Chapter Text
Saiki knew that he’d been seen as he tried to stop the eruption. He knew that all his friends would still accept him if he was psychic. He knew all of these facts. Yet he still decided to turn back time.
There was one important catch to reversing time though: The Butterfly effect. This meant that even if the smallest thing was changed in the past, the future could be drastically different.
So Saiki reversed time back to just a few moments before Saiko had flown his helicopter over the volcano and spotted Saiki.
Good grief. His little helicopter has caused me all this extra work.
Saiki used his telekinesis to bring some clouds from a different part of the sky to just cover what he and his clones were up to. This seemed to effectively turn Saiko’s helicopter as he read the rich boy’s thoughts: It’s too cloudy. I should just bring it the other direction.
Relieved, Saiki flew back down to ground, but what he didn’t notice was that the clouds he had just pushed had been clouds dripping with condensation and went in the same direction as where his classmates were.
—
Nothing had seemed to change when he got back. No one was there except the psy-kickers and the eruption never actually had happened.
Saiki sighed in relief. He would tell the others at some point anyway.
“What are ya so relieved about?” An obnoxious voice floated to Saiki’s ears. “It doesn’t sound like it’s about ta eruption.”
Saiki shot Aiura a dirty look before turning around and sending his clones away.
As he began to walk away, Toritsuka and Aiura jogged to catch up behind Saiki to walk down the mountain.
“Are you actually gonna put in the power canceller piece?” Toritsuka asked.
"Probably" Saiki projected into both of their minds. His powers were honestly a nuisance if anything. Sure, it was helpful sometimes, but it was such a pain. Invading people's privacy at random moments, having vision that allowed for just a few seconds to see the actual person’s face, and having limited control over his strength. It was frankly boring after a while. But he was too lazy to say this all out loud so simply shrugged when Toritsuka asked him to elaborate.
Saiki just wanted a normal life, and now that all of Japan was saved from mass extinction, he wanted that liberty.
As they reached the bottom of the hill, he could faintly hear the other two psychics arguing over something trivial and boring as he continued to lose himself in his thoughts.
Is it really worth losing my powers? I won’t be able to help people as much, not that I really do anyway. I’ve been so selfish with my powers, but I want to let go.
—
Saiki hadn’t noticed anything odd about his friends after the incident, so he assumed that the time reversal had been successful. He was back in the comfort of his bed, holding the hair clip with the poo shaped symbol on it.
He used his clairvoyance to quickly check in on all his classmates, making sure everything was normal for them. They all didn’t seem frazzled or off put, so with a deep breath, Saiki uncrossed his eyes.
This was it. He finally had the option to live without his powers. Saiki exhaled a breath that had felt trapped in his body forever. He finally could rid himself of this curse. He could finally make the selfish choice to live like a mortal. A part of him was terrified yet he was almost excited, although his face had no trace of emotion.
He took off his two hair clips and his green lensed glasses, revealing his bare face- pale with bright violet eyes. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the new hair clip before placing it in his head, eagerly waiting for the effects to kick in.
Maybe 5 minutes had passed, and Saiki decided to try to check if the piece had worked. First he tried to use telekinesis to pull out the hair clip. He tried once. Then again. No response. It worked. But obviously he didn’t want to be too excited yet. Next, he tried to listen to the thoughts of others around him. Nothing. Just the loud voices of his mom and dad flirting with each other wafting through the vents from downstairs. Next clairvoyance. Nothing. Just a mild headache from trying to cross his eyes.
Saiki tested ability after ability, trying to find a flaw to quelsh his spirits. But there was none. Maybe his good for nothing brother was decent after all.
He was finally freed of his curse. He was powerless.
——
His classmates- good grief, maybe his friends- were all crowded around his desk as usual.
“Pal! Where did your glasses go?” Nendou prodded Saiki’s shoulder, curious.
“Dumbass, he probably got contacts,” Kuboyasu responded, nudging the butt-chinned boy.
“Oh! You might be right..” Nendou said.
It was the first day of the third year, for the first time. Otherwise, Saiki had been repeating their 2nd year for three times.
Kaido came up to the boys, his smile vanishing as he saw Saiki’s bare face.
