HIDDEN THOUGHTS. saiki kusuo

S2-4

[CHAPTER 24]

A cup of tea is a cup of peace. One cannot be disturbed while she is having tea time, mindlessly munching on Chinsuko while taking the chance to observe the surroundings from the balcony of a building.

It was already dark, though she usually just went idle through the sunset. Having tea is kind of Airin's 'stress-reliever', even having a specific type aligned with her mood.

"Are you done?" A blonde-haired man calmly asked, his hands tucked in the pockets of his lab gown as he stepped out, but received a lash response.

"Shut the fuck up."

"Oh, someone kept waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Was that parallel universe that bad?"

Airin sighed as she put down the cup of tea and crossed her arms, while he sat across the table. "It's bothering me."

"Are you afraid?"

She was caught off-guard by Kusuke's question before letting out a huff without looking at the male. "No, but the fact that one of my parallel selves is acting like that... I'm annoyed."

It's been two weeks since the parallel incident, and she has been recovering since then. Not just because of the deep wound, but because I let her do the point of view herself–

'I haven't forgiven you about that, anyway.'

Damn, chill. Can you let me narrate first?

'No.'

Girl, please?

'No.'

W-we're taking up a space in this chapter, can I just explain in private?

'To find out that you're busy with everything your priority wasn't in this? I don't care.'

Yeah, but I'm trying to–

'No. Do you know how long they're waiting? A year. You casually left the last chapter hanging like that and now you're coming back after like, what the actual fuck? Unforgivable. What, are you going to make a new chapter once a year now?'

Okay! I'm sorry, can you just proceed–

'Yeah, don't try to act so innocent. You can take that fake apology and shove it right up your—'

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

The blonde let out a chuckle before looking at the scenery of the city a few meters far from the laboratory. Did I mention that they were in a laboratory?

"And the fact that I'm the only one you're sharing something about these. You know you can tell it to your father, or even Kusuo. But kinda hurts to know that you see me like your therapist or something, Airin."

Airin eventually didn't notice the narrator's presence because I just blocked her. She decides to continue and respond to Kusuke's statement.

"I'm not asking for a therapy session. I wanted your help with that... thing. I must know their reason for trying to replace me."

"But at some times, you and I are like being in a therapy session. You would rant sometimes and I give my pieces of advice, which is surprisingly, you take some of it. Like the time when you asked about Kusuo–"

"This isn't going anywhere." Airin hissed to interrupt him and stood up. "I'm going back to Japan."

Kusuke grinned ear-to-ear as he followed her with his eyes. "Go ahead, then. I'm sure everyone's been looking at you."