The Green Lens

Chapter 3 • This needs further testing •

"Oh, Ku-dear, look at you!" Kusuo's mom squealed, doing tiny happy jumps at the sight of her son sans spectacles. "Who knew these glasses had been hiding such a handsome young man this whole time?"

"You're exaggerating," Kusuo replied patiently as he walked out of the bathroom. She really was - all he did was replace glasses with contact lenses. Nothing to call home about.

And yet, his mom looked absolutely ecstatic jumping all around him, adamant to look at his face from all possible angles. Kusuo was careful to dodge all direct eye contact with her during her thorough inspection - it had yet to be proven that Kusuke's invention did work as advertised, and he would be seriously remiss if he accidentally petrified his own mother because his brother's words had been fake news.

That being said, he couldn't avoid eye contact with her forever. If he was going to be forced to wear the contacts, then his first order of business would be to find an adequate guinea pig to test their safety on. Someone that no one would miss if they accidentally got stonified for a day or two. Someone like...

Kusuo turned his head to look at his father.

"...? Why are you looking at me like that?" his dad asked nervously. "Oh, did you want to hear my opinion on the look? Well, I think..."

"I'll pass," Kusuo interrupted. He already got the information he needed.

So these contacts did indeed stop his petrification powers from activating unwillingly. Good to know. But it was still too early to cry victory - when it came to his brother's inventions, caution was key. They still needed further testing.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Kusuo's mom suddenly exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Big Ku also asked to see a nice picture of you in your new contacts, earlier, so let's snap one quickly! Ku-dear, stand by the bannister and give me your best smile!" she said, already aiming a digital camera at him.

"What? No, I don't want to."

"Kusuo," his mom said warningly. She was still smiling, but her eyes were darkening fast. "Your brother has been very generous with you, today, and I don't remember raising such a selfish son. So we are going to take this picture, and we are going to send it to Kusuke to thank him for his kindness. Understood?"

Kusuo gulped. This was why he could never say 'no' to his mom - she had the power to emotionally coerce anything out of him, be it via kindness or via fear, especially when she was persuaded that it was 'for his own good'.

Resigned to his fate, Kusuo dragged his feet to the bannister and faced the camera, arms crossed and face frowning.

"Good boy!" his mom said with a happy smile, opting to ignore the ill-will oozing from his whole body language. "Now, say cheese!"

"Cheese" Kusuo said dispassionately, mouth unmoving and giving the camera his best scowl. He knew he was being cheeky and that his mom wasn't going to let him get away with it, but his adolescent self could not bring himself to comply without making it clear that he hated everything about what was happening.

*clic*

...?

Was that the sound of the shutter?

"Great! It came out perfectly!" his mom exclaimed happily, to Kusuo's confusion. His mind was full of question marks. How could this have been a good picture? He was just glowering at the camera...

"Let me see!" his dad said as he joined his wife, and they both looked at the camera display with the exact same amazed expression.

"Oh wow," his dad continued as he looked between Kusuo and the freshly taken picture. "I've always known your photography skills were flawless, my darling, but this is next level!"

"Oh, stop it, darling! It's obviously Ku-dear who makes this picture so breathtaking. He's grown into such a beautiful young man while we weren't looking, hasn't he, my love? Look at his eyes!"

"Of course, you're right, darling" but this picture seriously smells like good money, his dad continued in his mind. Maybe that kid could pursue a lucrative modelling career... And then we would be rich!

"First of all, who are you to choose careers for me, and second of all, I would be rich, so don't go including yourself in other people's finances," Kusuo broadcast to his dad's mind only, who had the decency to look a little sheepish after getting caught counting imaginary bills.

"Do you want to look at your picture, Ku-dear? It's a very good one!"

"No, thanks," Kusuo replied, only to exercise his freedom to say 'no'. Saying that he wasn't curious at all to see the picture would be a lie, but his childish urge to be contrary with his parents was stronger. He also didn't need to see the photo to know that his mom was likely exaggerating her praises, as she does. And even if she wasn't, her appreciation of her own son's appearance would certainly be biased, anyway - as his own biological genitor, of course she would think that he, her progeniture, was an outstanding specimen. Mothers were conditioned to think that way.

As for his dad... Well, as proven by his failing manga editing career, he'd never really had an eye for beauty to begin with, so Kusuo was happy to dismiss his opinion altogether.

"Can I go to my room, now?"

"Sure, you can, honey! We're all done, here. All that's left is sending the photo to Big Ku - I'm sure he will love it, too!"

As soon as he got permission to leave, Kusuo promptly teleported to the sanctity of his bedroom. Finally, he could catch a break.

He sat at his desk to think, and sighed. It was time to address the couple of elephants that had joined him in the room.

First of all, why did Kusuke request a picture of him? Kusuo knew that his brother had full access to the CCTV around his neighborhood, as well as a few cameras hidden inside his house, so he could technically retrieve footage of him whenever he so pleased. It was creepy, but it was the truth.

However, based on today's series of events, it wasn't too difficult for Kusuo to think of a likely reason: it was clear that his brother somehow needed a high definition image of his unobstructed face, which would also explain his suspicious offering of high-tech contact lenses to replace his usual glasses. But why did he need it?

Kusuo tried to think of different ways his brother could use such a picture against him. Would he photoshop his bare face on a humiliating photo and share it around his group of friends? Kusuo was proud to declare that he made it through middle school happily anonymous and friendless, so the picture would have nowhere to circulate.

Or maybe he would embed Kusuo's image in the footage of a crime, framing him as the culprit and setting the police on his tail? Kusuo could easily sweep that misunderstanding under the rug with a spot of mind control, so that was probably not it either.

Every other shenanigans he could think of seemed too weak or predictable for his brother to even consider, so he mentally crossed them out one by one as they came to mind.

Hmmm...

... Nope. None of his theories sounded likely, but he knew that Kusuke was up to something. His "gifts" always came with a hidden price, after all.

Concluding that he probably lacked the evil genius imagination needed to understand his brother's machiavellian schemes, he gave up thinking about it for the day and picked up a manga to read instead.

He'll know what's up eventually. He can deal with it then.