropped his gaze in consideration. "How do you do it?"
"What do you mean?"
"How do you manage to make such good desserts?"
She giggled. "Because I'm perfect," she said, fluttering her eyelids and clasping her hands behind her back.
He rolled his eyes at her. "The way you made them wasn't very complex. I could have done the same thing and mine would have come out much worse. Why?"
"You cook very well, though," she said, eyeing him inquisitively.
"But it feels like nothing special, just a competent recreation of what the dish is supposed to be."
She considered briefly. "I just try to consider who I'm making it for and what they want?"
He shook his head. "That's not it. I can adjust the flavor and the preparation based on your mood."
"I guess I just think about how I want someone to feel when they eat it?"
"This daifuku only has 4 major ingredients: mochi, red bean paste, sugar, and strawberries, yet it somehow becomes far better than the sum of its parts."
"I don't think it's supposed to. It just happens. In general, people want to like things and try to find the good in their experiences."
"Then what do you feel when you make it?"
"It's really hard to put into words. I guess you could call it happiness, comfort, warmth…"
Love.
"I-I-I don't mean it like that! It's just really hard to explain!" she stammered, flailing her arms placatingly.
He didn't recoil, instead taking his chin in hand and furrowing his brow. "But it's how you feel. I've heard of 'cooking with love' before."
The person she cherished the most saying that made her heart swell so, so much. "The heart is not so simple, Saiki-kun," she said, winking at him suggestively.
"You're right, I just can't understand why."
"Well, I guess you'll just have to stick around until you figure it out," she said, giggling coyly.
"As if I had any other option."
She felt her cheeks reflexively puff up and her face scrunch. "I guess you can go on with your life without my coffee jelly…"
"Not an option."
"That's what I thought," she said, throwing her hair back.
He shot her petulant glare, but softened his expression. "What does love mean to you, then?"
She cast her gaze down, her thoughts a knot of bashfulness and indecision. "I'm not really sure. It doesn't have a definition for me, it's just a feeling that grows and changes over time."
Do you love me? The question rang out in her mind despite the fact that she already knew the answer. She had faith he would get there eventually, but it didn't hurt any less.
His eyes widened and then closed, and his lips pressed in a tight line. "I… I don't… not love you. It's not fair."
"Our relationship is built on unfairness, and that's okay."
"I never would have known the real you without telepathy, though."
"…yes," she whispered. "I was vulnerable before I even knew that I was. Maybe that's why this is much easier for me."
"You still surprise me all the time."
"It's not about that. I wanted what I wanted, and I was forced to accept the consequences of that want. It hurt me then and now, but if it's you it's ok."
"You're doing much better than you think you are."
"…huh?" She could practically feel the question mark germinating from her head.
"You may have noticed your aura decreasing."
"…"
Her face flushed, and she rushed toward him to ineffectually pound her fists on his back. "What is wrong with you?! Why do you drop things like that on me so abruptly? You're going to give me a heart attack!"
"I don't know why you're not used to it at this point," he said, shrugging smugly.
"Because you're being mean!" she whined.
"Because you were moping."
She heaved an exasperated, resigned sigh. "Are you going to explain or continue to be obnoxious?"
"Why do you think you need to hold in farts around me now?" Obnoxious explanation. How appropriate.
She squeaked and buried her burning face in her hands. "Why do you keep bringing that up?! It's so gross!"
"I also haven't had to use Cone of Silence in a very long time, either."
Sigh. "What does that mean?" she drawled. The only thing preventing her from rolling her eyes was the whiplash of embarrassment
"Your aura works like my powers; they're tied to your emotions, both positive and negative. You have some control of them, but it requires conscious effort and ultimately rebounds back to a baseline. To make Cone of Silence work, I use my psychic energy to neutralize your aura."
"…so I don't have to think about restraining my emotions—you learned how to do that… for me?"
He shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal. It's just a bit of applied mind control…"
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She pulled herself into him, causing their shirts to bunch together; and shivered as her cheek touched his; as she draped one of her arms over the back of the chair he was sitting in. "You're going to make me cry," she warbled, squeezing him even tighter. "How long did it take to learn that?"
