Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After they were fake boyfriend and girlfriend for a week, and after they were “friends with benefits” for about a month, Saiki and Aiura became some other third thing. Saiki didn’t really care what that third thing was, as long as he got to hang out with her and kiss her. There was no agreement or rules needed, and, as far as Saiki was concerned, it was perfect...ly acceptable.

There was a small hiccup the day after Saiki admitted that he liked her. He had, as it were, given her something of a hickey, and when she showed up to school the next day, people took notice. The guys wondered what lucky dog managed to finally bag her. It made Saiki irritated, as the insinuation seemed to be that she should be an “easy target.” Meanwhile, the girls swarmed her and asked if she had a boyfriend.

“What? Like, no way!” she had protested. “I just, like, slipped in the shower. I hit my neck on a, um, shampoo bottle!” Her lie was rather weak and nobody believed it, but Saiki appreciated the effort anyway. And at least the first part was true. She did not, technically, have a boyfriend.

So, people made their various assumptions, but it didn’t draw too much attention as it seemed pretty in-character for her, what with her kind of romantic and flirty personality. The only issue was that the girls in class became amateur detectives. Bored with the minutiae of everyday life, the romantic prospects of a fellow classmate gave them something to think about at least. Saiki wasn’t too worried about being found out by them. As long as Akechi, that Sherlock Holmes-like childhood friend of his, didn’t become interested in the case, it was probably safe.

As Saiki lay in bed after a late-night visit to her house for some alone time, he found himself absent-mindedly clicking the pen that he had taken from her house all those weeks ago. It was covered in glitter and had her name written on it, and by now it was nearly running out of ink. Saiki used it at home for his school assignments. The ink had a decent flow, after all.

He replayed the evening’s events over in his head. The way that she seemed to just be waiting for him to show up. And how when he did, she practically jumped into his arms, tackling him onto her bed and covering his face, neck, and lips in eager kisses. The feeling of cuddling her after she fell asleep on his chest. He lamented that he couldn’t just stay there until the morning, but as his parents would probably notice that he had gone missing, he instead simply teleported back home without waking her up.

The only thing that really bothered him about their night together was her thoughts. Usually, Saiki didn’t mind them too much. Of all the people he knew, hers were some of the most straight-forward and simple. She was an honest person, so there wasn’t much discrepancy between what she felt and what she said. Whatever she thought about, she usually talked about. But there was one issue that kept coming up over and over again in her thoughts through the night. What are we? she wondered as he nibbled her neck. Are we exclusive? she considered as he smelled her hair (which was cotton candy scented, by the way). Should I call him my boyfriend? she thought as he licked her lips before diving into her mouth with his tongue.

Saiki’s good time hadn’t exactly been ruined by these incessant questions, but they certainly didn’t improve things. Saiki didn’t bring it up, though, because for one thing he was more concerned with what they were doing. But for another thing, he was pretty good at telling which of her thoughts were for him and which ones were supposed to be private, and these were supposed to be private. She wasn’t ready to talk about their relationship status and Saiki was more than fine with that.

See, the issue wasn’t that Saiki didn’t like her. Quite the opposite, actually. Saiki liked her a lot. And yeah, he did find himself feeling jealous when other half-wit guys tried to pick her up with terrible lines like, “Hey, you’re a fortune teller, right? So what’s your sign?” or “Are our auras aligned?” Aiura usually laughed them off or just rolled her eyes, but she still blushed like she secretly enjoyed it. And that didn’t exactly put a smile on Saiki’s face. But, he couldn’t be mad at her this way. If they weren’t technically boyfriend and girlfriend, then she had every right to entertain those guys and Saiki had no right to be upset. It was really better that way. No one’s feelings could get hurt, right?

At least that’s what Saiki told himself. He knew from his telepathy that it was totally unrealistic to expect fidelity from a romantic partner. Everyone in a relationship cheats. Everyone. It’s true, not everyone pursues a love affair with their co-worker. Not everyone steals kisses from their old friend while their girlfriend is just one room over. But everyone at least thinks about it. As far as Saiki was concerned, it was basically the same thing. If he didn’t make Aiura his girlfriend, then there was no expectation of exclusivity, and there could be no blame placed if she found herself with a wandering eye.

Even still, Saiki supposed he did sort of treat her like his girlfriend. He started secretly paying for her meals when she occasionally tagged along for ramen with the guys. To keep things undercover, she always had Yumehara, Teruhashi, and Mera join as well, making it seem more like a group outing. No one noticed that she somehow always wound up sitting next to Saiki. Well, Teruhashi did, but she was too proud to say anything. She was still, obviously, hung up on getting Saiki to say “Oh wow!” It was even funnier now. Her chances with Saiki were never great, but now they were basically zero. But she interpreted the invitation to eat as a sign that he was finally budging.

Aiura always returned the favor by buying Saiki sweets and keeping him well-supplied with coffee jellies. So it was a fairly even deal.

He had little trinkets of Aiura’s scattered around his room too. The movie poster that she had given him hung on the wall over his bed now. There was, of course, her pen. Then there was the coaster she made for him when she realized that he had given her his only one. It was kind of feminine looking, covered in pink gemstones that spelled out her name, but he didn’t mind. He just made sure to put it away in a desk drawer in case Kaidou, Nendou, or Kuboyasu came over.

Aiura was also now in possession of one of Saiki’s less conspicuous hoodies. They had been out on a walk together at 2 AM and the cool night air was chilling her skin. Saiki considered just changing the weather for her, but instead she asked for his jacket. Or rather, she thought, Wouldn’t it be totally romantic if he gave me his hoodie? Well, he didn’t need it. He could stand in a blizzard in just his underwear and his pyrokinesis would do the job for him just fine. So he handed it over without a word. She wore it often now, but since it was plain gray, no one recognized it as having been his. It was a good thing, too, since his mom made so many of his clothes and her designs were always… noticeable. He liked the way she looked in it, in those brief moments he could see her before his x-ray vision bore through her clothes and her skin. The hoodie was a little big on her, the sleeves just a little too long. But it suited her, somehow.

Oh well, Saiki thought as he considered all these things. She’s still happy and I’m… fine. So there’s no point in changing anything. And finally, he dozed off.

Hey, baby, Aiura thought to him in class the next day.

“Don’t call me baby,” Saiki replied, keeping his head down, focused on his note-taking. It was an act, of course. He could well remember lectures on his own and, aside from that, reading minds made the work unnecessary. But he had to keep up appearances as a normal, boring guy. “But what do you want?” he asked.

He could just hear through her thoughts that she was smirking. I wish I could, like, kiss you right now, she said.

Saiki glanced back so quickly that to the naked eye, it would seem that he hadn’t moved at all. He saw that Aiura was doodling hearts on her notebook and twirling her hair. “Pay attention in class,” Saiki replied, not admitting that the feeling was actually very mutual.

Hmm… she thought. Wouldn’t it be hella nice to touch me whenever you wanted?

Yes, he thought. But life doesn’t work that way. He didn’t answer her, but he considered that maybe if he could sneak a kiss between classes, he could get her to stop distracting him so much. And perhaps more importantly, that could get her to focus on her studies for once. Her grades were pretty rough these days. Well, they were always rough, now they were abysmal.

“Meet me on the roof when class is over,” Saiki said.

He heard Aiura scoff quietly behind him. He also heard the teacher’s thoughts hone in on the sound as she assumed a student was being disrespectful. She couldn’t pinpoint who, though, so she just continued her lecture. I knew I could get him bothered… Aiura thought rather smugly.

You have no idea, Saiki thought, almost rolling his eyes. Bothered, but not in the way you think.

Nendou, Kaidou, Hairo, and Kuboyasu all made to encircle Saiki’s desk between classes, as usual, but Saiki pivoted before they had the chance. “Bathroom,” he said in his usual, short way, before breezing out the door with a sort of urgency.

