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“We’re incredibly thankful that Anya can stay here for a couple of days,” Yor smiled, giving them a small bow to show her gratitude.
“It’s our pleasure!” Kurumi smiled. Kusuo wished he didn’t have to watch this interaction, but it couldn’t be helped. His new dimensional travel powers had been quite unstable at first, but he’d gotten the hang of it after a while. He didn’t have to master it, of course, but being a psychic tutor pays quite a lot actually and it was a nice added bonus to his allowance. That’s how this situation came to be.
You see, Loid was sent away for a mission for a couple of days under the guise of a convention of some sort and Yor had a protection job a few cities over that could take up to a week to get settled. They couldn’t possibly refuse so they needed a babysitter for Anya and who better than the boy they came to trust to look after her? Saiki had reluctantly agreed to look after her this weekend, which led to his current predicament: having the Forgers meet his parents.
“Remember Anya, be on your best behavior,” Loid told her, kneeling down in front of her. “Kusuo will return you to our world in three days, okay?”
“Okay,” Anya nodded as Kusuo took her bag from Yor.
“Ah! Our boy is so grown up!” Kurumi squealed. Her and his dad had been going nuts over this sleepover for days now. It was just a babysitting job, for crying out loud! He watched Yuuta all the time! And it’s not like they had any reason to be excited to have a psychic staying with them because their own son was way more powerful than the girl he was looking after right now. Then again, his parents had always been this way, hadn’t they? Good grief. These were gonna be a long three days.
“ I’ll be taking you back to your world now, please hold on ,” Saiki said as he grabbed Loid’s and Yor’s arms, focussing on this new power inside of him. By the time he got back, his parents were already fussing over Anya, blowing her mind by showing her all kinds of things she didn’t have back in her own dimension. Her world’s technology was lacking compared to this one, after all.
“Whoa! Everything here is so cool!” she gasped. Why did you never tell Anya about all this cool stuff?! Your father is literally a spy and you think a microwave is cool? That’s different! Sure, let’s go with that. Want to see the room you’ll be staying in? Yes! I bet it’s super awesome too! It’s a normal room, try not to be too disappointed. The room itself was smaller than her room at home, after all, and this one wasn’t stuffed to the brim with stuffed animals either.
“Feels empty,” she muttered. It’s only temporary, Saiki reminded her. He put Anya’s bag on the ground and zipped it open to start unpacking her things. “Oh, I know! Let’s decorate it!”
Decorate? How?
Saiki wanted to punch himself for asking that question, because he spent the rest of the day doing arts and crafts. Putting up drawings, paper banners, little pom-poms. He’d be shaking glitter out of his hair for days to come, but at least Anya seemed happy, that’s what mattered most.
…
Another reason why Kusuo dreaded this weekend was due to the bothersome nuisances in his life. Obstacles that liked to make his life harder by barging in unannounced and acting like Saiki was happy about that. He had told some of them about Anya, namely the few who knew about his psychic abilities, but he hadn’t told them she’d be staying with him for a while. He didn’t want them to find out either, so he’ll be avoiding them for the duration of this weekend.
“Why don’t you want to see your friends?” Anya asked, looking up at him. Ugh, having another mind reader in the room could be annoying sometimes. There was nothing he could hide from this girl. Is Kusuo embarrassed because of me? Doesn’t he want to let Anya meet his friends? It’s not like that. Also, stop tuning in on my thoughts, you haven’t finished your exercise yet. Because babysitting alone wasn’t enough... Loid had asked him to prepare her for a big test the following week while Anya was staying with him. Something about stars and thunderbolts, Kusuo didn’t bother understanding the school system.
“But your friends are psychics too, right?” Anya asked, completely straying from the topic of acute triangles. Saiki regretted informing her about that, but it’s not like he’d be able to hide it forever. Yes, some of his acquaintances were psychics. One could predict the future, another one could see spirits. There were other people too, of course, but Saiki had yet to confirm whether they had actual abilities or whether fate was just playing with him. Anya didn’t need to be involved in that mess. “But I wanna! I wanna meet Kusuo’s friends!”
“ All you’ll be meeting with is punishment if you don’t finish your exercises ,” Saiki pointed out. “ You don’t want your parents to be disappointed, do you? Or put the mission in danger? ”
Anya gasped, quickly focussing back on her exercises, or at least trying to. Saiki had discovered that bringing up Loid’s mission during study sessions gave her the extra motivation she needed to pull through. For world peace! Yes, of course, whatever makes you concentrate. School work had always been hard for her, so Saiki wouldn’t bash on her grades too much. She was pretending to be older than she actually was, after all. Not that he’d tell her parent’s that, he promised Anya not to.
