New Customers Are A Pain

9

Saiki was sitting on his bed reading, when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it with the assistance of his powers. He didn't feel like standing.

"Ku-chan? I'm going to iron dad's pants, do you need anything ironed?" said Kurumi.

'Yes.'

Saiki floated a shirt into her hands. It was folded and slightly wrinkled.

"Oh! Is this the shirt I got you at the mall? You wear it often, I'm surprised. It's your favorite?"

Saiki nodded, without ever looking up from his book.

"Well, you have always liked the color purple," she said, closing the door.

Saiki couldn't help but smile.

********************

The familiar flooding of words.

It was a nuisance; a nuisance Saiki had learned to tolerate. Tolerate might not have been the right word for it, but Saiki refused to call it anything else.

It was almost comforting.

Almost.

Saiki refused to deviate from the word "almost", because he believed it couldn't be anything else.

But no matter what he decided to call it, he had gotten used to it. So when he was walking to the Ando Manga Cafe, without the usual cascade of thoughts, he almost started to worry.

He still liked the word "almost".

And when he stepped inside the cafe without seeing or hearing any hint of Akechi, it became increasingly difficult to ignore the concern growing in the pit of his stomach.

He walked up to counter to order his food, and without Akechi there to waste time, it was quicker than usual. He set his food on the table and walked over to the bookshelf. He selected volume six of Silent Cyborg and placed it on the table. For a second, he considered setting the book on the chair next to him, but that option dissipated as he sat down.

He flipped open his manga to chapter eighteen.

Minutes passed, but he kept rereading the same panel, over and over and over again. He couldn't move past it, and he wasn't sure why. It kept catching his eye, and every time he moved on to another panel, he simply lost focus entirely.

'I'm so late! I wonder if Kusuo-kun if there yet. For the past eight weeks, he's always arrived at 10 a.m. I hope he won't be upset with me, what with our unspoken agreement to see each other every Sunday.'

Saiki let out a deep sigh.

He stood up and opened the door, walking outside to meet Akechi.

Akechi was a bit out of breath as he ran up to Saiki with a book in his hands.

"Good m-morning, Kusuo-kun! Forgive me for dropping by a bit later than usual. I saw an interesting bird with a remarkable pattern on it's wings, and I followed it in trying to identify it. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with the area, seeing how I just moved here recently. I'm not entirely sure if I've mentioned it to you before or not, but I suppose you know now. Anyway, I got lost and had to stop to ask for directions. Luckily, I met a nice older woman who pointed me in the direction of the cafe, but I did run so I wouldn't get here too late. Granted, I'm still about nineteen minutes later than usual, seeing how I normally arrive before you."

'Come inside.'

'I've been waiting for you,' he thought about projecting.

Saiki walked up to the counter and stood behind Akechi, who had run into the cafe enthusiastically. Akechi saw Saiki behind him and moved to the side, gesturing his hands to let Saiki in front of him.

After a bit of hesitation and embarrassment, Saiki stepped in front of him, trying to ignore the fact that he was tipping an imaginary hat at him.

He ordered his food without a hitch, but the same couldn't be said for Akechi, who still tried to talk to Nakamura.

Saiki almost would've thought he'd be intimidated by her by now, but then again, he still talked to Saiki even though he thought he was a psychopath before they first met.

Akechi sat down and set his food on the table, placing his book next to him on an empty space of his chair.

"Kusuo-kun, would you like a bite of my cake?"

'Are you just saying that to get some coffee jelly?'

"Of course not," he said, waving his hands around. "I am offering you cake because I know you enjoy it nearly as much as I do. I would love to share the joy that cake invokes. But... if you're offering..." His voice trailed off as a grin grew on his face.

Saiki rolled his eyes.

Without a moment's hesitation, Saiki scooped up a spoonful of coffee jelly and handed it to Akechi. This time, he couldn't be bothered to care if he grabbed too much or not. Akechi ate it and handed the spoon back to Saiki.

"Ah! Thank you so much! One thing did bother me about it, though. I must say, it tasted sweeter when you fed it to me."

Saiki didn't have the foggiest idea about what Akechi meant. How would that affect the taste? What did that even mean? He figured it was just another emotion he'd never understand.

'My turn.'

Saiki picked up Akechi's fork and stole a bite of cake.

Akechi gasped dramatically, and Saiki looked at him in confusion.

"Kusuo-kun, how could you! Stealing my cake like that. Awfully rude of you, taking my food. I could've fed it to you like last time, and I wouldn't have minded. Had it been anyone else, I might have been offended. But since you're my friend, I'll give you a free pass," he said, trying not to laugh.

Saiki couldn't believe he was getting scolded.

By Akechi, of all people.

Apparently Akechi found it odd as well, because he was suppressing giggles.

"Oh! Kusuo-kun, I have the third book in the series. Did you enjoy the second one? My favorite is book three, so I think you'll enjoy it as well. I got immersed in the story, so much so that I could almost see the characters. Of course, we are different people, and have different tastes, but since you've enjoyed it so far and I've enjoyed Silent Cyborg, it's not too much of a stretch to suggest it."

Akechi grabbed the book from beside him and placed it in Saiki's lap.

'Thank you.'

Really, Saiki wasn't as invested in the story as Akechi was. He didn't dislike the books, per say, but he didn't get engulfed in the story as Akechi did.

At this point, half the reason he continued reading it was to humor Akechi, and the other half was because he couldn't get over the fact that Akechi compared him to Hanamura.

It almost made him laugh, how Akechi could act so childishly, yet still seem mature and sophisticated when he was talking non-stop about who knows what. Akechi knew everything about anything, and Saiki had no idea how he did it.

He figured he must be a genius.

Or maybe, "almost" a genius.

Almost could be a very convenient word at times. For example, Saiki could say he "almost" liked Akechi, or that he "almost" worried about him.

And no matter how much he knew he was lying-

And no matter how much it seemed like it, he knew it wasn't. It was "almost".

And Saiki " almost" choked on his coffee jelly when Nakamura thought about how sweet they were with each other.

Almost.