Saiki K PeePee

Ch. 9: Breach

Saiki woke up feeling much more refreshed than yesterday but dreaded the prospect of going back to school. He had stopped 2 disasters and thus time now flowed forward. Even though the rest of his life before had progressed as normal, there was a strange sense of unease now. He had gotten used to being around the same people doing the same thing. He didn't like it or dislike it, it just was.

He realized that he had liked troublesome things more than he was willing to admit, but in a year his entire life would change. He could put everyone back in a loop whenever he wished, but he had already played god more times than he was comfortable with.

"Ku-chan! Breakfast is ready!"

He was interrupted by the cheerful summons of his mother. It was a blessing in disguise because he had already thought enough. He had turned over a new leaf so he would hold himself to that. He quickly ate, said goodbye, and set course toward trouble, barely missing his father's routine request to teleport him to work. His walk toward school as peacefully as it could have. He reached the school gates without incident and then tuned in to gain situational awareness of his classmates.

He needed to figure out where the threat that had higher priority than even Nendou was so he could form a plan of attack. He had of course shown up to school close to when the first bell would ring and picked up her thoughts almost immediately. It seemed she was at her desk already.

"I wonder if Saiki-kun will be here today?"

Saiki grimaced, headed up to the classroom, and sat down without issue save the girl next to him who had not become aware of his presence until he sat down. He was as low profile as ever it seemed.

"H-h-hey, Saiki-kun. It's uh, good to see you today..."

As usual, her face remained serene and focused. He heard plenty of people's annoying thoughts, but only 3 others knew about his powers. One of them was asking for favors on some scheme to sexually harass all of the women that would even look in his direction, one's mind was caged with no means of release forever doomed to roam only within the confines of his desk jumping from subject to subject much akin to the labor of Sisyphus, and one was constantly switching between attempting to divine the course of inane events and trying to get Saiki's attention.

This tonal shift was not bad as she had done a better job respecting his boundaries than the other 3 combined with her first words. That said, he needed to tell her that what happened yesterday would not happen again.

Look, Teruhashi, I said a lot of things yesterday that I never thought I would say. I would appreciate it if we didn't bring it up or do it again.

"O-o-oh, ok..."

He saw her lower lip tremble, but the rest of her face still remained as demure as always. Her words were girt with genuine regret and sadness. He had done it again, trampling on someone else's thoughts for his own self-interest even if they were once the most self-aggrandizing thoughts he had ever heard. He realized he had just put her down without a second thought though his own foolish pride was no different. He thought about how she had accidentally insulted him back at his house when his mother was trying to defuse the situation. Instead of "psychic powers" she pretended she had heard "cowardice." She was modest about it when they were talking yesterday, but she was certainly psychic about a lot more things than she had given herself credit for. Troublesome words reverberated in his head.

I AM selfish.

How had she changed so much when he had changed so little in comparison? Surely she had something buried deep within her that he could not read, thoughts in her subconscious that had become interwoven so tightly into her psyche that she never needed to express in words? Something that told her that he was another tool in her toolbox for world domination? He had done it again. He already established that he didn't understand the true depths of the human heart. He had only caused her trouble over the last few days: first with the powers, the rebuff he had made earlier, and insulting her behind her back. He even had the gall to assume that he was doing her a favor by talking to her yesterday. She had shown him nothing but genuineness and what he believed to be compassion. He thanked her by crushing her bravery into a million pieces. He had never been in this much debt before; it was only right that he pay it back.