Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan - Without Thinking

Chapter 6 - Serendipity

"She looks so pretty today, Ku-chan!"

Does she need to mention that every time she's here? Good grief.

Saiki was in the kitchen with his mother. The troublesome bunch that he still somewhat reluctantly called his friends had invited themselves over to do homework. In reality it meant that he and Teruhashi did the homework and the rest copied it. That was usually the case even for Yumehara, who was often too busy engaging Kaidou's attention to get any work done.

It'd become quite a familiar sight recently, to see them gathered here like this. Sometimes in the living room, like right now, and sometimes in his bedroom. Sometimes to do homework, and sometimes just because they could. Or thought they could, anyway. He quietly mourned the loss of his one sanctuary — his home. There was a creepy resemblance to one of the alternate realities he had encountered back when he was trying to change Touma Akechi's timeline. Saiki shuddered. There had been so much wrong with that picture.

Fortunately the summer holidays were coming up in a couple of weeks, so he'd finally have some time to himself again. He was looking forward to it.

First he had to get his mother off his back though.

"Who cares. I'd treat her the same if she'd looked like Nendou," Saiki responded gruffly as he put a bunch of tea cups on a tray. Although he would admit that he was glad that she didn't.

He was not going to admit that his mother was right, though. About her looking pretty today.

Saiki wasn't sure why. She just did. They were still in their school uniforms, so they looked the same as always. Must be an after-effect of the loss of his x-ray vision. Who knew it would still catch him off guard not to see just muscles and bones three months down the line.

For some reason Teruhashi was shining just a little bit brighter than usual today.

"I know, Ku-chan," his mother smiled as she poured tea into the cups, "I'm just so happy for you." She was so bubbly today.

Saiki decided to ignore the insinuation. "The girls are just tagging along more now because Yumehara-san is into Kaidou," he explained with a flat voice. "Kaidou is clueless though."

His mother let out a hearty chuckle. "Kaidou-kun is not the only clueless one."

Saiki huffed as he picked up the tray and made for the door to the living room.

"Shut up."

***

His mother might think him clueless, but he knew better. He understood it might be easy to misinterpret for an outsider. Saiki knew exactly what was going on though.

There had been a change in their dynamic after Teruhashi had found out about him. She'd lost that silly crush on him, which had allowed for a special kind of friendship to blossom. One that people might misunderstand, because boy and girl, right. Right.

They had no idea.

After that biology assignment, they'd started exchanging notes in class. Just something to pass the time. Sometimes it was an attempt to get her to chortle out loud in class when it was totally quiet and inappropriate. She would try to return the dubious favor, of course, but his poker face was unmatched. Hers wasn't far off, though.

He'd actually become pretty good at doodling now. It was hilarious to see what she came up with, too. Who knew they shared that lame, dry sense of humor?

Maybe that party hadn't been so disastrous after all.

His powers hadn't returned anymore either. They were really gone now. Saiki Kusuo was the most average, run-of-the-mill, boring high schooler on the planet. It was wonderful.