"I don't remember exactly how long; but it was longer than making the brooch. Using brain waves is tricky."
Heaven forbid that he comment on the hardest part of the gift.
"It wasn't that hard. I figured it would be useful later on, too."
"Stop talking. Let me have this."
He sighed and stood up to return her hug. She tightened again, pressing her cheek into his even harder.
Thank you. I'm grateful for you. You make me so happy. I want to take care of you, too.
She showed him how much she enjoyed the most mundane activities as long as he was there with her, and the memories she wanted to make with him, and exactly how she felt about him. She felt him shiver.
"I just don't want you to diminish your own efforts," he said, but it felt half-hearted, as if it was at least partially addressed to himself.
"That doesn't mean you have to diminish yours."
"I don't want this to be about me."
"God, you're so annoying," she huffed.
She felt his mouth move but couldn't tell what expression he was making.
"You should ask god for a refund, then."
"It's been too long for a refund, so I'm stuck with this model."
The TV clicked on. "Not to fear, I can always make one for you. I promise, they are very lifelike," a condescending voice slammed into their conversation. The chair Saiki was sitting in clattered to the ground after being launched into a wall. A tone with that level of chaos and disdain was only possible from the guy who made a public mockery of her. Turning around confirmed her suspicion; his lab coat clad brother sat in a large chair, streaming his video feed from a room that could have passed for a supply closet were there not (what looked to be) TV panels curving inward from both sides of the feed.
"If you'd like, I can take your order for length and girth now," his brother said, reaching off to the side to pull out a clipboard and pen.
"What do you want?" Saiki said, regarding his brother with an icy glare.
His brother sniffed and rested his face on his palm supported by his forearm. "You can drop the telepathy act, I've been listening to your conversation for a bit," he said, waving Saiki off dismissively before typing lazily. "So, you started using your voice around her. Hm. Interesting, interesting."
"Y-you… You set up listening equipment in my house? How? Why?"
He pointed the back of the pen at the camera. "I did you one better. There are cameras, too," he said while pointing at two locations behind her. After a pop, the acrid smell of burning plastic started to fill the room.
Teruhashi's face burned up. "D-d-does that mean… A-a-are they in the showers?"
"Naturally." His brother shrugged. "Don't flatter yourself. The lump of flesh you are under Kusuo's x-ray vision is more attractive to me." She didn't like him before, but now she wanted to throttle him. Somehow, though, hearing that felt comforting in a way that made her skin crawl.
"Stop lying."
His brother's face stretched to a wide grin and fixed itself intensely on Saiki. "Am I?"
Silence.
"Ah, too afraid to look are we? Or do you want me to tell you what I've learned?"
Saiki took a deep breath, balled his hands into his fists, and squeezed his eyes shut. "You never answered my question."
"Why I'm here? I just wanted to get to know your pal a little better! You never brought her around to see your onii-san, so I felt a bit left out," his brother whinged pitifully.
Saiki looked at her seriously. Somehow, his brother was even worse than she thought, a lot worse. Being related to someone this twisted would scar anyone from serious relationships for a long time, but he still took the plunge to be with her. Even now, he looked to her with determined and trusting eyes.
She nodded at Saiki-kun, then looked ahead and nodded at his brother.
"Very well. Kusuo and I have had a game for a very long time where I try to beat him and never succeed. Ever. I've lost 4,257 times to date."
Her first instinct was to ridicule him, but her better judgement stayed her impulse. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Yet you stumbled across his secret and in doing so defeated him with a bit of blind luck. How trite," he said with a patronizing grin. "Since he was younger, Kusuo has always been a very special boy; so special in fact that I sought to learn everything about how special he was. So special that I forgot why I wanted to figure it out in the first place. Well, at least I still remember all of his erogenous zones…" his brother said, his face flushing red and a string of drool hanging out of his mouth.
"Kuusuke, stop being disgusting."
"Oh, my name! You finally said my name! What great joy! You're going to make me c…!" Kuusuke's tongue hung out and his eyes rolled back.
"Stop."
The look in Saiki's eyes was… scary. Terrifying. Murderous, even. She had never seen him that mad. What happened between these two?
