Chapter Text
It was an ordinary day. Well, as ordinary as a day could be for Kusuo Saiki, since being an all powerful psychic meant that there was no such thing as a completely ‘ordinary’ day. Even so, it was fairly normal, and Kusuo tried to eat his lunch peacefully.
Key word: tried.
“Saiki, I found this new hideout. We need to defend ourselves from Dark Reunion!”
“Go play D&D with someone else, Kaidou”
“Saiki! I saw this - this - thisreallyhotgirlplease-“
“Can you not be a pervert for two minutes?”
“Ah, nice to see you here, Saiki! It would seem that you are eating your lunch so I hope I’m not disturbing you - actually, I was about to eat my lunch too but then I realised that I left it at home; it really is a shame, isn’t it? I quite enjoy eating lunch on the roof, it really is peaceful up here, don’t you think? Anyway, I-“
“Would it be unethical to sew his mouth shut?”
“Saiki~ heyyy!”
“Don’t come up here, Teruhashi. You’ll bring your fan club here too”
“Oi, buddy!”
“No.”
And just like usual, a small crowd begins to form around the pink haired boy. ‘Geez,’ he thought, ‘I figured nobody would find me if I ate on the roof since I rarely eat up here but that clearly didn’t work out. Seriously, what a pain’.
“Oh yeah, Saiki I was thinking-“ Kaidou began
‘That’s a bad sign’ Saiki was about to let those very words slip his brain, but let Kaidou continue anyway.
“-How come you wear those hairclips and glasses all the time? Wasn’t there a week where you didn’t wear either?”
Teruhashi and Nendou looked at Kusuo, while Toritsuka held back a laugh and Aketchi shrugged.
Nendou spoke first. “Oh yeah! There was! Can I try on Buddy’s glasses? Hey didn’t I try them on at the school festival? Well, whatever, I’m gonna try ‘em on again”
“Can I try on your hairclips?” Teruhashi asked with puppy dog eyes.
Before Saiki could react, Teruhashi had grabbed his left limiter, and Nendou took a hold on his glasses, not knowing what they were really about to do.
And as soon as the limiter was removed, Saiki fell to the floor.
And Nendou dropped the glasses.
And Teruhashi dropped the antenna.
And Saiki vanished.
And everyone was petrified.
“What the hell just happened?!” Kaidou screamed and pointed at the two who were next to Saiki before, “This is all your fault!”
“It’s your damn fault for bringing it up, runt!” Nendou retorted
“Shut up! I only asked him a question! Besides, didn’t he faint when you took the clip out on sports day?!” Kaidou argued
“Well how was I supposed to know what would happen? Causation isn’t correlation”
“Other way round, moron!”
“Is it?”
“Guys I think we should stop arguing. Saiki disappeared - we don’t know where he is or if he’s safe - we need to focus on getting him back first. We can discuss this later” Teruhashi said sweetly, yet sternly. The two boys nodded immediately.
“I’ll get Aiura. If anyone knows where Saiki’s gone, it’s her.” Toritsuka finally stated, running off.
“I believe it was a matter of causation. Those hair clips Saiki wears clearly prevent something Saiki possesses so once they’re removed, that power comes out” Akechi stated, obviously knowing the truth but trying not to give away too much information.
“So you’re saying that Saiki has superpowers? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?” Kaidou almost laughed, but Nendou gave him a glare.
“You’ve pretended to have superpowers for years, runt”
“I-I’m not pretending! I meant that it’s ridiculous that there’s someone else with powers such as mine!”
“Yeah whatever.”
Their bickering continued for a few minutes, until Toritsuka came back with Aiura and just finished explaining what happened. He gestured to the seat that Kusuo was previously sitting in, “That’s where Saiki sat. Like I said, after Teruhashi took out his antenna, he disappeared. Do you know where he went?”
Aiura placed her crystal ball on the ground and sat cross legged while the other four looked at her, with genuine concern evident on their faces.
“So?” Torisuka asked.
“Nothing. My powers aren’t working. I can see all your auras so he’s definitely not in the area but where Saiki is? I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry” She sighed
“You’re telling me that we can’t find him?!” The mediums voice rose in annoyance
“Yeah. I want to - trust me I really do, but my powers aren’t working” She had an almost hopeless look in her eye, as did the others.
“We’re fucked” Toritsuka mumbled, “Unless, obviously, he can find a way back - which, knowing Saiki he definitely will.”
