As The World Caves In (Saiki X Teruhashi)

Chapter 3

The girl he feared yet was fascinated by so much stood in front of him, talking to one of her friends in her typical, overly enthusiastic way. Teruhashi certainly was a wonder, but Saiki felt sick when he was around her. He figured he may as well get this over with, after all it would be the last time they saw each other, thank God. He cleared his throat since he still wasn't used to speaking out loud, and strode over to her. His steps seemed to echo as he got closer.

Clack, clack, clack

He heard his breathing get heavy, but it was too late to turn around. Kokomi was looking right at him as he was only a few feet away. She greeted him courteously.

"Hello, Saiki-Kun." She said with a smile, of course. Quite honestly, she was happy to see him. She was disappointed that they couldn't date, but she knew there were plenty of men who would love to pair with her before the night ended.

Saiki's stomach fluttered, and he felt his face get hot again. But this time was different than Kaidou. He was embarrassed, sure, but he was also feeling all sorts of other things. It was horrible, he never felt so many ways at the same time. He wanted to run, sprint away and never see her again. But at the same time.. he wanted to stay put, and never have to leave to talk to the others. He just wanted to talk to her, even though he never wanted to talk to anyone. He put a hand on his face softly, and tried to muster up something to say. But all that came out was a dry, meaningless; "Hello".

He listened to her talk for a while, her subjects ranging from the end of the world to petty drama her "friends" were involved in. He wanted to scream, do anything to escape her grasp. But still, he stayed, and listened patiently. After maybe ten minutes of this, which felt like fifty, he couldn't take it anymore. He felt queasy and needed to say something to get him out of there.

"You'll have to excuse me for a second, sorry Kokomi."

KOKOMI? Why the hell would he use her first name? He knew instantly after he said it he was in trouble, but to his luck, she didn't mind.

"Oh um, of course!" She looked left and right to check if anyone was eves dropping, no one was. "Under one condition.. I get to call you Kusuo!" She giggled at the thought of it, calling someone by their first name! It was almost like they were close enough to date!

"Sure." Saiki said, after all he thought he owed it to her after being disrespectful.

As soon as he was cleared, he fled to the bathroom. He took in a panoramic view of the inside, searching until he knew he was alone. He let out a giant sigh of relief, and put his back against the wall. He slid down, huffing as he hit the floor. He bent his head back, and closed his eyes. He was extremely anxious, proven by the fact that he could hear his own heart beat. He threw his head back up, and as he did he noticed his hands were trembling. This had never happened before, so ignorantly he made fists to see if that would stop the shaking. Of course this action did nothing, so he slammed his rolled-up hands on the floor, which actually helped ease the pressure built up inside him. He wanted nothing more than to scream, but he couldn't. There were so many reasons not to. He just lay there, feeling angry. He felt much more than that, but rage was the loudest emotion. It drowned out everything else, until Saiki was just a walking fit of mad passion. Something was empowering about this, he had never been more motivated to release energy. However, when Kusuo considered this, he felt pathetic. Everyone else was having fun, or at least talking to the people they loved before the inevitable, but not him. He sat destitute in a run-down annex to the building he had no pleasant memories of. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, 7:18 A.M.

"Enough is enough." he decided. He stood up, and his legs almost gave out from under him. Stumbling, he caught himself on the counter where the sinks were. He pulled his head up and did the same thing he did that morning. He forced a smile. Ugly, fake, sad, dismal, and unnatural were only some of the many words he came up with to describe his grin. But still, he rolled his shoulders back, adjusted his flower, and walked out of the bathroom looking confident as could be, even though inside he felt like he would stop breathing at any moment. He ran a bit of a test. He looked at Chiyo, Aren, Toritsuka, and his teacher, and he felt nothing. He even went to Nendou to strike up conversation.

"Aw hey buddy!" He said, sounding drunk as usual.

Saiki nodded and shifted away, not surprised about the way he felt afterwards. Now for the real test; he was going back to Teruhashi. He promised himself that he would leave following their conversation. Even though it was hours before he anticipated to, he really wanted to get out of there. His eyes followed the gorgeous girl until she stopped at the table for snacks, where she promptly picked up a mochi ice cream. Kusuo made his way over, but even just a few steps in, it happened again. His stomach was torturing him whenever he wanted to talk to Teruhashi. He snapped back around and leaned against the wall of the large room.

The cause of the overwhelming nausea and constant thinking of her was obvious.

Saiki had a crush on Teruhashi.

Saiki thought of things that partners do, desperate to think of a way that this wasn't a crush. He thought of hugging her, holding her hand, kissing her. But as the image in his mind grew more vivid, there was no denying it; Saiki wanted her.

He was terrified, but kept his composure and calm appearance as he made his way to the exit door, but he jumped and yelped a little when the bluenett touched his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry Sa- Kusuo! I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok, um, why are you here?" He started to lose his ability to be calm but still refused to break down.

'Well.. your leaving and.." Her voice trailed off, and she cleared her throat. "I need you to know something, it'll just take minute." She motioned towards the exit door.

Saiki was about to have a heart attack, but followed her out.

The door shut behind them, and Teruhashi took his frail hand to lead him to the side of the old building. Kusuo put his free hand over his mouth to keep from wincing.

Not feeling the need to speak in that moment, Kokomi took a moment to look at Saiki's features, his hand still in her's. She clearly hesitated, but she couldn't cower now. She put her remaining hand on top of Saiki's, and delicately took it away from his mouth. Teruhashi tamely put her right hand on the side of Kusuo's face, and the left on his back. She pulled his entire body into a slow, passionate kiss.

AN: I AM LITERALLY GOING TO IMPLODE THAT CHAPTER WAS SO LONG. I'm so happy I wrote it though, after all I owe it to you guys for being a day late. I'm giving myself until Friday to write the next one, so until then have a wonderful Day/Night/Evening! <3