"Don't you dare underestimate her," he snarled.
Kuusuke clicked his tongue and shrugged. "There's nothing to underestimate, yet you get riled up so easily whenever I harmlessly tease her."
"You know this isn't harmless teasing."
"What's so special about you, anyway? Why do you even like my brother? You should have just stayed away. It's ok if you cry, there are no crowds to protect you now." Tears welled up, but not by her command.
"And Kusuo, don't even think about trying to find me. Almost everything in this video feed, apart from me, is fake."
"…you care a lot about him, don't you?" she said shakily. "You want to know why I can get close to him after you've spent your entire lives as bitter rivals, right?"
"What I want to know is what he likes about you other than your 3 measurements."
"His x-ray vision…"
"In reference to the fact that you were able to get close to him using your 'charm'. Neurotransmitters evolved from close proximity to a warm body does not a good relationship make. Anyone would do."
"If you've been watching us, you know that's not true. We've had to work hard to get to where we are, and I don't think just anyone could have done that."
"Anyone can 'work hard' with love brain," Kuusuke said, raising air quotes.
"Yet you said I've never worked for anything in my life."
"Hm. I suppose that was outside of my calculations," he shrugged and started typing. "So far, data is inconclusive," he muttered.
"Did you need anything else?"
"No, nothing else! I suppose I will go through with that challenge after all…" Kuusuke drawled, his overexaggerated stretching more than illustrating his fake languor.
"You've never gone back on your word before. Why are you pretending you weren't going to?"
"You were able to read all of my thoughts up until I went to Cambridge, shouldn't you be able to figure it out?"
Saiki opened and closed his mouth, but did not respond.
"A bit of brotherly advice, with the way your relationship is going you should learn to use your mouth…"
The TV detonated.
"Sorry, I'll fix that…" Saiki mumbled. He raised his palm toward the shattered screen, causing it to reconstitute, then did the same for the chair and the wall.
"C-can he still hear us?"
"Probably." Saiki crossed his eyes. "Nothing—at least nothing that I can see. He knows my powers as well as I do, so blind spots are possible." He considered briefly, telekinetically took the daifuku from the table, wrapped it up, and held out his hand. "Here."
"What's going on?"
"We'll teleport somewhere he can't find us. Hopefully."
She swallowed, nodded, and took his hand.
They appeared in front of a waterfall cliff, complete with a rainbow from the scattering of light from the water that splashed on the rocks. The patter of the rushing water provided a pleasing tune: too loud to miss, but not loud enough to distract. It was warm; the foliage provided a shade which, combined with the cool water spray, made for a very relaxing environment with one exception.
"Saiki-kun!" she hissed and bent down to take off her slippers. "Why didn't you tell me we were going to come to a place like this, I would have changed!"
He chuckled lightly. "You wouldn't have wanted to stay in that house for a second longer, either. Here." He took both of their footwear and her apron telekinetically, dried them with pyrokinesis, and laid them neatly on a nearby boulder.
"Where are we?" she asked breathily, awestruck by the absolute beauty of untouched nature; but she felt something lurking deep within her, a feeling she had been able to stave off during their confrontation with Kuusuke, a feeling that slowly crept in where adrenaline receded.
"Mount Ngerchelcuus, Palau. I teleported here to escape a bug once," he said drily, handing her one of the 2 remaining daifuku.
"You act like this is mundane as walking to the street in front of your house."
"At least I don't have to wait 3 minutes to come back from the street."
"Well, I think this is amazing; so please don't be surprised if I want to stay here for longer than 3 minutes," she giggled, twirled around and took a seat on a nearby boulder, leaned back on one of her hands, and cheerily kicked her feet. "It seems like forever ago that we first teleported somewhere remote like this."
He blew air out of his nose and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I guess it has been. I'm long overdue for a break from the noise." His hair had become a little unkempt, mussed by some combination of the spray, the stress, and the teleport. His expression was as deadpan as ever, but exuded a quiet confidence and comfort strikingly similar to the expression he had when they walked through the quiet streets on the day they became official.