“He must really need to take a dump,” Nendou remarked as Saiki power-walked down the hallway. He entered the bathroom, chose a stall, and then, ensuring the coast was clear, teleported to the roof to wait for Aiura. He listened to her thoughts as she made one of her now familiar excuses of needing to get fresh air after a particularly foreboding premonition.

“Hurry up,” Saiki told her as she wound her way up the staircase.

Sorry, we can’t all teleport, Aiura complained back.

She finally pushed through the door to the roof and Saiki, using telekinesis, pulled her to him instantly. He gripped her arms and kissed her fast.

“Oof!” she said as his lips crashed onto her.

“There, do you feel better now?” he asked as he pulled away.

“Geez, kinda hasty, don’t you think?” she said.

Ungrateful, Saiki thought as he pulled her in again for another kiss, more slowly now. Aiura melted a little as she leaned into him.

I am feeling better, she thought as she slid her hand down to Saiki’s butt for a squeeze.

He caught her hand before it got there, though. “That’s a bit much for school,” he said.

Fine then. I guess we’ll have to pick this back up again later, hm? Aiura suggested.

Their lips parted again and Saiki nodded. “But only if you actually focus for the rest of the day.”

Aiura groaned. “Focus? There’s, like, no way I’ll be able to think about anything else!”

Saiki frowned as though he were disappointed. But he made the rules. He couldn’t reward her if she didn’t follow them now. “Please try,” he said.

“Okay,” she said, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll do my best, baby.”

She ignored the scowl on his face, as she practically skipped back to the door, then made her way back down the stairs. Saiki listened to make sure there was no suspicion, and of course there wasn’t, so he teleported back to his stall, gave the toilet a token flush, washed his hands, and went back to class.

At the end of the day, Aiura’s efforts were not that fruitful. She only managed to take down approximately four sentences of notes at a time before her thoughts drifted back to Saiki. But she had tried, so Saiki decided to go easy on her and go visit her after dinner.

She was reclining in her bed when he showed up. She had changed out of her school clothes and into something a bit more her style. A rather short skirt, despite the cool weather, tall socks, and a kind of gauzy tank top with a slouchy cardigan thrown over it.

“I made you a smoothie,” she said casually, gesturing to a cup with a metal straw on her bedazzled “Kusuo” coaster. She had her own in her hand and was giving it a rather seductive looking sip. Or else, Saiki supposed that’s what she was going for, with her tongue flicking out to catch a drop from the end of her straw.

Saiki liked smoothies though, so he pulled the cup off of her desk and started to drink it. “Thanks,” he said, slouching beside her on the bed.

“No prob, baby,” she said with a wink.

“Why do you have to annoy me?” Saiki said.

“Maybe the better question is, like, why are you so easily annoyed?” She leaned over and kissed him on his cheek, right beside his ear.

Saiki just grimaced without an answer.

“I’m sorry, it’s just hard not to call you baby,” she said with a shrug. “You’re, like, hella cute!”

Saiki again didn’t say a word. He wasn’t really used to compliments like that. At least, not spoken out loud from someone other than his mom.

Hm, Aiura thought. He never really calls me cute.

Saiki leaned over and kissed her back on her temple. He was too embarrassed to call her cute, so he figured the kiss would be good enough.

She smiled. Well, maybe he thinks it, anyway. “So you don’t like ‘baby.’ What do you want to be called instead?” She scooched over until their thighs were touching.

“My name is fine,” he said with his usual deadpan voice and stoic expression.

Aiura just laughed as she jostled him with her shoulder. “Okay, Kusuo.”

Saiki pulled her with one arm onto his lap and floated his smoothie back onto the “Kusuo” coaster. Aiura finished her drink quickly now and set her empty cup on the floor.

“You didn’t really focus at school today,” Saiki said.

Aiura shifted her body to face him. “I really did try though!” she said, giving him big sad eyes, which really wouldn’t do her any good.

Saiki blinked, unimpressed.

“Please, Kusuo?” she begged, shimmying her shoulders in a sort of pouty way.

He smiled minutely at the sound of her whining his name. “Fine,” he said.

Aiura smiled as she took his mouth in a kiss. She pushed him down onto her bed. You be on top, she requested wordlessly.

Saiki flipped over, holding himself up with his hands above her, positioning himself between her knees. Her hair was wild on the pillow under her. She narrowed her eyes with a smirk. I’m gonna squeeze your butt, she thought, by way of warning.

Saiki sighed and closed his eyes. “Go ahead,” he said flatly.

Aiura pinched him and gave his cheeks a squeeze. Your butt’s, like, so little, she teased.

Saiki felt himself wanting to roll his eyes even though he had them closed. She was getting a lot of enjoyment out of this.

Her hands left his backside and made their way up to his face. She pulled him down to kiss her again. As much as she pestered him, he couldn’t help but enjoy this. Her hands ran all over his back now as he returned the kiss. After a moment, his lips left hers and made their way to her earlobe, which earned him a sharp gasp. “Kusuo,” she whispered, even though they were the only two in the house. Her parents were out at the store together. She could, in theory, be as loud as she wanted. But Saiki liked the sound of his name on a breathy voice.

He read her thoughts and they directed him to kiss down her neck, across her shoulder. Her face was getting red as she was enjoying the feeling of every adjustment he made over her. He wasn’t intentionally rubbing up against her, but he wasn’t really trying to avoid it either. She liked it, anyway.

My stomach… she thought vaguely. She wasn’t very coherent anymore, which was more fun for Saiki. He followed this direction, though, his face hovering just along the hem of her pants before he gently lifted her shirt with his finger tips. He pressed his lips onto her smooth but soft stomach.

“Kusuo,” she whispered again. “Mmm…”

He smiled as he kissed her a few more times before he relented. She was getting sort of worked up now and it wasn’t fair to leave her that way for too long.

“Aww, why’d you stop?” she pouted as he pulled away and shifted to lay next to her. She rolled onto her side. She tried to touch his face, but her hand was sort of shaking now.

“I need a break,” he lied. He folded his hands over his chest like a corpse. In truth, he would have been more than happy to continue. He considered that at least ninety eight percent of guys would not have stopped there, but he was content to leave it at that for now.

“You’re such a tease,” Aiura complained with a huff, flopping back down on her pillow. “I’ll never be able to do my homework now.”

“Take a cold shower like the rest of the world and suck it up,” Saiki advised.

Aiura groaned at him and threw her hands over her face. Would he have kept going if he were my boyfriend?

Saiki sighed, pretending he didn’t hear that. “I’ll leave you to it.”

She pulled her hands down from her face. “Bye, baby,” she said with a goofy expression, wanting to get the last word.

Saiki figured that she deserved to bother him now, as he had certainly bothered her. So he disintegrated from her room without any further discussion.

Chapter Text

Saiki decided that sneaking kisses throughout the school day was probably the best way to retain both his and Aiura’s sanity. If she had a constant stream of physical affection throughout the day, maybe she wouldn’t yearn so much and would stop filling Saiki’s brain with her thirsty thoughts. And then she could get better grades, which Saiki felt a little guilty about having dropped recently. It was kind of his fault. She often shirked responsibility in favor of having him over to make out. And she couldn’t do her homework in five seconds like Saiki could. Of course, he could let her cheat off of him, but that wouldn’t be right. And aside from that, cheating off Saiki wouldn’t help her grades much, as his grades were all kind of average. He could also do his homework with her to ensure it got done, but he likewise didn’t want to spend their time together doing that. It was a real predicament.

Saiki used his clairvoyance to find her alone in the hallways, then would show up miraculously and press her into the lockers or into the wall for a kiss. He would show up to class early and put the thought in her mind to show up early too. He would sit on the desk, pull her close to him, and give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He found himself treating it like a strategy game. He was using stealth, with great results. Aiura seemed to like it too and it worked well for getting her mind off of him during class. She would slink around the school, wondering when he might pounce next. But then when she sat down in lecture, she was able to focus, knowing that the game would pick up again soon enough.

It was all fine, except that she started to wonder when he might do something other than just kiss her and touch her. He’s a really good kisser now, but… There’s got to be more to this, right? she pondered one day as Saiki materialized in front of her for a quick embrace.