Another thing they did after a particularly long study session was go out for sweets. Ice cream, pudding, peanuts, whatever. Some kind of reward to boost Anya’s well-being, to celebrate her accomplishment. It was something Yor was very firm about. They couldn’t go outside though, not like this. Because knowing Kusuo’s luck, they’d bump into his whole class at the nearest ice cream vendor, or have a run in with the other psychics at the supermarket. He couldn’t trust his parents not to spill anything either…
I wanna go outside!
I know.
Why aren’t we going outside?
Because I don’t want to be recognized-
Ah. That gave him the perfect idea. Bet Anya has never seen a shapeshifter before. Yes, if he was someone else, someone his friends didn’t know about or wouldn’t recognize as easily, things would be different. He couldn’t change into his female form, though. Too many of his classmates knew her, and knew she was related to Kusuo.
The only other option was to shift into a younger version of himself. Revert back to Aya’s size and act as if they were siblings. Two kids alone would raise questions though… Maybe not if they stuck to the playground east of here. There would be enough adults around for people to think they were with one of them and not two lost kids. Yes, it would be perfect. They could get sweets, he could let Anya play around for a little while, then teleport them back home. It was foolproof.
…
Foolproof.
Saiki should’ve never jinxed himself like that.
Because here he was, at the playground, with Anya. They’d been messing around in the sand pit for a while, building sand castles and making random shapes. Kusuo mostly observed, didn’t really play unless Anya asked him to. Yuuta had joined them at one point, which wasn’t really surprising since he lived in the neighborhood. It had caused a heated discussion to rise though: Who is better? Bond-man or Cyborg Cider-man Nr. 2? Kusuo was supposed to judge them, since he didn’t care, but then again, he didn’t care.
No, the real issue arose when he saw Mikoto and Toritsuka in the distance. Mikoto had her crystal ball with her, looking into it as they walked. She must’ve been using it to locate him. Saiki mentally cursed, earning a gasp from Anya.
“That’s a bad word!”
“ Sorry, my bad ,” Kusuo sighed, ignoring Yuuta’s confusion. No, he had more urgent matters to deal with. “ Anya, we need to go home. ”
“But we didn’t have our sweets yet,” she pouted, her eyes widening as she stared at Saiki, only for her head to whip around in the direction of the nuances that were throwing off their plans. Oh no- Before Saiki could stop her, Anya was running towards them, laughing as she was being chased by Kusuo. He couldn’t use his powers here, not out in the open, not with all these parents watching their children. And Anya was surprisingly fast for someone her age.
You’ll never catch me alive! I’ll talk to your friends even if it’s the last thing I do!
Dramatic much, but okay. Saiki couldn’t blame her for acting like this after hearing about what kind of cartoons she watches. Well, actually, he could. And would. Blame her parents, that is. But that’s beside the point. He needed to focus on the problem at hand: keeping Anya away from his so-called friends and not letting them see him in the process.
He managed to tackle the girl to the ground and behind a corner of some kind of plastic castle before Anya could call out to them. Point Saiki. The fall was quite hard, though, even with the padded underground, and Anya started crying. Okay, no points for him, then. Come one Anya, be a big girl, the fall wasn’t that bad. Look, it’s only just a scrape. Don’t cry. We’ll go get sweets now, if you want to. I wanna meet Kusuo’s friends! Emotional manipulation isn’t going to affect me.
Then she started crying harder, louder, pulling attention towards them. Oh this little- Hehe. You know what you’re doing, don’t you? Stop it! They’re going to-
“Hey, is everything alright over here?”
Foolproof.
Saiki had to use the term foolproof.
Mikoto had bent over a little so she could inspect Anya’s scraped knee as Kusuo backed off. She was more focussed on the issue itself rather than what caused it, which Saiki was grateful for. Toritsuka wasn’t the same.
“Hey, you, what happened?” he asked. Good grief. She fell, isn’t that obvious dumbass?
“Ku-chan pushed me!” Anya whined, not using his full name, which was her only saving grace right now.
“What? That's not nice!” Mikoto frowned, looking at Saiki. Her eyes widened as they locked eyes, though. Oh my god! It's Saiki! But why is he disguised as a kid..? “What’s your name, little one?”