“But”, Aiura stated, “If he found a way to get back, he would’ve been back by now! It’s been almost ten minutes!”
“We really are fucked then...” Toritsuka said once more.
“So, what do we do now?” They pondered in unison, none of them truly knowing the answer.
Fourteen year old Shigeo Kageyama, aka Mob, had been battling the spirit Dimple for a while. However, something made the both of them stop and stare at each other in pure confusion. A sudden rush coursed through the two of them. They both sensed it. Another psychic was there. How had neither of them noticed their presence before?
Dimple was, quite frankly, worried. He knew that this other esper could easily exorcise him or worse - and he’s already been beaten up enough, any more damage and he’ll be completely gone. With a growl, he spat “Alright, kid, we’ll continue this later”.
“Oh, okay” Mob mumbled, more concerned about the other esper.
Walking over to where the sense was coming from, the young boy began fidgeting. This esper had immense power. But still, he was curious, as everyone is!
Finally, he found the source of the power. A pink haired boy laying face down on the ground, with what looked like an antenna in his head, the other one on the ground beside him and a pair of green tinted glasses not far away. He was wearing a uniform, but not one that Mob recognised. It didn’t look like any of the schools in Seasoning City. Needless to say, Mob thought that he looked strange. He thought of leaving him, but decided to stay for a few more minutes. Suddenly, the mysterious esper began to move.
Mob watched his movements. First, the boy jolted onto his knees and placed his hand in the ground, stopped for a second, and began glancing around with a panicked expression; he saw Mob but didn’t make eye contact, instead his eyes widened and a small gasp escaped his mouth. Next he covered his eyes and reached for the other antenna and quickly placed it on his head before reaching for his glasses and sliding them on.
“Um, are you okay?” Mob asked sheepishly.
“Don’t know. I know this is cliché but where am I?” He questioned and Mob raised an eyebrow.
“Seasoning City. Why do you ask?”
“Oh... Where’s Seasoning City? I’ve never heard of it”
“Really? It’s in Japan, and it’s a pretty big city”
“Yeah I figured I’m in Japan but where? Also, why are there loads of people piled up on the ground? It's vaguely concerning”
“I had a fight with an evil spirit, who was the leader of a cult. I’m an apprentice for an exorcist, but this I got myself into.”
“You’re a psychic?” Kusuo was curious. His thoughts told him the boy wasn’t lying.
“Yeah. You are too” It was more of a statement than a question. Saiki wasn’t surprised at this - he heard him thinking about ‘another esper’ and ‘sensing’ things. So he just nodded. “I’m guessing you don’t know how you got here” Mob added and Saiki nodded once more. “Well, I could take you to my masters office. I think he could help you get back home. What’s your name, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Kusuo Saiki”
“I’m Shigeo Kageyama. Some people call me Mob though”
Saiki didn’t particularly want to go to this exorcism place. If they’re hiring a kid to do the dirty work then, well, it just screams shady. But he went along with it. More importantly though, he didn’t know how to get back. His first thought was to teleport, which didn’t work, but his other powers seem to be in check so they’re not messed up like on Sports Day. Despite his telepathy being seemingly fine, he couldn’t hear the voices of anyone he knew. ‘What a pain. If I can’t get back, then my parents will be worried. Not to mention that the others are also probably wondering what’s going on. Good grief. I guess I should just wait until I can find a way to get home’.
The two psychics made small talk as they walked to Spirits and Such Consultation Office. They spoke about their friends and school life, their families and what they did for fun. Kusuo realised he began to envy Mob a small amount. Despite the kid’s ESP, he really did lead a normal life. He was so ordinary - which was exactly what Kusuo wanted to be.
“We’re here” Said Mob as he walked up the stairs, “I’ve already texted Master Reigen, so he knows you’re coming with me”. He opened the door and Kusuo followed. “Master, this is Saiki-kun”
The office had a friendly and warm feel to it. There was a desk opposite the door where a blond man with brown eyes, who looked to be in his twenties, sat typing away on a laptop. Hearing Mob speak, his head poked up.
“Nice to meet you, Saiki! I’m Reigen Arataka, Greatest Psychic of the Twenty First Century!” Reigen was very expressive with his hands, and his enthusiasm was on par with Hairo’s. Still, he nodded his head in acknowledgment.
‘Woah, this kid looks a lot weirder than I thought. Quieter than Mob too.’ Reigen thought, which took Saiki aback. Usually, nobody would bat an eye at his appearance due to his mind control, so he wondered if that power didn’t - for some reason - have any effect here.