She kissed his cheek rather dispassionately and then continued on her way.

Weird, Saiki thought. Is she already bored of me? Well… I suppose it was only a matter of time. He did a quick likability check and found that his score had actually moved up slightly since the last time he looked. So no, she still liked him. Saiki supposed her increased affection for him may account for her desire for “more.” But what that “more” was, Saiki wasn’t sure. Of course there was the obvious answer: sex. But Saiki knew from plenty of teen dramas that sex doesn’t always make you feel closer to your crush. Many times, it has the opposite effect. Oh well, I’ve got ESP. I’ll figure it out.

Saiki and Aiura managed to slip out the front gate of the school before anyone else that day and met up at a street corner to walk to a cafe together. “Your grades are getting better,” Saiki remarked after a moment of walking in silence.

“Hm?” Aiura said. “Oh, yeah. I’ve been managing to keep my head out of the clouds, I guess.” She sounded kind of bummed out. I miss my head being in the clouds, though.

Saiki felt his frown increasing its downward bend. He figured she would be happy. Most kids wanted good grades. Even dumb kids like Nendou wanted them. “I’m… proud of you,” Saiki said hesitantly. It was true, he was proud, in a sense, but he wasn’t used to saying those kinds of things to anyone.

She seemed to perk up a little bit at that. Wow, he almost never says anything nice to me, she thought. “Thanks, Kusuo!” Her voice was back to its usual chirpy tone.

They passed by an accessory shop right by their usual cafe. Oh, they still have it, she thought as she glanced in the window. She was noticing this kind of ornate hair clip. It was a little gaudy, but Saiki didn’t really have any room to question people’s fashion sense, as his mother bought and made all of his clothes. It had crystals on it in the shape of a moon. It was clearly not made of fine jewels, but it was antique and cost about 8,000 yen, which was too much for Aiura to justify spending on a barrette. Saiki agreed with that judgement, but didn’t acknowledge it. These were thoughts that she wanted to keep to herself, though she thought them every time they passed the store.

They went inside the cafe, one which their classmates didn’t frequent, chose a seat where Aiura sat next to him, and ordered their snacks and coffees. Saiki ordered coffee jelly, of course, and Aiura got a little cake. She leaned against his shoulder. “We go out for sweets so much, I think I’m going to gain weight!” she mock-complained.

Saiki just shrugged.

“Would you still kiss me if I did get fat?” Aiura asked, only half-joking.

“I don’t care what you look like,” Saiki said, figuring it would be a safe answer.

“Oh,” Aiura said, clearly not pleased with the reply.

Dammit, Saiki cursed to himself. This is why I can’t be her boyfriend. I don’t know the answers to these questions.

Aiura sighed as she sat up. She didn’t seem as interested in the cuddle anymore.

I could ask her what’s bothering her, but then that would mean a troublesome conversation, he considered. I’ll just read her mind, then, and figure it out.

Aiura looked out the window and just started thinking about the stupid hairclip again, which wasn’t really helpful.

“I do care what you look like,” Saiki tried. She didn’t like when he said the opposite, maybe this would work?

She looked at him with a puzzled expression. So which is it? she thought.

Saiki looked away. “Nevermind,” he said as the waitress put their desserts in front of them.

They ate in a sort of awkward silence as Saiki considered her thoughts from before. More. She wants “more.” Not just touching. Saiki stroked his chin thoughtfully as Aiura paid their tab.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

Saiki nodded as they walked out of the cafe. He took her hand as they made their way through alleyways that led to her house. She spent the walk thinking about her schoolwork, remembering that Saiki said he was proud of her for improving her grades. She almost smiled at the memory. They reached her gate and Saiki could see that her parents weren’t home from work yet. “Do you want me to come in?” he asked.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve got homework,” Aiura said, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek. “See you tomorrow?”

Saiki nodded before teleporting home to his bed. What’s her problem? he wondered as he stared at his ceiling and picked up that glittery pen to click again.

His mother noticed he was in his room and popped her head in. “Ku! When did you get home? And why do you look so sour?”

Saiki tucked the pen into his pocket before his mom could see it. “No special reason,” he said.

“Oh, Ku, are your friends being mean to you?” she asked, sitting beside him on the bed. “I know you can be kind of difficult to get along with, but that doesn’t make it okay for them to bully you.”

I’m not getting bullied, Saiki thought, turning away from her. And if I were, I think I could stand up for myself. “I’m fine,” he said.

She patted his head. “Well, I’m going to go iron your dad’s shirts for work for the rest of the week,” she said.

“Good grief. He’s a grown man, can’t he iron his own clothes?” Saiki wondered, thinking his usual bitter thoughts toward his father who more often treated him like a taxi service instead of a son.

“Of course Papa can iron his shirts,” Kurumi said with a laugh. “I do things for him because I love him and it makes him feel nice. You’re always doing nice things for people, Ku, so you understand.”

Saiki sat up. More, he thought. I should do more for her. Then she won’t be so weird to me. Not that I really care that much, but still.

The next day at school, Saiki started his campaign of doing more for Aiura. Of course, he didn’t want to be too obvious, so it was mostly small things. Like he used his telekinesis to pull her chair out for her every time she was about to sit down. She was the only one who noticed her chair moving on its own. She gave Saiki a look and thought, What are you doing?

Saiki just shrugged as a response. She seemed surprised, so he took it as a good thing.

In the library, she couldn’t quite reach a book on the top shelf that she needed for her research project, so Saiki levitated it down into her hands while no one was looking.

She cocked an eyebrow. Thanks? she thought.

Saiki re-tied her shoe during gym class, heated her lunch up with pyrokinesis, and swept the eraser shavings from her paper whenever she made a mistake.

Geez, Kusuo. You gonna chew my food for me too? Aiura thought after her shoe locker popped open for her at the end of the day. She didn’t need to see Saiki, who was standing at his own locker a few rows away, to know it was him.

She seems more irritated than before, Saiki thought as he took his shoes out.

What’s with all this? she thought as she swapped her shoes and started walking to the gate. I, like, thought he didn’t want me to abuse his powers, and here he is doing every little frickin' thing for me. Totally bizarre.

Good grief, so doing her favors doesn’t seem to do it for her… Saiki considered as she walked out of the school alone, not even bothering to make plans with him. Well what “more” is there? Touching and favors…

Saiki walked home with Kaidou and Nendou, silent as ever. Kaidou and Nendou were talking about how that weekend they should play VR at Nendou’s house and Saiki got invited. Maybe he and Aiura needed to spend a little time apart, Saiki thought bitterly, so he agreed to come along. It didn’t really matter if he agreed or not anyway. He always wound up hanging out even if he didn’t want to. “And of course Aren will be invited,” Kaidou said. “Should we call Hairo too?”

“Hell yeah. The more the merrier, right buddy?” Nendou agreed as he elbowed Saiki in his side.

Saiki didn’t usually feel that way, but what was the point in arguing?

So Saiki spent the night alone and the next afternoon went over to Nendou’s place.

Midori, his mother, quite graciously gave them snacks, including coffee jelly. “Riki says you’re crazy for this stuff,” she said as she set the tray in front of him.

You’re a wonderful family, Saiki thought as he dove into the package in front of him.

“It’s a shame all you boys spend all your time together like this, though,” she said, observing the five guys in the room. “Don’t any of you have a girlfriend?”

“Aw, mom, you know that it’s bros first, right guys?” Nendou said, looking to Kuboyasu and Kaidou in particular. Hairo was in the VR headset, swinging the remote around vigorously and working up a sweat, too in the zone for the conversation at hand.

Kaidou just laughed nervously and while Kuboyasu chuckled knowingly. “Believe me, Mrs. Nendou, if I wanted a girlfriend, I would have one,” he said, as though that were a cool thing to say.

Saiki didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that Nendou’s mom took that the wrong way, assuming that Kuboyasu was more interested in boys. “Well, whatever makes you happy,” she said awkwardly before leaving the room.