“Anya!”
Kusuo could hear the gears turning, although Toritsuka took a little longer than Mikoto, which was to be expected honestly. Saiki didn't want to stick around for their reaction, though, quickly grabbing Anya’s shoulder and teleporting them out of there. It reverted Kusuo back to his regular teenage form, but that was okay. Nobody saw, after all. No, not okay! Anya wanted to see Kusuo’s friends! You saw them, now we’re leaving. You know what I mean!
Anya pouted as Saiki took her hand, tugging her along on their way to a nearby cafe where they sold all kinds of desserts and sweets. Hopefully he’d be able to bribe her into forgetting any of that ever happened. Her leg didn’t seem to be hurting anymore, either, so that was good.
“You’re a meanie!” Anya whined. “I wanted to stay at the park! I wanted to play with your friends!”
“ You don’t, believe me, ” Saiki stated. No, he didn't want Anya anywhere near the likes of Toritsuka, knowing how deranged and vulgar his thoughts could get. Mikoto wasn’t as bad, but her thoughts were definitely not kid friendly. This was to protect Anya from things she wasn’t meant to hear, for as far as a mind reader could be shielded from such things at least. What kind of things? Adult things, not for Anya. No fair! I’m super grown-up! I can handle adult stuff too! If you say so.
Kusuo wasn’t willing to risk it, though. No, he’d rather not have Loid put a gun to his head, thank you very much. Avoiding those nuisances was for the best for everyone. The fact that it aligned with his personal interests was purely coincidental. Liar! Shut up or I’m not buying you sweets, you little brat! I’m telling mom you called me that! I didn’t say anything though. You know what I mean, you big meanie! Saiki sighed. This promised to be a long day…
…
Anya’s mood didn't improve for the rest of the day, and Saiki almost gave in and called his so-called friends so she would stop pouting. Maybe tomorrow, if things didn't get any better by then. He didn't have to wait until then, though, because that night, he woke up to a crying girl by the side of his bed. Anya was dressed in a simple white dress, holding on to her stuffed animal. Kusuo was able to tell what was off in an instant. Being a mind reader had its advantages at times, although he was reluctant to admit it.
“C-can I stay with you?” she asked, sniffing and sobbing. We don't want a freak like you in our home! Saiki blinked, frowning at the lingering memory of the nightmare Anya had. You’re nothing more but a nuisance. A freak of nature. You think we trust you? That we love you? The only reason we’re keeping you around is because it’s inconvenient to start over with another child.
“ Of course ,” Kusuo said, moving over so she could climb in. He normally wasn’t very keen on sharing his personal space, definitely not with little children. But this… This was different. He knew about Anya's past, about the experimentation, the many adoption families… He understood her fears, the rational ones at least. He never had to face any of those things, thought movies always exaggerated with the whole ‘let’s experiment with the supernatural ’ or ‘torture the psychic to see what makes them tick ’. Anyone he’d ever told about his powers had reacted positively, after all, and the only mad scientist that was after him was his own brother.
Anya didn't have those reassurances. Didn’t have many positive experiences attached to her powers. People thought it was weird or freaky, even if they had no idea what was actually happening. The Forgers were okay, though. Saiki trusted Loid and Yor to keep Anya from harm. With their status and training, he was sure they could keep any evil organization at bay. Anya knew that too, but then again, nightmares are born from fear, not rational thought.
You really think they’ll protect me? They won’t abandon Anya..? Not like… She sobbed, hiding her face into Saiki’s chest. Kusuo sighed, wrapping an arm around her smaller frame while using the other to pull up the blanket. Your parents love you, Anya. They’re lucky to have you. You really think so? I know so. And so do you. You can read their minds too, right?
But they left me with you.
It was an impulsive thought, one that was immediately refuted by Anya herself. No, no, it's not like that. Mama and papa are just very busy! They’ll come back for me! They will, Saiki assured her. They send you here because they care about you. Because they knew you’d be looked after properly while they finish up their own tasks. Mama and papa love me, right? They won’t… They wouldn’t say mean stuff about me behind my back. That’s right. It was all just a dream.
Yeah… A bad dream…
Kusuo could tell her thoughts were slowly drifting off as her mind entered unconsciousness.
Ku-chan cares about Anya.
That’s right, Ku-chan cares very much, so do your parents and your friends. You are loved and you are safe.
Ku-chan… Safe…
Saiki let out a breath as the girl fell asleep in his arms, closing his eyes as well.
