Saiki K PeePee

Ch 29: The Hollow Soul Mystic

「」= spoken in English

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Saiki spent the waking hours of a rather normal morning alone. His parents had left for another date, so he had the house to himself once again. A ponderous pit in his gut that he couldn't make sense of weighed heavily on him. Maybe it was the fact that it felt too quiet.

"Hey, Kusuo. Do you have time to talk?"

Saiki perked up when he heard his name. He almost didn't recognize the voice due to the drastic change in tone, but it unmistakably belonged to Mikoto Aiura. He had a feeling he knew what it was about and groaned internally. He knew this day would come eventually but still dreaded the unwanted conflict.

Yes.

"Thanks for understanding."

Aiura's voice was sullen and resigned, emotions he never thought he would hear from her and ones he never wished to hear again. As much as he disliked conflict, he owed her this much. He soon heard a knock on his door. Their despondent thoughts chilled him to the bone. He opened the door to find the owner of those thoughts with downcast eyes and a quivering brow. She paused for a moment to look into his eyes as if asking permission to enter. As soon as his eyes met hers, she crossed the threshold to the Saiki household. Saiki closed the door gently behind her as she removed her shoes. She stepped forward and closed the distance between them. Her arms were crossed as tightly as her lips were drawn, but she casually leaned on one foot.

"I know you already know what this is about, so I'll cut to the chase. Are you and Teryukoko an item?" Aiura pointedly asked.

He didn't know what "an item" was, but he was more than capable of using context clues to figure it out.

No, we're not together, nor do I plan on being so.

"Either way it's obvious that you two have spent a lot of time together outside of the meteorite incident. You definitely look at her differently than before even though you try to hide it. You may be able to read minds, but I've been around the block enough to know that you're either a liar or in serious denial. I don't know which it is, but I don't want a part in it anymore," she said gravely, bowing her head as if the weight upon her shoulders had become too heavy to bear.

To say Saiki was taken aback would be a massive understatement.

"Look I know my happiness is not your problem, but I couldn't leave this stone unturned if only for me. I want to leave this behind with no regrets. I transferred to this school to find my soulmate only for him to disappear in front of my very eyes. The 'soulmate' schtick probably always sounded silly to you, but I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic. I had other reasons to transfer to PK, but I still wanted to follow my heart to see where it took me. I'm sorry I put so much pressure on you to use your powers the way I wanted you to and to be who I wanted you to be," she continued, ignoring his expression of shock.

Saiki suddenly placed his hand on her shoulder. A gasp escaped her lips and her eyes jumped to his. It's not your fault, Aiura. Even though I may have thought you pushy, you were still unabashedly yourself.

"I usually try not to let stuff like this get to me, but it's kinda difficult when I stuck my neck out so far y'know?" she said shakily and slightly bitterly. She had not recoiled from his touch.

Saiki sighed heavily. He didn't know what the future held, but Aiura's point about denial stabbed him much more viscerally than she could have known. He never thought himself capable of romantic feelings, but he didn't know if he wanted to if it was just going to hurt everyone around him.

Aiura, I'm sorry. I led you on for so long...

"No, you didn't. You made your intentions clear right from the get-go and to my best knowledge did not lie to my face. I still want you to be happy, even if it's not with me. Jealousy is not a part of me, and it only hurts me to hold it," she said, meeting his gaze with determination.