“What’s your mom’s deal?” Kuboyasu asked Nendou as he dodged one of Hairo’s flying fists. Hairo was working his way toward a high score.

“My mom’s always been kind of a romantic,” Nendou said with a dreamy look on his face.

“Your mom’s single,” Kaidou said matter-of-factly.

Nendou scoffed. “Obviously. No man’s good enough for her.”

Kaidou, Kuboyasu, and Saiki’s faces fell.

“Er… Right,” Kuboyasu said eventually.

“She likes a man who will really woo her, you know?” Nendou said, laying back on the floor, which was covered in dirty laundry. “She just hasn’t found a man who knows the power of words.”

Kaidou and Kuboyasu exchanged a look.

My mom always said “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all…” Kaidou thought.

I bet no one has the words to describe exactly how they feel about that broad, Kuboyasu thought.

Ah, words, Saiki realized after a moment. Maybe that’s what was bothering Aiura. He never really complimented her. That must explain why she got so excited over me telling her I was proud of her…

“And my mom likes a man who provides. That’s why I’m going to be a president of a company, so I can take good care of my old lady and buy her anything she wants,” Nendou continued.

Quit giving me good ideas, Saiki thought, shocked at Nendou’s sudden usefulness. Him being such a momma’s boy was something that Saiki definitely couldn’t relate to, but the commentary on buying presents and saying nice things should probably apply to girls just as well as parents.

At that moment, Hairo let out of one his passionate shouts. “I died!?” He tugged the VR headset off and looked at the leaderboard on the TV screen.

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Nendou remarked. “You almost beat my score!”

Hairo collapsed on the floor as a single tear slid down his cheek.

That night, Saiki walked home the long way, passing by that accessory shop again. He pulled his wallet out and counted his bills with a sigh. Good grief. Not even close, he said to himself with a huff. Then he went home, and what do you know? 100 yen man paid a visit to the Saiki residence. About fifty menial tasks later, Saiki had 8,000 yen in his wallet.

The next afternoon Saiki went into that little accessory shop and when he came out he had nothing in his wallet and a tacky little moon hair clip in a red velvet box. “Must be for a special lady,” the store clerk had said as he handed Saiki his purchase. Saiki just grunted in response.

He made it to Aiura’s house and saw her parents were home and that she was in her room, having just gotten home herself from her part-time, fortune-telling job, listening to music with some headphones on. She probably wouldn’t mind a visitor, so Saiki checked to make sure no one was around and teleported into her room.

She had her eyes closed, bobbing her head to the music that Saiki could just hear coming from her headphones.

“Hello,” he said, jarring her only slightly as she pulled the headphones down, as if Saiki needed her to do that for her to hear him. One of those blessing/curse situations. With a psychic boyfriend, you can’t just ignore them by putting in earbuds, but then if you’re at a loud concert or something, you can always talk without having to shout.

“Hey, Kusuo,” she said kind of plainly. Wonder what he’s doing here?

Saiki scrunched his eyebrows up. She really shouldn’t have been surprised to see him, as he teleported into her room plenty of times before. She’s really gotten lukewarm, Saiki thought. Figuring that there would never be a perfect moment to show her why he came, he just held the little jewelry box out to her without a word.

“What is that?” she asked, finally standing up. She took it and opened the case to see that stupid, over-priced moon barrette that she had been eyeing for weeks. “Oh my gosh, seriously?” she exclaimed, pulling it from the box. Of course he knew I wanted this! “This was way too expensive!” She gave Saiki a half-hearted kind of scolding expression. The smile on her lips was giving her away.

“You deserve it,” Saiki said. “Your grades have been getting better.”

Aiura’s smile faltered slightly. “Thank you,” she said as she clipped it onto her bangs underneath her Virgo barrette. She went to assess herself in the mirror. So it’s just a reward for doing better at school? My parents did the same thing. Saiki learned that the dress she was wearing had been a gift too.

He sighed, not wanting his gift to be lumped in with her parents’. “I also bought it because I thought it would look… pretty on you,” he said begrudgingly, with his arms folded over his chest.

Aiura whipped around. “Like, really?”

Saiki gave her a nod. “You look… pretty.”

Aiura’s smile spread over her face. “Oh, I can’t believe it!” she cheered as she jumped onto Saiki for a hug. I was beginning to think he didn’t really like me back after all.

Good grief, so that’s why she’s been so weird, Saiki thought. I guess she prefers gifts and compliments to favors and touching. Why is it never something easy?

Saiki’s complaints were hushed when she planted a kiss on him and guided his hands to her body. He supposed that she still liked touching after all.

Chapter Text

After Saiki realized that there was more to Aiura than just touching and getting desserts together after school, her mood improved significantly, as well as her thoughts toward Saiki. It was difficult for him, but he realized that for the cost of just one or two compliments a day, he wouldn’t have to worry about Aiura being cold to him anymore. I guess this is the give and take people always talk about, Saiki considered after he complimented her choice in shoes and she returned it with a kiss.

But now there was another issue. Aiura had once explained to Saiki that luck comes in waves. She never used her powers to do things like win the lottery or whatever because that type of good luck would be quickly counteracted by some bad luck. That must have been a difficult lesson to learn, but it was really ingrained into how she behaved. That is why she was now kind of paranoid. Getting Saiki to admit he likes me… and having him tell me that I’m like hella pretty and cool… It’s too much good luck. I’m due for something horrible to happen to me! she thought as she sat in class. And she thought things like this constantly. A new damper put on Saiki’s good time, not that he entirely trusted the validity of her concerns.

So Aiura was always looking over her shoulder, but Saiki was basically always there. So yeah, she may have almost got splashed by a car driving through a puddle on her way to school, but Saiki saw that coming and blocked it from hitting her. He got wet instead, but that wasn’t really an issue as he had about 4 different powers that could dry him off instantly.

It was also true that Aiura nearly got placed into a study group with Nendou and Takahashi, which would have been tragic for so many reasons, but Saiki was able to move the slip of paper with her name on it from the teacher’s hand. Instead, Hairo ended up with them, which was a decent turn out as his general enthusiasm would still manage to get them a decent grade on the project. And instead, Aiura ended up with Saiki and Kaidou, which was a best-case scenario for her, grade-wise, as long as she could stay on task. It was difficult not to use this group project as an excuse to hang out with Aiura, but Saiki kept them in line for the sake of her academic pursuits.

(Incidentally, Kuboyasu ended up with Saiko and Teruhashi, which was a rather funny group. As much as Kuboyasu felt a rivalry with Saiko, he felt compelled to be on his best behavior in front of that “perfect pretty girl.” Saiki would be monitoring the situation, of course, just in case. Teruhashi lamented that she didn’t wind up with Saiki, and usually her favor from the heavens would have ensured that she did, but this was a simple name-out-of-a-hat problem, so Saiki was able to easily intervene.)

Aiura avoided bad luck again and again as Saiki was able to deflect bird poop from falling on her head, keep her ice cream from dripping onto her shirt, and even catch a bowl of ramen that was sliding off the waitress’s tray and onto her lap. Even though Saiki was still doubtful of the reasons for her new magnetism for danger, he couldn’t deny that it was practically a full time job to keep bad things from happening to her.

This really didn’t help Aiura’s suspicions, however, as she interpreted every avoidance of an accident as more good luck, which just meant that when her bad luck did finally come, it would really destroy her.

It’s only a matter of time before I see a frickin’ death mark on my face! she thought as they got their grade back on the group project. Kaidou had, in all fairness, done most of the heavy-lifting, but that just meant that their grade was excellent. This is the nail in the frickin’ coffin for me.

Not on my watch, Saiki thought, looking at his own grade slip. It was probably the best grade he had ever gotten on a project, which would make any normal kid happy. He considered for a moment how poorly he would need to do on his next test to make up for how much the group project would pull him up. He had to maintain equilibrium for the sake of his mediocrity, after all. But that concern was secondary to preventing Aiura’s untimely end.