…
“Really?!” Anya gasped. Kusuo was going to regret this, wasn’t he..?
“ Only some of them, ” Saiki reminded her. The ones he deemed safe enough to meet her.
“Anya gets to meet Kusuo’s friends!” she cheered. Friends was a big word, and like he said, not all of them. None of his psychic ones, for starters. “What? Why?!”
Psychics don’t only have to meet other psychics. It’s good to involve yourself with normal people too. It made sure Saiki didn’t stand out too much, a constant reminder of what human limits were supposed to look like. Boring! I wanna meet other cool psychics! Not today you’re not. Deal with it. Not fair! You’re a big meanie! Want me to call off this meeting all together? No? Already thought so. Anya pouted at him, only to gasp and run to the front door with a bright smile as the bell rang.
Children really are predictable sometimes.
“ Don’t open the door, I’m coming ,” he told her as he walked behind her.
“Hurry!” she yelled, jumping up and down right in front of the door, unable to contain her enthusiasm. She shouldn’t get so worked up to meet some of his classmates. It could only end in disappointment. Never! Oh? Saiki thought she only wanted to meet other ability users? If they’re Ku-chan’s friends, they have to be cool! Saiki sighed before opening the door. Anya immediately ran around his legs to get a look, only to step back with a surprised squeak. Well, he did warn her. Then again, is someone ever prepared to see Nendo’s face for the first time?
“Hey bro! What’s up!” he exclaimed, slapping Saiki on the back with a smile, unbothered by Anya’s reaction. “Oh? Who’s this little one over here? Are you the little girl my friend has told me so much about? Bet we’re gonna have a lot of fun together~”
He leaned into her space as he spoke, scaring Anya even more. Enough for her to jump behind Saiki, grabbing his leg with all the strength she could muster. You didn’t tell me your friends were this scary looking! I also never called them my friends. Stop making assumptions about me.
“Come on Nedo, give the little girl some space. We’re strangers to her,” Kaido said, pulling Nendo away from Anya. My hero! Oh no, this wasn’t going to end well… Anya was just going to feed into Kaido’s delusions even more, wasn’t she? What are delusions? Act like you didn’t hear any of that. “Say, is she really such a handful? It’s unusual for you to invite us over like this.”
Oh, wouldn’t you like to know…
Hey! That’s mean! I thought Ku-chan cared! You said so yourself so you can’t deny it! He did say that, didn’t he? Curse his one moment of weakness. He frowned as Kaido knelt down next to him, holding out a hand to Anya as he smiled.
“Don’t worry little girl, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” he told her. The only thing one should fear in this world is the rise of Dark Reunion! But due to my intervention, they haven’t been able to cause trouble, so things should be fine. Ah yes, Saiki remembered that ‘intervention’. It was nothing but a series of coincidences and misunderstandings, as were all of his actions as the Jet-Black Wings, or whatever he liked to call himself.
Dark Reunion? They sound scary! They’re not real. How do you know that? If they were, I would’ve heard about them before meeting this annoyance. But they’re a secret! You’re not supposed to know! So how can you be so sure? Good grief. He knew he’d regret inviting people over.
“My name is Shun Kaido, by the way. What’s yours?”
“I’m Anya,” she said, glancing up at Saiki before taking his hand.
“Well Anya, you’re very brave,” he said, his smile turning into a grin as thoughts of Dark Reunion filled his head once more. “But are you brave enough to become my heroic sidekick and save the world?”
“I wanna save the world!” Anya gasped, nodding rapidly.
“Oh? Well, can you do THIS?!” Kaido exclaimed, jumping up into some lame pose while trying to look cool.
“Uh, dude, nothing is happening,” Nendo said, sounding as unimpressed as Saiki felt.
“That’s- That’s just because I can’t unleash my full powers right now! You know what would happen if I undid the bindings on my arm, wouldn’t you?!” he yelled, still holding onto the same pose. The answer was nothing. Absolutely nothing would happen.
“What? What would happen?” Anya gasped, completely absorbed in his performance. Didn’t she hear? Saiki said nothing. It was all for show. Dark Reunion didn’t exist and Kaido didn’t have any special abilities or powers to speak of.
“Well, for starters, none of you would survive, for my curse would spiral out of control and kill everyone within a 100 foot radius!” he stated. He just made that number up. Saiki doubted he even knew how large a 100 foot radius would be. The again, Anya didn’t either. “I’d destroy this house- No, this whole neighborhood when even a fraction of my power is released!
