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During the break in class, Saiki had a bit of spare time.
Sometimes, he'd be crowded by his friends, and they'd talk about anything and everything.
Every now and then, he was on his own, and as much as he hated to admit it, it was a bit boring without their constant presence.
So, he decided to make use of his time.
It's been a while since I checked.
Every so often, Saiki would check his likability meter to see what everyone thought of him.
In an attempt to be as average as possible, he'd aim for a score of about 50. High enough to not be hated, but low enough as to not draw attention.
He looked around, rested his hands in his lap and averaged the classroom.
An average of 1689.
No, that can't be right.
After a bit of thinking, he decided to exclude his friends; they were ought to be more fond of him than others, and instead check them individually.
An average of 53.
Perfect.
He looked over at Teruhashi, who was sitting at her desk, chatting with Yumehara.
A score of 98.
Well, it wasn't that big of a surprise. She did have a crush on him, after all.
Yumehara herself brought up a score of 78.
He looked over at Kaidou, Kuboyasu and Nendou who were arguing about whether Saitama could beat Goku.
Kaidou had a score of 87, Kuboyasu had 79, and Nendou had 97.
Stupid Nendou.
Toritsuka brought up an anticlimactic score of 64, Aiura had 98, tied with Teruhashi, and Saiko had 82. Mera had 71, Suzumiya had 56, since she didn't know him very well, and Hairo had 89.
Then he looked over at Akechi, who was sitting at his desk, reading a book, not paying any attention to Saiki or the rest of the classroom.
A score of 32,583.
Why am I not surprised?
He had never checked Akechi's score for him. He knew he liked him more than his other classmates for a plethora of reasons, but he didn't expect such a high score.
But just because he didn't expect it, doesn't mean it surprised him. It did embarrass him, though.
He sighed and fiddled with his pencil.
...
Can I check my own score for others?
He'd never considered seeing what he thought about everyone. It should work; after all, if it worked one way, there was no reason it couldn't work the other.
But then he couldn't lie to himself anymore.
...
Curiosity killed the cat, right?
...
Curiosity got the best of him.
He grimaced and decided to try it.
His fondness for Teruhashi reached 89.
Higher than he expected, but not too bad. If it was any higher, he would've kicked himself.
Yumehara got 76. Well, now that wasn't fair; he liked her more than she liked him.
Kaidou got 80, Kuboyasu got 79, and Nendou got 92.
Stupid Nendou!
Toritsuka brought up an anticlimactic score of 67, Aiura had 90, and Saiko had 87.
Probably because of the room of sweets.
Saiki smiled a bit as he remembered. It was fun at Saiko's house.
Mera got 68, Suzumiya got 64, and Hairo got 88.
So far so good, with the exception of Nendou's score.
He looked over at Akechi.
...
No, that can't be right.
A whopping 34,974 points.
He liked Akechi more than he liked him.
I'm disgusting. I've become what I've always hated.
A shiver went down his spine.
I've become my parents.
He looked back at Akechi. He didn't seem to notice Saiki staring.
Is he looking at me? He's been looking this way for quite a while now, and I'm not sure if I did anything to cause it. He seems mentally preoccupied. I wonder why. Perhaps he's tired...
Saiki looked away, and noticed his own score go up by two points.
No! Stop it!
Luckily, the teacher walked in and told everyone to settle down.
He'd have to tackle this problem later.
********************
Saiki poked at the cup of coffee jelly he packed for lunch.
Not even coffee jelly could help him now. Not that that stopped him from eating it.
"Hello, Kusuo-kun! How are you doing?"
Of course.
Akechi had come to bother him during lunch. As if the random home visits weren't enough.
'Fine.'
"Is something wrong? You seem to be a bit more absent minded than usually, although you're never particularly alert. At least, you don't appear to be. Then again, you could constantly be on the lookout of numerous things, and I wouldn't know because I don't pay close enough attention."
'I'm fine.'
Akechi smiled.
34,979.
"Could I have the pleasure of joining you for lunch?" he asked, setting his tray on the table and sitting down in front of Saiki.
He's already sitting down.
Most of the time, Saiki didn't mind his company; sometimes he even welcomed it.
But now, with the insipid number bouncing around, Akechi made him want to decline.
34,976.
It went down.
Saiki gave it a bit more thought.
It went down when I was angry at him, so it should keep going down...
'Sure, go ahead.'
Saiki smiled at his thought. This was the perfect plan.
"In class, did you understand today's lesson in math? Knowing basic arithmetic and algebra should be able to get you through this sort of work, so I don't think I'll have a problem with it. Actually, if I'm recalling correctly, I do believe I've encountered similar problems in a lesson back in tenth grade. I went to a different school than you did, so I doubt you know what I'm talking about. Let's see, it was the 16th of January..."
Thank you for that, Touma. You're giving me material. You talk too much.
34,975.
Oh, come on. You're creepy. How do you even remember all those memories? It's truly frightening. Eerie, even.
34,972.
And impressive.
34,977.
No! Why are you a PsyKicker anyway?
It wouldn't budge.
"Kusuo-kun? Were you listening?"
'What?'
Akechi held out his hand with a small, white box.
"So you weren't listening. That's alright. I admit, I tend to ramble on about certain subjects, especially if I'm recalling something from the past, but I'm sure you already know that. I was telling you that I was experimenting with my desserts, and I decided to try making macarons. Now, I've never made them before, and I had only tried them once, so I decided to play it safe by making them chocolate and strawberry flavored. They turned out quite good, if I do say so myself, and I got a bit carried away concerning quantity. I brought a few for lunch, and I was wondering if you wanted to have some. I have three of each flavor, though I did bake several dozen, so if you do like them, I could bring more tomorrow. Or perhaps I could drop them off at your house?"