He looks so cool like this. She sighed contentedly. "Remember when all of this started? I didn't want to ask you for help with your powers because I was afraid you would see me as the vapid girl you met all of those years ago," she said dreamily and crossed her legs.
"Even though I could see right through you."
She nodded. "Everything was so new; it felt like you were the friend I needed to know years ago; but I still had such a hard time opening up to you. Your telepathy was suffocating, but I knew that I couldn't run away from it forever. I can't say I've completely gotten used to it yet, but it feels so much more mundane now," she said, taking a bite of her daifuku.
He nodded thoughtfully. "I hope you're not bored yet."
"Nope. Don't confuse mundane for boring, boring is what you would have been if I hadn't forced my way into your life," she said, laughing lightly before going for another bite.
"I see no difference," he said with a wry smirk.
"Ugh, quit being difficult," she huffed. "Boring is walking to the park because you have to. Mundane is walking to the park because you can."
"I suppose if you spend your life walking to parks, you should at least trick yourself into thinking that you like walking to parks," he said, taking his first bite of daifuku. She watched some of his stress melt away as his expression softened.
"I don't think it's so much tricking as it is deciding and accepting."
"But how can you believe in something you know isn't true or real?"
"With telepathy, you always had the right answer, but your interpretation is just as susceptible to bias as anyone else's. If, say, Nendou had telepathy…"
"He can't use it. His mind is actually as empty as it seems."
She nearly did a spit take on her way to uncontrollable laughter. "So wait, when you made us forget about your psychic powers, how did you know where to hit him and what memory he replaced it with?"
"He's (mostly) sentient, so he does hang on to a few things. Luckily I don't have to be nearly as precise. Since you 3 were around, I had a pretty good gauge of where it might be."
"So you guessed?"
He shrugged.
"And how many times have you erased his memory?"
"Russian roulette has better odds."
She flinched.
"He's about as indestructible as they come. I'm not entirely convinced that all of his cognitive functions stayed intact. I could probably scoop out half of his brain without changing him very much."
"Saiki-kun!" she nearly spat in disbelief, but couldn't stifle a laugh. "You know he cares about you in… the part of his brain that matters."
He let out a low chuckle. "I suppose life without him would be different."
"I think you'd miss him more than you want to admit."
Saiki regarded her with an ugly scowl. That told her all she needed to know. Suddenly, her eyes started to water and her hands shook. The feeling had finally caught up to her.
He sighed. "What…" he started, but immediately stopped when he caught on.
"S-Saiki-kun, please come here," she whispered. He hardly had time to move before she threw herself into him and wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could, burying her face into his shoulder just in time for his shirt to soak up her tears rushing with the vigor of a waterfall. She felt dirty, trapped, and helpless. She felt one of his arms wrap around her back and the other on her… head? A surge of comfort and warmth coursed through her as he steadied her.
"It was Kuusuke, wasn't it?" he said, his tone sharpening to a vorpal edge. If she wasn't careful, he might actually go and stab his brother.
She nodded and pressed her face into his shoulder. "None of what he said was completely wrong, though…" she said between sniffles.
"He hasn't been blatantly mean to anyone else, besides my embarrassing father. He usually makes snide, condescending, and manipulative remarks; but with you his mask seems to crack. It's equally likely that he thought it would be more effective at getting under your skin. Either way, I don't understand him at all."
She paused for a beat. "What happened between you two?"
"I don't really know; it's always been that way. He's very proud and competitive, which doesn't mix well when your opponent has psychic powers. Defeating me became such an obsession that he left home to study at Cambridge. Also he developed a masochist brocon complex."
"He sounds like a handful," she said flatly.
"Massive understatement."
"Our brothers are pretty similar, then."
He paused and shifted uncomfortably, confusion and indecision written all over his face. "Even down to the masochist creepy sibling complex."
"Huh?"
"I don't think you want to know what your brother thinks about you."
"I mean, he is pretty clingy and wants to keep other guys away like a lot of brothers do."
"Because he wants you for himself."
