Saiki K PeePee

Ch. 11: Payback

Saiki slipped his shoes off and crossed the threshold to his last sanctuary. He wanted to play Monster Hunter but he was way too tired given the events of today and the fact that he had to hold hypnosis from essentially across the entire world. His mother had planned on preparing chicken katsudon for dinner, but Saiki needed a snack to tide him over. He would not sully his coffee jelly by eating it when the conditions were not right to fully appreciate it. There were some leftover vegetables from last night's dinner so he would have those.

"Welcome home, Ku-chan!" His mother exclaimed.

Good afternoon, Mom. I'm going to eat some vegetables and go up to my room. I didn't have lunch today, he said politely.

"Oh, did something happen with Kokomi-chan?" She inquired, her curiosity having got the better of her.

I made some mistakes and cleared them up. Nothing more. Unfortunately it took the entire lunch period, he replied curtly, more than indicating he did not wish to elaborate further.

She was skeptical but respected his wishes.

"Ok! Dinner should be ready at the normal time," she recovered, complete with the earnest demeanor that had drawn all of his nuisances in.

Saiki reheated the vegetables, ate them in silence as his mother prepped for dinner, and then headed up to his room. He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He blew air out of his nose at the memory of being roasted by Teruhashi. It was one of his bad endings when she came over the other day, but for some reason reality hadn't been so bad. For once, someone had actually attempted to help him feel normal. He actually got teased like a normal person would by someone he considered his equal. It may have been at least partially done to satisfy a personal agenda, but he had seen much worse. It was more benign than most people who knew about his powers and especially compared to how she herself used to be.

As it stood right now, he could probably pay his debt without trying to avoid conversation at all costs. He had acknowledged that he liked troublesome things, but he still kept a degree of separation from them.

This was his first time attempting to interact with someone the way they did. She had been able to grow and change, but she still stayed true to herself. Her transition to the person behind the mask was seamless and genuine, which greatly impressed him. How difficult it must have been for her to do that considering that mask was her entire persona could not be understated. When she discovered his powers that character break was circumstantial, but this time she meant business. She always had a way of surprising him. She was certainly brave. Regrettably for her she only had one more debt from him, so after that they would go back to how they normally were. This time, she wouldn't need to fade away though.

"Ku-chan! Dinner is ready!"

He stood up and went downstairs where he found his mother and father, who had recently returned from work. A place had already been set for him so he sat down, thanked his mother for the food, and started eating. His father was about to say something stupid.

"Oh, Kusuooo, now that Kokomi-chan discovered your powers, does this mean I'm going to have a..." his father proclaimed melodramatically.

No, idiot, Saiki cut him off with a glare. Plenty of people know about my powers, she just happens to be one of them. She also happens to be annoyingly persistent.

"I'm just glad Ku-chan has a better friend now," his mother chimed in cheerfully.

She is not my friend. She just follows me around to her detriment, Saiki attempted to deflect.

"There's that trademark Kusuo scowl! Why does it look like you're dismembering just me with your eyes, your mother spoke up too!" His father countered with emotional manipulation.