Saiki K PeePee

Ch. 20: Dawn

Teruhashi woke up wondering if yesterday was a dream. It felt like she barely remembered the last part, but she knew her intuition was almost never wrong in cases like these. She knew she should be beyond over the moon, but instead she felt an uncomfortable amount of fear. She did not fear what happened; instead she feared her uncharacteristic apprehension.

Sleeping on it had awoken a nameless insecurity, one that she felt very rarely. She had come so far, but never in her wildest dreams did she think she would actually get here. However, was she elated that it was "progress" as opposed to something mutual? Did she really change?

Why am I suddenly feeling this now? Why do I still feel like this could be a "conquest"?

She chose to believe that it wasn't but she couldn't force down the sinking feeling that it was. She didn't know what to do yesterday when they teleported back into her room, and she became overwhelmed and almost broke into tears. Sure, they weren't Angel Tears™; but the result turned out the same. At least, she didn't think that they were. She didn't own him; she wasn't owed his friendship. If anything it would have been better if he had come to her later on when he came to the realization himself, but instead she dug herself into a situation where she had no idea whether or not she had manipulated him.

She never answered the burning question: is it selfish to want a friendship? She still didn't know for sure. Making friends came so easily to her that she hadn't given the question any thought because she assumed that everyone wanted to be friends with her. Now that the paradigm was shifted, the only method she knew to actually obtain friends was manipulation and deceit. Her genuine friendships now just came naturally. Even if they weren't transactional the way most of her relationships were, she still didn't understand how they happened in the first place. Maybe that was the key?

This was unknown territory for her. She was lousy at normal relationships as well.

These are the consequences of my actions.

Even though she had been born with the power of impossible beauty and had expectations placed on her, it would be silly to deny her agency.

The best she could do was to try not to ruin a good thing.

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It turns out that the entirety of yesterday happened on a school night, so Saiki found himself getting ready again this morning. He had accidentally slept in, so he didn't have any time to think about yesterday.

"I called Ku-chan, maybe I should go check on him..."

I'm up, Mom. Be down in a minute.

Saiki groaned as he rolled out of bed. He didn't particularly like waking up in a rush. Only a morning coffee could provide panacea for his morning languor.

"Ok! Breakfast is ready."

He got ready in about a minute with his telekinetic legerdemain, headed downstairs, grabbed the food and coffee, and smashed it into his mouth via telekinesis.

Thanks for breakfast. Sorry I couldn't enjoy it.

"It's ok, don't be late for school!" His mother sent him out with a sunny wave.

Saiki hurried out of his door. Unfortunately, his tardiness precluded his ability to plan properly in order to prevent this morning's wild gorilla encounter. He should have teleported.

"Heeey, pal! Remember that bug I found? I figured out a good name for it," Nendou said. His hands were jammed in his pockets and hs he was duck walking like the delinquent everyone thought he was.