He couldn't mean… Her brain short-circuited, all other sounds were drowned out by the low screech in her ears. This can't be real, right? But not even her most grandiose delusions could find a reason he might recant his statement. All of it made sense now, it seemed so obvious in hindsight. She was in denial about that, too. "W-Why didn't you tell me?" she stammered, her voice quavering. She felt herself try to cry; but nothing came out. As much as she wanted to run and scream, being next to him felt much more important.
"I couldn't interfere without uprooting your entire life," he said with a pained, remorseful grimace.
Silence. A dull static arose as the pieces clicked together. "…because you couldn't act on your own desires; if you did, then trying to live a normal life would be pointless."
His body trembled, but he did not pull away. A typhoon of thoughts crashed into her mind.
Why didn't he save me? Was I less important than his principles? What difference would it have made if I escaped?
Why didn't you save me?
More and more similar thoughts whipped through her head. He suddenly tried to break her hug, but she wouldn't let him go.
…but you still watched over me, didn't you? Hyenas don't appear out of nowhere, and no photoshoot is worth a kidnapping. You switched an awful gift for a great one, and you dragged him away so I could rest. Both of us bear the burden of overwhelming power, making any decision's consequences much more costly. But if you did the best you could, how could I stay upset with you, Saiki Kusuo?
Rocks rattled and rose, and tree branches shook. Pink energy bubbled and churned furiously around them. This had happened on her birthday, but now with boulders instead of home décor. This time, she was scared. Could her luck hold out? The energy grew more violent—tendrils lashed themselves around branches and boulders; and the wind howled around her, pulling her body away from him. Her dress and her hair flailed helplessly, and her arms started to come loose from his neck. her feet felt lighter, but she still tried her best to hold on as his body slowly left the ground. Afraid as she was, she would not give up so easily. No matter how lost he was, he was still Saiki Kusuo, the person she loved. She could barely hang as the wind attempted to rip her away from him. She didn't know what to do.
So she kissed him.
She pulled herself in with all of her might, pressed her lips on his cheek, and transmitted all of her feelings to him, both good and bad. Fear, trust, happiness, longing, neediness, all of it concentrated to one touch.
The psychic energy stilled, prominent but no longer out of control. The boulders stayed suspended. She felt him relax, and the psychic energy uncoil itself from the branches and boulders. One by one, the boulders returned to their original positions and their entwined bodies lower. Her feet touched the ground; the damp rock provided a cool, grounding sensation. Never had she felt so grateful just to stand on solid ground.
He fell to his knees, and she joined him. The light of his eyes that commonly appeared during his power usage dimmed and his head hung low and his breath shook. He looked defenseless. She pulled his head close and rested her forehead on his. She lost track of time while waiting silently for his breaths to even out.
"When you're ready, tell me when you're okay." After a few seconds, she felt him nod against her forehead.
What happened?
"Power surge. I still can't control them."
Do you know why?
"No."
He paused; she could feel his facial muscles moving as he tried to process. The time stretched from seconds to minutes, but she knew he needed all of that time.
"A long time ago, that idiot told my parents that my grandparents would have heart attacks if they learned of my powers. That no normal person would accept a monster like me."
That's… horrible.
"I don't know what he's so jealous of. I don't understand him at all."
Teruhashi took a long pause. I think he loves you in his own way, though.
"How can you say that? Why are you defending him? Your brother is just as bad..."
"Saiki!"
His eyes flashed, but she held his head firm. "...I'm sorry," he whispered.
My aura only works on people who don't already love someone else, so unless he found someone…"
"Unlikely. He probably just saw through you since he's around me. If he does love anyone, it's probably my mom."
I don't think that's it, she said firmly. He figured out what you were saying with body language alone.
He paused. His facial muscles shifted erratically until finally settling. "I don't understand why you're not more concerned about your brother."
Her heart caught in her throat. We're talking about you right now... Why did he have to remind her about that? She was barely keeping it together before, and now he did something like this—
"You try too hard." His voice was gentle, but firm. "It's ok."
They pulled each other in. She wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could, dug her nails into his shirt, and balled its fabric in her fists. Every orifice on her face leaked, adding snot to the list of fluids that could come out of her. His shirt muffled her terrible sobs, and her body's tremors were out of tune with her ragged breaths. For the first time in her life, Teruhashi Kokomi was ugly crying.