The morning after they received their grade back on their project, Aiura indeed woke up with a death mark on her face. Saiki found that out pretty quickly as he was now in the habit of checking in on her with his clairvoyance each morning, just in case. He pulled his uniform on and teleported to her room.

She no longer flinched when he showed up out of nowhere. “I’ve got the death mark,” she said sadly, touching her face in the mirror. “Well, it’s, like, been nice knowing you.” She turned from the mirror dramatically and collapsed into Saiki’s arms. He kind of half-heartedly patted her head to comfort her.

She ought to know that the death mark isn’t absolute, Saiki thought. But of course, I’ll walk with her to make sure it’s not.

On their way to school, Saiki was on high alert. Any potential threat to Aiura was deterred immediately. A man walking a rather large, aggressive dog suddenly decided to change course (thanks to Saiki’s mind-control ability) and walk down a different street, avoiding a potential attack. A patch of oil on the road was slicked away before any motorcycle could skid across it and knock Aiura off her feet. But every intervention that Saiki attempted didn’t seem to make that death mark budge. Aiura kept checking her compact mirror and shaking her head sadly. “I’ve had a good life,” she said as they reached the school gate, hanging her head.

“You’re not dead yet,” Saiki told her strictly. “Don’t give up.” But just in case, this could be our final moments together… He checked around and no one else had shown up to the school yet. Of course, Matsuzaki was there, but he was inside in his office, so the coast was clear. Saiki tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face up to look at him and then he kissed her rather passionately, pulling her by the waist into his body and slipping his tongue into her mouth briefly, getting a taste of the toothpaste still present on her breath.

He could feel her pace had quickened as he pulled away with a smack. “I love you,” she said immediately, in the way that someone says it when they don’t know if they’ll ever see you again. She meant it though. She really, really meant it.

Saiki just nodded in response, unable to say anything else, then went inside the school.

Throughout the day, Saiki stayed vigilant. Just within the first hour of the day, he managed to prevent a fire from breaking out in the science lab, (which was a good thing no matter what considering his classmates had proven too stupid to know how to exit the building in that exact circumstance in the past).

“Hey buddy, you seem more tense than usual,” Nendou remarked after their first class period. “Something bugging you?”

At the moment, it’s you, Saiki thought, hunching into his desk defensively.

“Ah, leave him alone,” Kuboyasu interjected, sliding across a desk to join the conversation. “A man’s worries are his own business.” That’s what my old leader used to say.

Saiki gave Kuboyasu an affirming nod.

Kaidou just snickered as he approached. I know what Saiki’s feeling. I too felt a disturbance in the atmosphere this morning. Obviously, the work of Dark Reunion has disrupted the peace of this mortal plane. Only those sensitive to the spiritual forces at work in the world, like me the Jet Black Wings…

So is it a mortal problem or spiritual problem? Saiki wondered. Whatever, as long as Mikoto’s safe…

On that note Saiki checked with his clairvoyance to see what Aiura was doing on her break since she had stepped out of the classroom. Normal stuff. She was just heading to the bathroom. Saiki figured she could handle that much on her own, so he went back to ignoring the conversation at hand.

“Are we that boring to you that you have to make stupid faces like that?” Kuboyasu yelled, shaking Saiki’s shoulders as he uncrossed his eyes.

“Tch. Saiki’s obviously summoning a great power whenever he does that. Right, Saiki?” Kaidou said.

Saiki nodded, knowing that everyone would just think he was indulging Kaidou’s delusions, even though he was technically correct.

The conversation quickly moved on as Nendou was mostly oblivious to Kaidou’s ravings and Kuboyasu never even seemed to acknowledge them. The break would soon be over, so Saiki wouldn’t have to ignore these idiots much longer. But, hm, Saiki thought. Mikoto’s been gone a while.

He listened into voices in the hallway. It didn’t take much probing around to figure out what had happened to her. On her way back to the classroom, she had been conscripted by another teacher into running an errand, tasked with carrying a box of scalpels down to the biology lab for dissection day.

Dammit, Saiki cursed, leaping from his seat, sensing that this very errand could be the source of Aiura’s death mark.

“Whoa, buddy, whassamatter?” Nendou asked as Saiki bolted out of the classroom door.

He’s been darting out of the classroom like that a lot lately, Kaidou mused. Wonder if I should tail him?

“Ah, Saiki’s allowed to leave without telling us where he’s going,” Kuboyasu said. Though it is really freaking weird.

Saiki gave Kuboyasu his silent thanks as he flung the stairwell door open. He found Aiura about to trip down the steps and impale herself with about a hundred medical instruments. Being the only two there, Saiki caught Aiura in his arms and each scalpel midair with his telekinesis.

“I can’t believe you agreed to do this favor knowing about your death mark,” Saiki remarked, setting Aiura back on her feet and carefully floating each knife back into the box.

“I, like, didn’t know the box was full of knives!” Aiura exclaimed, catching her breath, watching as each one hovered in the air. “If I had known that I woulda said like, no way!” We don’t all have X-ray vision like you.

“Well… Is your death mark gone?” Saiki asked, flicking the last scalpel into the box.

She pulled out her compact mirror from her pocket and smiled with a sigh. “I’m good now.”

Saiki smiled.

She tucked the mirror back. “Well, I guess I don’t need to worry about luck with you around, huh?” she said, pulling him in for a quick kiss. Her confidence was flimsy, though. But I still haven’t had something bad happen to me to balance out the good luck of Saiki liking me.

Saiki scoffed. “Luck didn’t have anything to do with it,” he said, picking up the box and taking it down the stairs.

“Huh?” Aiura said, not catching on that he was responding to her thoughts. She had never really told Saiki her theory out loud.

“You’ll be fine. Me liking you isn’t good luck.”

She seemed to be caught off-guard, as though she had forgotten that he could read her mind all this time, but she recovered. “Um. Yes it is,” she said, following him down the stairs. It was still her errand, after all.

“It’s not lucky for a girl like you to have a guy like me with her. At best it’s neutral. You actually deserve better. All those near misses before must have just been coincidental.” He wasn’t being particularly lovey-dovey or anything saying that. It was simply a statement of fact.

But still, he could practically hear her heart thudding at his words, her thoughts not coherent sentences, but more a general vibe of flustered affection. When he reached the bottom of the staircase, she wrenched the box from his hands and dropped it to the floor. She jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist and pressed her lips onto him as he held her there.

Wasn’t really expecting this reaction, Saiki thought as she arched into him. But okay. He kissed her back, slipping his hands under the back of her sweater to touch her bare skin.

Before things could get too exciting, the door at the top of the stairwell began to creak open. “Buddy?!” Nendou called as Saiki phased away from her. He must have been sent to look for them, as class was about to start now.

Damn you, Nendou, Saiki thought, adjusting his jacket. Aiura smoothed her skirt and picked up the box again.

“There you are!” Nendou shouted down the stairs, finally noticing them. “What are you doing, buddy?”

Saiki gestured to Aiura who made a show of struggling with the box.

“He’s like, helping me with this box. I have to take it to the biology lab,” Aiura said, shifting it in her hands.

Nendou soared down the stairs. “Looks heavy,” he said. “I better carry it. I’m pretty strong. You two can go back to class.”

“Thanks!” Aiura said, gladly handing the box over without any protest. “We’ll tell the teacher where you went!”

“No problem, guys!” Nendou went out the door and made his way to the science hallway as Aiura took Saiki’s hand to walk back to class. Since everyone was back in the classrooms now, it was pretty safe to engage in a little PDA. Saiki found himself wishing they could do this all the time. If only having a girlfriend wouldn’t draw attention, then they could just make it official and not be so worried about keeping everything secretive. Aiura was too busy being grateful for the ability to draw breath to think about their relationship status at a time like this, even though normally it was something she was pretty concerned with.

“I’m, like, totally glad I didn’t die today,” Aiura said just before they got back to their classroom.

“Me too,” Saiki said, dropping her hand and sliding the door open for her. He watched as she walked into class naturally and began to explain where they had been. He struggled not to smile at the way she threw a peace sign to the teacher. More than I can say.