“S-saiki?! What happened to your glasses? Did the dark reunion steal them?”
Good grief.
“He got contacts.” Nendou said confidently to Kaido while smugly nodding. “I know more about pal than you do.”
Kaido opened his mouth to protest when Kuboyasu seemed to whisper to Kaido the truth of the situation. Kaido rolled his eyes while the purple haired boy laughed, and the two walked to the back of the classroom to find their seats.
“I wonder what they were laughing about, right pal?” Nendou asked Saiki, but it was more of a rhetorical question. Well, Saiki treated every question as rhetorical. He hadn’t trained himself to talk with his mouth for a while, for he was so used to just projecting thoughts. Now he couldn’t. He didn’t want to reveal his croaky voice now too.
Suddenly, a chorus of gasps came floating through the door.
“Good morning, Teruhashi-san!” One boy shouted as another hastily handed her flowers while shouting “Good luck on your third year, Teruhashi-San!”
Through the window, Saiki could see the blue haired girl taking all the gifts given to her through the fan club, her practiced smile on cue and a perfect “thank you” and a chorus of “good mornings”. She truly was the perfect girl.
She strides through the door of the classroom, looking at the board to see her seating assignment. God is truly on her side again this year Saiki thought as the girl placed her things on the seat adjacent to Saiki.
However, she didn’t look all too excited. Her face wasn’t a red mess, and she wasn’t even trying to make small talk to Saiki. He glanced towards the blue haired girl. She didn’t even look at his way.
This puzzled Saiki. Oh, how he wished he could read her thoughts right now.
She walked to the far left of the classroom, where she found Chiyo and Aiura sitting next to each other.
“Hello!” She smiled widely, yet Saiki noted that her normal radiant glow wasn’t as vibrant. It was far more dull- she looked crushed for some reason. He made a mental note to ask Aiura if she was okay. Saiki didn’t like her how Teruhashi wanted him to, but she was still his friend, annoying or not. And if her glow was that badly impacted, something must have happened.
He wanted to hear the girls’ conversation, but they were out of reach for Saiki amidst all the chattering. It didn’t help that Hairo was already going around all the students, loudly wishing them a “Good luck” for the next year.
Good grief. Saiki was already feeling a headache. For a brief second, he wished he had his powers back to cure himself. Immediately he reprimanded himself. It was his choice to remove them. And if he did, he had pledged to be normal, right? He’d have to start facing the inconveniences at some point of this new reality.
The bell rang loudly and all the students had abandoned their previous conversions in exchange for their seats.
The blue haired girl sat in the seat next to Saiki, again not batting an eye to him. Her expression was passive, but Saiki could feel her cold emotion behind her “perfect” girl mask.
Saiki sighed. Well, he had finally gotten Teruhashi Kokomi off his shoulders now. Maybe if she was mad at him, she would realize that Saiki would never reciprocate feelings. Nor would he care.
Yet, her cold aura seemed to intrigue Saiki further. What had happened during the two days between the summer trip and the first day of school?
But the teacher began the first lesson of the third year, and Saiki couldn’t rely on cheating to get an average score, he’d have to start paying attention to some degree. So, he closeted his thoughts on Teruhashi and instead focused his attention to the derivatives the teacher was performing.
–
The bell rang, signaling the first break of the day. Immediately students abandoned their seats, with some wishing a farewell to the teacher that had been packing up his things.
Small cliques formed around the classroom, and Saiki could hear the loud steps of students walking through the halls. There was Saiko’s circle, fit with Takahashi and his buddies, there was the group of girls, and of course there were Saiki’s friends, crowding around his desk.
Saiki wanted to send Aiura a telepathic message to meet him outside the classroom, but when he heard no response, a “good grief” slipped out of his mouth. This is such a pain.
He resolved to use the new phone Kusuke had gotten him since he couldn’t communicate through mind anymore. He punched a text to Aiura, telling her to immediately leave her current group in favor of the roof. Even though Saiki wasn’t really a psychic anymore, he was still heavily respected by Aiura.
Moments passed with Saiki looking over the school on the roof until the blond haired gyaru came bounding the stairs.
“Ya texted. I guess you really have no powers!” Aiura smirked as Saiki felt his heart racing from the subtle heart attack.