Macarons.
And Akechi was a good baker.
...
If I say yes, the number might go up, and if I say no, he might get upset. And I won't get to eat them...
'Sure.'
It shouldn't matter much, right?
Akechi opened up the box, revealing half a dozen macarons, neatly placed in a row, alternating between strawberry and chocolate. They might as well have had a bright light shining from them, because Saiki was entirely enthralled.
He grabbed a chocolate one as Akechi carefully picked out his own, strawberry flavored. He popped the entire thing in his mouth, not worrying about the extremely slim chance that they weren't going to taste good.
"Mmm! These are delicious! I don't mean to brag, but I think I did a good job with these. Of course, that's only because they are tailored to fit my tastes, so you might have a different opinion. What do you think?"
As if Saiki's blissful expression wasn't telling him enough.
'Delicious.'
Akechi smiled as he continued to eat his own, still going on about his baking habits and techniques.
Hold on a second...
He was so distracted by the sweets that he forgot to keep track.
35,294
Shoot!
He couldn't help it, of course. Anyone who ate Akechi's desserts was bound to like him a little bit more afterwards.
"A bit", meaning 317 points.
No big deal.
Maybe if he focused on how he was eating and talking at the same time, or the fact that he basically invited himself to his house once again, or maybe even-
The bell rang before he had a chance to do anything.
*******************
During class, he tried to focus on the teacher.
When that didn't work, he tried to focus on Akechi's faults.
And there were plenty of them. A certain occasion came to mind, in which he invited himself over on Sunday. The first time was annoying enough, without the presence of his father. Then, he spent two hours, two entire hours babbling on and on about editing and manga publishers. Even his father couldn't keep up.
No surprise there; he was an idiot.
Akechi was a lot smarter than him, so it was no surprise that he-
Hold on.
Back to his faults. He can't praise him when he's supposed to be insulting him.
Ok, so if I write down the key points of this lesson, I should be able to reference back to it later on, that way I can finish my homework by-
What was that part of the story again? Something about the mermaid turning into sea foam at the end. Ah yes, The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson. I remember reading it back when I was-
Funny how they call it college-ruled when these notebooks are used for students grades 5-12. I don't fully understand why they'd refer to college, when you're more likely to type notes compared to-
I wonder what type of bird feathers were used to make quills. It would most likely be a stiff, slender feather, perhaps from-
Geez, his thoughts are irritating. He's giving me a headache.
That's progress. He's annoying. He never shuts up, not even in his thoughts.
35,294.
It still won't budge!
Hmm, is Kusuo-kun looking this way? He keeps glancing at me, but I wonder why. Perhaps I'm irritating him with my thoughts. I imagine it must be hard to concentrate on your schoolwork like that. And if you don't answer, I'll know that you're not listening to my thoughts.
...
Alright, I'll take that as a definite "no".
Oops.
He was so busy trying to insult him that he wasn't able to look straight ahead. He might have even noticed him were he not staring.
Ok, back to insulting him.
But...
Was it really necessary?
He felt a bit guilty, insulting him for no reason other than his own pride.
He didn't deserve it.
35,296.
...
Oh well.
*******************
Saiki laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
34,994.
He had checked the number over twelve times in the last sixteen minutes; he'd been counting.
It didn't change.
No matter how many times he checked back, or thought about his many flaws, it didn't change. It wouldn't change.
He's annoying. I don't like him. He talks too much, and he's childish, and he takes my sweets, and he bothers me every day...
But then, why do I like him so much?
It was broken.
It had to be broken.
There's no other way it would be that high.
At least, that's what he'd been telling himself the entire day.
I don't. I don't like him that much. I have no reason to. Sure, the number might be higher than others, but not to this extent. It has to be some sort of accident.
He was fond of Akechi, in a way. He knew that he was better than his other friends, at least, for the most part. He would choose to spend the day with him sooner than he'd choose to spend the day with Nendou, that was for sure.
Stupid likability meter.
He heard the doorbell ring.
He decided not to bother with clairvoyance and simply teleport to the door. Besides, he already knew who it was.
"Hello, Kusuo-kun! Forgive me for stopping by so suddenly, but it's the afternoon, and I figured you'd be settled in at home by now. Would you allow me the privilege of entering your home?"
I don't like him. I don't like him. Not this much. It's not true.
I can't be all sappy like this.
'No. Go home.'
"Aww, but Kusuo-kun, I have more macarons. You appeared to be enjoying them so wholeheartedly earlier, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see you smile that way again, especially because of the abundance of them I have at my house. I brought over a dozen and I still have more at home.'
...
'Fine. But only because you brought dessert.'
Akechi chuckled.
"Y'know, I would've guessed that you'd be more friendly and a bit less callous now that we're dating, but then again, you never fail to surprise me!"
'Shut it, Casanova. You think just because we're dating, I'm going to act all lovey-dovey? Disgusting.'
Akechi laughed again.
"You're so silly. But, you're still your old tsundere self. Do you by any chance have milk? Or maybe tea? I am rather thirsty, and besides, I think it's best to have a drink while eating desserts. Not only to cleanse your palate when the sweetness becomes overwhelming, but also to reduce the risk of choking. Or maybe even coffee? Although, it's a bit late in the day to have coffee. But if you'd like, I could make some for the both of us, seeing how I don't have a preference one way or the other."
He's so rude, too. Demanding a drink.
35,384.
'There's milk in the fridge.'
"Ah! Thank you. By the way, is there something bothering you? While you don't appear to be upset at anything in particular, you've seemed mentally preoccupied all day."
...
Saiki sighed.
35,413.
'Nothing's wrong. At least, not anymore,' he projected, smiling slightly.