Chapter Text

Aiura survived her bad luck streak with Saiki’s help, but Saiki’s bad luck seemed to just be beginning, thanks to a surprise visit by his masochistic, evil older brother.

It was a Friday night. Kaidou had plans with Kuboyasu again, and the two of them were quite glad that Nendou had a “date” for tennis with Hairo. Nendou wasn’t a huge fan of the sport, but Hairo promised that if they played their hearts out, that he would treat Nendou to ramen, which was an easy sell.

As they were leaving school Kaidou apologized to Saiki that he would be spending his weekend alone, but Kuboyasu interjected, trying to avoid extending an invitation, to say that Saiki liked his alone time and probably wasn’t bothered. Saiki assured Kaidou that he wasn’t offended with a nod, and Kuboyasu was relieved. The two boys liked to spend time alone with each other, it seemed, and Saiki was more than happy not to intrude on that.

Meanwhile, Aiura was free too. Yumehara and Teruhashi were going to go shopping and Aiura claimed not to have any money. It was pretty much true. In spite of her part time job, Aiura found herself broke most of the time because of all the dessert shop trips with Saiki. Mera obviously had to work. But Aiura didn’t seem to mind staying in on a Friday night.

Once in his room, Saiki had changed into his comfortable clothes and immediately teleported Aiura there. Of course, he had to exchange something for her, and since she was wearing her school uniform still, he just sent his clothes (including a few extra pieces so Aiura’s accessories would come too) to her place. Apporting is a strange science. Even though Aiura was definitely worth something to Saiki, only her clothes counted for the trade.

Aiura let out an “eep!” as Saiki caught her. He held a finger to his lips to silence her.

“Ku! I’m going to meet your dad at the office dinner party!” his mom called up the stairs.

“Bye,” he told her.

Aiura and Saiki listened as the door closed and his mother was gone.

“We’re alone?” Aiura asked.

Saiki nodded.

Aiura looked down at herself. She was wearing her school uniform, of course. “I wish I could have changed.” Maybe Kusuo will let me wear something of his?

Saiki sighed. “I’m not giving you any more of my clothes,” he said. She already had his gray hoodie, and recently she managed to steal one of his t-shirts to sleep in. Things were getting out of hand.

Aiura just shrugged. Oh well. Guess I’ll just have school germs on me all night.

Saiki frowned as he grabbed an oversized sweatshirt from his closet and threw it at her. “Fine,” he grumbled. He turned his back to her as she changed, as though she really would have cared if he watched. When he turned back around, she was tugging the hem of it to cover her butt. She looked really cozy and Saiki couldn’t help but smile even though he would no doubt lose that sweater to her forever. “Well, it looks good on you anyway.”

Aiura still blushed whenever Saiki complimented her, even though he had been getting better at it. It was becoming more natural for him to say little things to her that he would never admit before, like that she was pretty or special or whatever. “Thanks, baby,” she said.

“Good grief. I thought we talked about that,” Saiki said, collapsing back on his bed.

Aiura walked toward him. “Oops, I guess it just, like, slipped out.”

Saiki narrowed his eyes at her as she stood between his knees which were hanging over the edge of his mattress. “Do I have to punish you?” he joked in his usual deadpan way.

Aiura nodded.

Saiki grabbed her hands and pulled her down on top of him. He pinched the back of her thigh as gently as he could. She just laughed. “That tickles,” she said, wiggling a little on top of him. “Not much of a punishment, huh?” He ran his fingers along her legs, then back up to her upper thighs and grabbed them in a way that made her squirm. “Ah! That, like, really tickles!”

So her legs are ticklish? Saiki observed as he continued with his torture. She tried to wrench free, but even still, she was enjoying this. As she continued wiggling, Saiki peppered gentle kisses on her neck, which caused even more shivering sensations to tingle down her spine.

Over Aiura’s laughter and squeals, neither of them heard the sound of the door opening downstairs or the soft footsteps approaching Saiki’s bedroom door.

Saiki realized someone was there just a moment too late, and even though he practically tossed Aiura off of him, their unexpected visitor had already seen all he needed to.

“Ah, I didn’t realize that Kusuo was into punishing anyone other than me,” his brother said, with his hands on his hips.

Gross. What the hell is he doing here? Saiki wondered, scowling at Kusuke. Damn his stupid telepathy blocker. No one else could sneak up on me. Well, except Nendou, but he doesn’t have a house key.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Kusuke said, looking at the blonde who was sitting rather uncomfortably on the floor. In that short sweatshirt, Kusuke could probably see her underwear, which she wasn’t thinking about. She was just confused as to who this was.

Saiki stood up and helped Aiura to stand and to cover her unmentionables. “Sorry about that,” he said smoothing her shirt out with telekinesis.

“I-I’m Aiura Mikoto,” she said, answering Kusuke’s question.

“Don’t tell me that this is your girlfriend?” Kusuke said, giving Saiki a very disapproving look.

Saiki’s eyebrows scrunched up even more. It was none of his brother’s business.

“N-no,” Aiura said suddenly, without even thinking about the question, waving her hands in front of her in embarrassment.

Kusuke laughed. “I didn’t think so. But still, baby brother, it’s not nice to tease girls like this. Even though this one looks like she would be used to it.”

This is his brother? Aiura thought.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Saiki asked, knowing his brother couldn’t hear his question if he didn’t speak it out loud.

“I know you must be wondering what I’m doing here,” Kusuke said.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what he just said,” Aiura said with a hand on her hip.

“Oh, I didn’t hear him,” Kusuke said, not knowing that Aiura knew about his powers. Even being such a bastard, he wouldn’t blow his brother’s secret. “In any case, I’m here to give a surprise visit to my family. But I see mom and dad are out… And you used that opportunity to play around with a tramp. Tsk tsk. I didn’t think that was your style, little brother.”

Saiki clenched his fists.

Wow, this guy is an asshole, Aiura thought, cocking her hip.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Saiki told her in a whisper. He frowned. He knew that Kusuke was hurting Aiura’s feelings, but he didn’t want to have to speak to his brother. That would make Saiki feel like he’d been bested in this situation, which he couldn’t allow. So he just took Aiura’s hand and pulled her to himself defensively.

Kusuke raised an eyebrow. “So… She’s not just a play thing to you?”

Saiki shook his head.

“I thought I made it clear that no girl was good enough for you. The only person on the planet to even come close to matching you is me. And unfortunately, I’m your brother,” Kusuke said, flipping his long straw-colored hair.

“Are you some kind of pervert?” Aiura blurted out, reflexively holding Saiki closer to herself.

Kusuke laughed. “Nothing like that.” He walked closer to the two of them and yanked Saiki toward himself. “I am just very protective of my little bro.” He started to walk them down the stairs into the living room.

Saiki scowled.

“By the way, I meant to thank you for cleaning grandma and grandpa’s gutters. You know I would have done it, but I was out of town that day. Buying some materials for a new invention. I bet you were grateful for the new train route to their place. Courtesy of me. But anyway, back to my invention...” Kusuke waved his hand to shoo Aiura, who had followed them down the stairs. “You probably wouldn’t be interested in this, it’s kind of academic stuff.”

Aiura balled her fists up. Piss off, she thought.

Saiki shook Kusuke off. “Can’t you just leave since mom and dad aren’t here?”

“Maybe the girl should go home,” Kusuke said with that phony smile, gesturing toward the front door. “So we can have bro time, hm?”

He probably just wants to spend the night losing games to me, Saiki thought. Good grief. This is troublesome.

“I guess I’ll go,” Aiura said, tugging on the hem of the sweatshirt. After I change back into my uniform. Ah! Dammit. I don’t have my shoes.

Saiki sighed. He didn’t want her to leave, but if she stayed much longer, the situation would probably only get more complicated. But still, he didn’t want her to leave thinking that he wouldn’t bother to defend her from his jerk older brother. He stooped to pick up his shoes by the front door and apported them for a pair of Aiura’s. “Here are your shoes,” he said.

