Risking It All For You. Reawakened! (Saiki Kusuo x Teruhashi Kokomi) (rewrite)

Chapter 12 - A Pink Psychic and a Blue Angel

Teruhashi focused in class, placing the eraser of her pencil on the bottom of her lip. Alongside her thoughts, her teacher was explaining a certain theory that she didn't care too much about. A sentence would slip in every once in a while, bringing her back, but she'd find herself back in her own world a few seconds later. She looked over to the right at the pink-haired psychic, who sat silent as he paid attention to class; he had a poker face as he rested his chin against the palm of his hand.

She never understood why or how he paid attention. Firstly, he's not even trying to get good grades; he's trying to get the most average. Therefore, he doesn't need to know any of these things. Secondly, with the thoughts always buzzing in his head from telepathy, she was relatively impressed with his ascertained focus. He was even writing down notes.

No doubt he was listening to her thoughts even now. Yet he still focused in class.

It's been about a month since she reconciled with Saiki after getting sick. After Saiki erased the boys' memories using a banana-shaped power (she doesn't really get it either), things seemed back to normal. They're back to the friendship they had without the restraint and discomfort from him. Before, the social complications towards associating with her affected his motivation to be friends with her. With those fears eroded over time, all reason to hold back disappeared.

The friendship felt safe. Comfortable. They could be themselves and there was no reason to stop that. Despite that, there was a knot in her stomach originating from a sense of greedy selfishness. She wanted something that even she couldn't understand yet it felt like it was in her grasp, just so slightly slipping out her fingers. It's difficult to describe.

'Focus in class,' Saiki's voice filled her mind. She looked at him with shock and not a hint of an expression was on his face. To everyone else, he was simply paying attention.

'Yea, whatever.' She thought, mainly focusing that thought at him. She exhaled from her nose before focusing on their teacher. Trying to get a grip on her focus, she placed the tip of her pencil on her notebook.

The teacher had a crude drawing of an elephant on the board. "It's hard to get a pink elephant out of your head. It's almost impossible to forget" The teacher lectured the class, placing his hands on the desk. "For instance, try to imagine a pink elephant. Like, the one I drew here. Now, try to get it out of your head. It doesn't work, right? That's called the pink elephant theory; the more you try to get rid of it, the harder it is to leave."

The class shook their head.

"Sensei, I can't see it! What are you talking about, haha!" Nendou laughed to himself, placing a hand on his chest.

Well, that's because he doesn't think.

"Well, anyway, this theory illustrates that trying to suppress a thought is impossible to do. Except for Nendou, who doesn't think."

"Oi!"

"Trying to actively get rid of it from your head doesn't work, so there are a few methods to get rid of the pink elephant from your mind. Embrace it or distract yourself from it."

"The pink elephant theory shows how difficult it is to get rid of intrusive thoughts in your head. For example, if you're dissatisfied, you'll become more dissatisfied as time goes on as a result. Ironically, when you don't think of your dissatisfaction, the more happy you'll be. Try not to overanalyze, but rather understand. The more you think about it, the more you suffer."

"It can be interpreted as you shouldn't try to solve something with common logic, but rather experience until it you can embrace it. Simply, don't have a mindset that focuses on the end-goal, but focus on the present and just go through with it. "