Saiki nodded, mentioning Aiura to stand next to him.
He swallowed, feeling a blow to his pride. “Can you do me a favor..” he said unsurely, his voice cracking as he uttered the words.
Aiura’s eyes immediately lit up. “The Great Saiki K is asking me?! Me, a humble girl for help?” She pretended to fall on Saiki’s shoulder dramatically and Saiki stiffened as he gently pushed her away.
Aiura rolled her eyes at this exchange. “Well, what favor can I bestow on Saiki,”
Saiki continued to look over the balcony of the roof, trying to formulate the words on his tongue. “Has- has teruhashi been acting odd today?” He finally said.
“Oh! Terukoko? Uhm.. well I don’t think so, She seemed alright when we talked, although..”
Aiura’s last word piqued Saiki’s attention. “Although?” He slowly said.
“Well, I’m not sure, but she seemed kind of pissed off. Why do ya ask?” Aiura turned her attention to Saiki itself.
“I’m not sure. She seemed to ignore me today.”
“Ooooh! But that’s odd. Normally her eyes are ogling over you or jealous over me.”
Immediately something clicked in Aiura’s head. “Did you do something?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. “Look, I know ya my soulmate or whatever and I know Terukoko is my rival but it’s girls before hoes. Did you break Terukoko’s heart?” Aiura stared daggers into Saiki.
An exasperated sigh came from Saiki. “If I did something, why would I ask you about it?”
Aiura hummed in agreement. “That’s true. I could ask her, but that probably wouldn’t turn out too well because knowing Terukoko, she’s tryna conceal it.”
Saiki nodded, and when he opened his mouth to respond, the warning bell rang.
As the blond and pink haired ran down the stairs to get to class, Aiura spoke. “I don’t know what's happened, but you should probably talk to her. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding.” She trailed off as the two entered the classroom.
Saiki nodded and took his seat while Aiura went off the back. He glanced at Teruhashi, and with her pleasant expression, he could still see some of her annoyance at the two of them coming into the room together. If she knew Saiki was staring at her, she gave it no thought and ignored the pink haired boy.
As the classes began to pass, Saiki’s headache from earlier began to grow stronger- to the point that it became difficult to focus. And the main fault, as much as Saiki would love to deny, was Teruhashi. Her glow had dimmed even further, and he noticed that she was worse and concealing her newfound annoyance for the boy sitting next to her.
As much as Saiki didn’t want to care, it seemed to eat him up inside. Normally, he could resolve any conflict by reading their mind to see the flaw. Heck, he didn’t even typically get close enough to anyone that allowed for a conflict to emerge. In conclusion, this was a first for Saiki. He would kill to read Teruhashi’s mind right now, wanting to see why she seemed so mad at him. As far as Saiki knew, she seemed normal when he looked using clairvoyance before he used the new hairpiece, but now, he seemed less confident. Teruhashi was a master of the mask, and very well she could have used it the moment he had spied on her.
Shit. Why was being normal so difficult?
Saiki resolved to simply ask her afterschool. Which happened to be after this class. He looked once more at the blue haired girl, a strand of her hair tucked behind her ear, eyes intent at the notes the teacher was conveying. Saiki never really had taken the time to look at his classmates. Before, his x-ray vision would go into effect within seconds of seeing someone, revealing a person with muscle, fat, and bones. So, now he could take in Teruhashi Kokomi, the woman every boy seemed to sacrifice himself for. She definitely wasn’t average- he could see why every boy and his cat would scramble for her attention, but then again, Saiki didn’t really care for looks.
Suddenly, it occurred to him that this staring would potentially weird Teruhashi out, so he casually turned his head around. But before he could try to put his mind to rest, he grabbed a piece of paper from his paper and wrote a few words before quietly slipping the paper to the girl sitting next to him.
To his relief, she accepted the paper and after reading the words “I need to talk to you. Cafe Mami after school?” Teruhashi nodded once, before tossing the note into her pocket, folding it twice, with clear creases.
Saiki could finally focus. He would figure out what the misunderstanding was over a delectable coffee jelly, and poof, everything would go back to normal and Teruhashi would be fine.
Well, he hoped anyway.