Kusuke did a double take. “Did you just…?”

Saiki nodded as Aiura took the shoes from his hands.

“Is she the girl that helped you with the volcano?” Kusuke asked, his mind working quickly to connect the dots. Saiki had, in fact, told him all about how he managed to stop the eruption, including that he had gotten help from Aiura and Toritsuka. Of course, Kusuke had never met her, only Toritsuka. “The soothsayer?”

Saiki nodded.

Aiura looked between the two brothers, not understanding what was happening.

“Hm,” Kusuke said, stroking his chin. “Maybe you’re not quite as poorly matched as I initially thought.”

Aiura’s face became bright red. Who does he think he is...? Like, who is he to approve or disapprove of me?

Saiki sighed. “That’s why she is my... girlfriend. But it’s none of your business,” he said, knowing that Aiura would hear him and not Kusuke.

Aiura’s head almost snapped off as she whipped her head to look at him. Girlfriend? Is he being serious? Or is this just him pretending?

“Well, whatever makes you happy,” Kusuke said, rubbing his neck. He was clearly not happy with his little brother finding a girl. He probably would have preferred his little brother to stay single forever, with no distractions from his competition with him. But he was delusional anyway. Saiki didn’t care to compete with his brother. He wanted nothing to do with him, as a matter of fact. But as sado-masochistic as Kusuke could be, he really didn’t want to make his brother miserable, and Saiki knew that. “I guess she doesn’t have to leave. I’ll just… wait down here for mom and dad to come home. I assume she’ll leave before then, huh?”

Saiki gave his brother a nod and a small smile. This must be hard for him, he thought, taking Aiura’s hand and leading her back upstairs.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Aiura fell to sit on the bed. Saiki wished they could just pick up where they left off, but she was clearly not in the mood for that. Girlfriend? Girlfriend?

Saiki sighed. He had kind of said that just so Aiura would think that he was standing up to his brother, but there was definitely a part of him that wanted that to be the truth. It would be pretty agreeable to be in a committed relationship, actually, for a lot of reasons. But namely because normal people grow up and get married. Sure, some people stay single forever, but they’re always subject to their friends, co-workers, and family trying to match-make for them. And that’s annoying. Saiki didn’t want that fate. He always assumed someday he’d find some plain, average girl and marry her. Have a kid or two. Be ambivalent about it all. He didn’t ever expect to find a girl like this. One he actually liked and respected. One who wanted to be his because she liked him, not just because she needed to settle down. A girl who was so bubbly and cheerful. He didn’t ever think he’d be in a relationship for… romance, and not just convenience. He didn’t think he’d ever be with someone he could comfortably share his whole self with.

But. Because he had actual feelings about this, that made it all the more difficult. Because if they were officially in a relationship, then they could also officially break up. And Saiki was pretty averse to the whole drama and emotional turmoil of that. He would probably never break up with her. No, he knew her well enough to know that she probably would never disappoint him enough to justify leaving her. He could read her mind, after all. But she might leave him. She might find herself attracted to someone else. She might get bored of him and his quest for mediocrity. Soulmate or not, Aiura was a human being. And humans have urges. She might check out another guy. She might fall in love with another guy. And as Saiki had told her before, she did deserve someone better than him anyway. Getting cheated on or dumped would be embarrassing and that would make Saiki an even bigger target for sympathetic individuals to try and befriend him. It would be a nightmare.

But as Aiura sat on his bed with her hands folded in her lap, wearing his big sweatshirt, she wasn’t thinking of any of those fears. None of her thoughts centered on worries of what could happen if their relationship didn’t work out. All her thoughts centered on how much she wished that Saiki had meant what he said.

“I’m sorry about my brother,” Saiki said, just standing there in front of the closed door.

Aiura looked up. “Oh, don’t worry about it. He seems hella weird.” Why did he tell him I’m his girlfriend?

Aiura’s thoughts on the subject were still supposed to be private, so Saiki ignored them. But then he realized something… Just because she wasn’t ready to talk about it, didn’t mean that he wasn’t. “So, do you actually want to be my girlfriend?” Saiki asked, looking away, knowing the answer already.

“You’re not, like, making fun of me, are you?” she asked, standing up now.

Saiki shook his head.

“You’re serious?” she asked. He wants me to be his girlfriend?

Saiki nodded.

Aiura recovered her cool on the outside. “Well, I mean, it’s not like things will change that much, right? We’ll still be totally secretive and all that. It’s just a label.” On the inside, it sounded more like, Oh my gosh! He’s serious! He, like, really actually wants to be with me! Ohmigosh ohmigosh!

Saiki just nodded again, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of his lip. It was weird to be standing apart from each other while having this conversation, so Saiki pulled her closer to him with his telekinesis.

“Well, okay. I’ll be your girlfriend,” she agreed calmly, leaning in to meet his lips in a kiss. I love you, Saiki Kusuo.

That thought was supposed to be private, too, but Saiki couldn’t help but reply. He pulled away from her, breaking the kiss so he could use his lips, for once, for something else. “I love you, too,” he said. “And you can call me baby, if you want to.”

Chapter Text

So, Saiki had a girlfriend now. It really wasn’t that big of a change from how things were before and he honestly wasn’t as concerned about Aiura thinking about other guys as he thought he would be. He realized that even if she did think of someone else, like a celebrity idol or something like that, it didn’t mean she cared about him any less. He could tell easily from his likability score that her opinion of him was only improving, even though there hadn’t been much room for improvement in the first place.

While things weren’t getting any more complicated for the two, things weren’t getting any less complicated either. Kusuke was the only person who knew definitively about their relationship, and he lived hours away with Saiki’s grandparents, so it really didn’t matter that much. Other than that, the relationship was still secretive.

In all honesty, Saiki probably could have told his friends and they wouldn’t have really cared that much, but the longer it went on without them knowing, the more troublesome it would be when they did find out. It couldn’t go on as a secret forever, though. It’s not like they could go on, get married, buy a house, have kids together without anyone noticing. Not that any of that would happen any time soon or at all necessarily, but if and when it did, things would get messy. The feeling of betrayal that he had kept this from them all. Teruhashi would be particularly devastated and ashamed, knowing that she spent all that time pining for Saiki while he was already with someone else. She needed the chance to move on.

Aiura made it to class early, and Saiki was already at his desk.

“Hiya, baby,” she said, sneaking him the quickest kiss on the cheek before settling into her own desk toward the back of the class and pulling out her crystal ball for a quick read on the day. Hm. I can’t see anything, she thought.

Saiki knew what that meant. It meant whatever was happening that day involved the two of them. He could probably lift that restriction now, the one that kept her from predicting futures that involved their relationship, but then again life had so few surprises left. Saiki had a feeling what big event would happen that day. He sighed in resignation. It might as well happen.

Akechi came in next and took his seat. Saiki and Aiura are already in here. I’ve noticed they seem closer lately. Saiki’s lip twitches whenever he looks at her, which I think is his version of a smile. He’s normally so stoic, but she seems to cause tiny cracks in that facade, which can only mean one thing...

Yeah, that basically confirmed it. Everyone was going to find out that day, it was only a matter of how.

Saiki would normally take this feeling of foreboding he felt as a personal challenge. He wouldn’t be swayed by fate. He would be resolute. He would protect his peaceful life no matter what. But this might not be so bad. Then he wouldn’t have to lie to everyone all the time and make excuses for why he couldn’t hang out. He could just say he was going out with Mikoto and everyone would understand. And they could actually hold hands and stuff in public. Saiki considered this as more people filtered in the room.

Teruhashi stopped at his desk before going to sit at her own. “Oh, Saiki,” she said, as though she were just remembering something. “I got a ticket to that new Soda Ciderman Mark II movie, and I know how much you like it, and I wondered if you would want go with me? Since I already have the ticket?” It may be a stupid kids’ movie, but if Saiki likes it, I’ll go! And who can turn down a free ticket to see a movie with the most perfect, prettiest girl in the school?

Dammit, Saiki thought. It was only a matter of time before this one caused me problems.