“He has ESP, do you think he could help out here?” Mob asked
‘Why don’t I have a say in this?’ Kusuo wondered in annoyance.
“Really? Can you see ghosts?”
“No, but I can do other things”
“Like what?”
“Telepathy, teleportation, x-ray vision, psychokinesis, pyrokinesis, invisibility, astral projection, et cetra et cetra. You get the idea”
“Seriously?! You have that many powers but you can’t see ghosts?” Reigen was surprised. All the espers he knew could see ghosts. Kusuo shrugged. “That’s weird. But you don’t know how to get back home? Where are you from?”
“Hidari Wakibara, S prefecture”
“Where’s that?” Reigen mumbled, “How did you get to Seasoning City anyway?”
“I teleported by accident”
“How do you teleport by accident?! Besides, can't you just teleport back?”
“Tried to. Didn’t work. My other powers seem to be fine though, so I don’t know what’s going on.” Kusuo admitted. He genuinely couldn’t figure out what was happening, and part of him was worried because of it.
“I have a spare room if you need a place to stay” Mob offered, “Mom and dad won’t mind, and I think that you’ll get along with my brother, Ritsu”
‘I highly doubt that’ He kept that thought to himself, and while Kusuo didn’t want to bother the younger psychic, he didn’t have any other option. It was this or the streets, and he’d rather have a roof over his head.
Either way, he needed time. Time to figure out what was happening and how to get back home. Because as it seemed right now, Kusuo Saiki was not in Kusuo Saiki’s world. That much was clear to him.
“Saiki has been gone for hours!” Toritsuka yelled, “What’re we gonna do?”. It had been three hours since Kusuo’s mysterious disappearance, and all of his friends had met up in a raman shop, trying to figure out what to do.
“Who knows? If Saiki could teleport he would’ve been back a few minutes after he disappeared. Basically, it seems like he’s stuck there, wherever ‘there’ is” Aiura stated. Only Aiura, Akechi and Toritsuka knew about Kusuo’s abilities, but nobody dared to ask what they meant by ‘teleporting’ and ‘powers’ at the moment.
“I checked by his house and his parents said he wasn’t at home” Hairo said, trembling a little.
“So nobody knows where he is?” Aren wondered, “He didn’t walk away or fall off the roof?”
“No! He just vanished! One moment he was there and the next he was gone!” Kaidou was trembling too, much more so than Hairo.
“You’re tellin’ me that he disappeared into thin air?” Aren, somewhat understandable, thought that Kaidou was bluffing.
“Yeah! Toritsuka, Nendou, Teruhashi and Akechi can back me up here!” He was yelling at this point, which caught the attention of some other customers. But none of them cared about that.
“It’s true” The four mentioned agreed
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Chiyo interrupted.
“Doubt they’ll believe us. Besides, I don’t think that the information we have is substantial enough.” Aren shrugged.
“But we should go and file a missing person report. I mean, he is missing, and we do know that much” Chiyo stated.
“I don’t know. We should wait until tomorrow to see if he’s at school. If he’s not, I think that would be the time to contact the police.” Toritsuka said.
Staying silent for a few minutes, they each pondered what was happening. Toritsuka has asked ghosts if they’ve seen the psychic, but none of them knew where he went. Nobody had seen him. Not even ghosts.
“Call me crazy but is it possible Saiki got trapped in another dimension?” Kaidou blurted out.
“You are crazy” Nendou laughed.
“Stop screwing around!” Hairo began to lecture Kaidou about how serious the situation was, “One of our friends is missing and-“
“Actually Hairo, he might have a point” Aiura mumbled.
“What do you mean?” The athlete questioned.
“Think about it. I can’t find him using my crystal ball. I can’t contact him. Nobody in the area has any idea where he went and he’s not back yet. It might be that he teleported into another dimension” Aiura explained.
“That’s a hell of a stretch.” Kuboyasu whispered
“Maybe. But at least we’ve reached some kind of conclusion” Toritsuka shrugged.
“What do you mean by ‘teleportation’ anyway? That isn’t possible is it?” Teruhashi asked. It was the question everyone else in the group was thinking. And neither of the three Psychickers knew how to answer.
“Why do you keep going on about powers and stuff?” Nendou wondered aloud.
“Answer the damn question!” Kuboyasu demanded
The Psychickers continued to stare at each other with a ‘Well I’m not explaining’ look. Until Akechi spoke up, that was.
“Kusuo has psychic powers”