The entire neighborhood took up more than a 100 foot radius, though. Anya didn’t seem to care about logic though, instantly enthralled by Kaido’s story. And Kaido being who he was, endorsed her, setting up an elaborate background story while Nendo went to the kitchen to get something to drink.
“You’re so cool!” she gasped with stars in her eyes. “I totally wanna be your sidekick!”
“Oh yeah? What do you have to offer that I don’t already have?” Kaido asked, holding his hand over his face to appear cool to no one other than a small child.
“I can read people’s mind!” she exclaimed, making Saiki’s eyes widen. She’s not supposed to just tell people that! Then again, maybe if it’s just Kaido-
“Read minds, you say?” Nendo asked as he returned with a soda, making Saiki groan. “What am I thinking of right now?”
“Easy! You’re thinking of… Uh,” Anya said, holding her fingers on her temples a she looked Nendo, only to look completely lost a moment later, wide eyes searching for Saiki in a panic. Why can’t I read his mind?! Ah, so he wasn’t the only one. Good to know. What’s that supposed to mean?! Don’t worry about it. Nendo just doesn’t have thoughts to read.
“Hey, you can’t put her on the spot like that! I bet it takes a crazy amount of concentration, doesn’t it Anya?” Kaido said, quick to stand up for her.
“Oh, uh, yeah! Super hard!” Anya nodded along. Liar. You’re a big liar too! Oh so now you decide to respond to my thoughts huh? Well, it was too late to back out now. All he could do was endure a whole afternoon of this nonsense…
…
“Again, thank you so much for looking after her,” Loid said as Saiki counted his money. He was rich now but at what cost? Anya hadn’t shut up about Dark Reunion for the rest of their time together, getting really into hero stuff while she drew herself in her sidekick outfit. A drawing she proudly presented to Loid the moment Saiki returned her to her world. At least now it wasn’t his mess to deal with anymore. “I trust you’ve thoroughly prepared her for her test?”
“ We studied a bit every day, she should be prepared, ” Saiki said, putting the money back in the envelope.
“Oh is that right? Did you study well while you were away?” Loid asked, smiling as he picked up Anya in a hug.
“I studied really hard!” she nodded. “Ku-chan and I had lots of fun, too! I got to have yummy desert and meet his friends and use their cool gadgets and dad, dad, we need a microwave! It’s like magic! With food!”
“I see,” he said as he put her down again. I suppose it’s only normal that there are small differences between our worlds. I only saw the outside of his house when I was there, but it already looked quite different from the houses here. Maybe if I ask for a blueprint of this microwave thing, I can have it build here and-
“I’m home!”
Everyone turned to face Yor, who’d just walked in through the front door. There was no blood on her clothes but Saiki could tell she’d hurt her leg by the way she was walking. Using his x-ray vision revealed she had at least two broken ribs as well.
“Mom!” Anya exclaimed, happily running over to her.
“Yor, you’re home early,” Loid said, yet he didn’t sound less pleased about her return.
“The mission didn’t take as long as we originally thought,” she explained. I only had to kill all the enemies involved instead of warding off their attack waves, simple! That was all but simple for a normal person, but Saiki didn’t comment on it. “How were things here? Did you have lots of fun with Kusuo?”
Anya started to tell the grand tales of her adventure while Yor guided her to the living room where she could sit down and relax. Loid’s eyes followed before tracking back to Saiki.
“You know, now that we know she’s in good hands with you, we could-”
“ No ,” he interrupted, yet quickly catching himself when he saw Anya’s distraught little face. “ At least, not for a while. I need time to unwind. She’s a very energetic child. ”
“Oh yes, we’re aware,” Loid laughed, yet Saiki could tell he’d had his fair share of unexpected situations to deal with because of his adopted daughter. Which is why it didn’t surprise him when he leaned in more, lowering his tone to a hushed whisper. “I’ll pay you double the rate if you take her the weekend before her exams.”
“ Deal. ”
Saiki may be exhausted and he might question his sanity sometimes, but he also knew how much coffee jelly one could buy with that amount of cash and he was no idiot.
“ I’ll go now ,” he said, turning to Anya. “ I will see you again soon. ”
“Bye bye Ku-chan!” she yelled, giving him one last hug before he left. “You’re the best! Thank you for playing with me.”
He huffed, suppressing a small smile. This kid wasn’t the worst after all.