Saiki listened to see if Aiura noticed what was happening, and she seemed blissfully unaware, talking to Yumehara about a new TV drama they were apparently both watching.

“I’ll have to check my calendar,” Saiki answered noncommittally.

Teruhashi’s smile never faltered, though on the inside she was thinking, Any normal guy would clear his schedule just for the chance to smell my hair! “Okay, Saiki! Let me know!” She continued to her desk.

“Did Teruhashi just ask you out, bro?” Kuboyasu asked as he leaned across Kaidou’s desk.

Saiki shrugged.

“You have to go, bro!” he continued. Normally Kuboyasu was on Saiki’s side, which is to say the side of Saiki doing whatever he wanted and not owing any explanation. But any time Teruhashi was on Saiki’s opposing side, the world would be against him.

Kaidou joined in looking at Saiki. “Even a powerful being such as myself wouldn’t be able to resist the siren song of Teruhashi,” he said.

“Bro, really?” Kuboyasu said, looking at Kaidou. “I thought you weren’t affected by that kind of stuff?”

“W-well, she is the prettiest girl in the school, isn’t she?” Kaidou answered. Not that any of us stand a chance of being with her. I think a girl like Yumehara is more my speed…

“Yeah, she is,” Kuboyasu agreed. “No doubt about that.” Didn’t know the runt felt that way too. Huh. Guess she really has that effect on everyone. Even someone as pure as Kaidou

Saiki just ignored them and eventually the murmur fell into silence as class began.

During lunch, most kids ate in the cafeteria, but Saiki opted to stay in the classroom and eat, citing that he had some reading he wanted to catch up on. His friends understood and went on their way. Aiura lingered in packing up her desk, obviously orchestrating it so she would be the last one left in the room with him.

She stopped at his desk and looked at his bento. “Your mom sure loves you,” she said, looking at the cutesy meal she had prepared.

“Don’t make fun of me,” Saiki said with a smile.

Aiura smiled mischievously back. “Can’t say I blame her, though. Because you are sooo cute,” she said, leaning over his dish for a kiss. He looked up and smooched her.

“The hell?” Nendou said, suddenly standing in the doorway.

Saiki froze. There had been a close call with Nendou before, but this was much worse.

"I forgot my lunch money at my desk!” Nendou explained.

Was that why he said “the hell”? Or was he reacting to us kissing? Saiki wondered, watching the oaf collect his lunch money and walk back out the door.

Aiura didn’t move a muscle until Nendou was out of the room with his wallet. “Did he notice?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Saiki said. He would just have to wait and see how this panned out.

“I’m going to the cafeteria,” Aiura said. “I’ll see if there’s a buzz.”

Saiki nodded and watched her with clairvoyance from his seat as she lurked outside the cafeteria door. The room’s noise deadened slightly when they noticed her, in the way you might expect if people had just been talking about you.

Nendou’s an idiot, Saiki could hear Kaidou thinking. There’s no way those two are dating. Saiki is way too focused on fighting the good fight with me to get distracted with girls. Tch.

Ah, so he did say something, Saiki thought. But that doesn’t mean that they believed him. Let’s see what others are thinking…

Aiura? Well, she is pretty cute, Kuboyasu thought. But with a girl like Teruhashi asking him out, it’s kind of hard to imagine…

Saiki frowned as he ate his kitty shaped rice ball. Kuboyasu doesn’t sound convinced either.

Akechi would have corroborated Nendou’s story if he felt like Saiki wanted people to know. Akechi believed the rumor based on his own scarily accurate observations. But instead, he kept his theories to himself. He was a really good friend and an excellent secret-keeper.

Big boobs? Wow, good for Saiki, Toritsuka thought, stroking his chin. But it’s hard to imagine him, a total buzzkill, with someone like her.

That girl? Teruhashi thought. I could understand MAYBE if he was interested Imu, since she’s the only girl even close to being as cute as me. But if he likes a girl who’s true to herself… Maybe Aiura does fit. And the boobs… NO! It cannot be true. Teruhashi was barely keeping it together.

“What’s going on?” Rifuta asked, seemingly summoned by Teruhashi’s thoughts about her.

“This moron just said that he saw Saiki of all people kissing Aiura,” Kaidou answered in a sort of hushed voice, since they had noticed Aiura standing in the doorway earlier.

Oh, yeah, well they are dating aren’t they? she thought.

Good grief, Saiki thought. She does think that, doesn’t she? I can’t believe that stupid fake-dating plot from like a year ago is relevant now.

“Well, what do you think about it Kokomi?” Rifuta asked, deferring to her master and one true love. She knew that it would crush Teruhashi if it was true, but she did have the power to confirm the rumor.

“It’s wonderful when classmates find a relationship,” Teruhashi said diplomatically, even though she was falling apart on the inside.

“I think it’s true,” Rifuta said, not realizing that Teruhashi was just being brave.

“What!? Seriously?” Teruhashi exclaimed. Then she centered herself. “Why would you say that, Imu?”

Rifuta placed a finger on her chin kind of cutely, like she had to think about it. “They told me they were dating. Like a really long time ago. Was I really the only one to know this?” Saiki was kind of grateful for the misinformation. This way, they wouldn’t have to explain how long this had been going on and how it all started.

“I kind of figured it out,” Akechi said suddenly, inserting himself into the conversation. He had been at a different table eating alone. “I wasn’t going to say anything since I know how Saiki can be, but I’m confident that Nendou and Rifuta are right about this. Take into consideration how Saiki looks at her and how he’s recently been making more excuses to spend evenings alone. It all adds up that he’s been spending more time with Aiura.” Not to mention that they are both part of the PK Academy Psychics. It just makes sense.

“Whoa. I can’t believe none of us realized,” Hairo said, who until now hadn’t really given the situation much thought. “As his classmates and friends, we should have really taken better notice.”

“Why didn’t he tell us?” Kaidou said, sounding a little hurt.

“Does it matter?” Kuboyasu said. “We all know he can be a kind of private guy. His business is his business.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, right?” Nendou agreed. “Kids date all the time around here.”

“That’s true,” Yumehara, who was also there, said, giving Kaidou a meaningful look. I’m so jealous! I can’t believe Aiura got a new boyfriend before me! Wait, does this mean Saiki's the one who gave her that hickey?

“If he doesn’t want us to know, then we shouldn’t say anything,” Kaidou said.

“Agreed,” said Kuboyasu.

Saiki sighed as he finished his bento and stood up from his seat. Good grief. Why do they have to be such good people? he thought as he walked toward the cafeteria.

Aiura jumped when Saiki placed a hand on her back. “They totally know,” she said. "I heard the whole thing. They really aren't good at whispering." But you, like, already figured that out, huh?

“Let’s get it over with, shall we?” Saiki said, taking her hand.

"Are you serious?” she said, looking down at their fingers laced together.

Saiki nodded.

“Hells yeah,” she said. “Let’s do it!” She pulled him into the cafeteria.

Their friend group erupted in a gasp.

Ah, so it is true? Teruhashi thought, a strangely serene look coming over her face suddenly. It seemed that until that exact moment, she had been in denial. Well, that explains everything, doesn’t it? A guy like him would never be able to get with a girl like me. And he’s just that faithful to her that he won’t even blush around me, let alone say "oh wow".

It really doesn’t explain everything, Saiki thought. Considering that Aiura didn’t transfer here until the second season of the anime. But if that makes you feel better... She seemed to be getting over him pretty quickly, the likability meter’s score that appeared over her head was plummeting pretty rapidly. Saiki knew that the whole reason she liked him wasn’t just because he was “playing hard to get.” She genuinely did like him for some strange reason. But when the score settled at 65, Saiki knew exactly how much of her crush was real and how much was just her own determination.

“Saiki?” Kaidou said, being the first to speak. He’s really letting us know the truth?

Saiki simply nodded. You can tell them, he told Aiura privately.

“Yeah, Saiki and I are totally dating!” she said in her usual chirpy voice. “Isn’t that awesome?”