Chapter 2 | A Small Token Of Appreciation

Waking up at dawn the next day, Akira prepared breakfast, kissed her siblings goodbye, and went out first at 5 o'clock in the morning to start on her morning job, which was delivering the daily newspapers in a couple of neighborhoods.

At school, Akira spent her break time at school evading incoming social niceties by fleeing to the roof, which was unexpectedly deserted.

You'd think that more students would find the roof a great place to hang out.

Well, they did. That is until they changed their minds when they found themselves victim to the sun's searing light or the rain's cold droplets, depending on the weather.

Akira was able to easily counter those obstacles by using stray cardboard boxes left scattered to build a makeshift fort that protects her from both heat and water.

Then, after school ended, the teen found herself repeating her pattern from yesterday — she came home, cooked dinner, ate her meal on foot, and clocked in to work.

Luckily, it was currently a lazy night in Yogachi, the cafe she's part-timing at, giving Akari the perfect chance to review her notes she took from that day's lessons.

She wasn't all that worried about getting caught too, as the men were all out to slip a few-minutes smoke in, while the women gathered in one corner to tittle-tattle stories to share. Mostly about the latest news of some famous person's scandal and whatnot.

It was almost at the end of her shift when she overheard something noteworthy.

"Hey, did you hear about the meteorite?"

"Oh my gosh, I did! I can't believe it happened again!"

"Right? It's just so crazy, isn't it?! I mean how can it just— swoosh, just like that?"

As it was a rather unusual conversation topic, Akira's curiosity was piqued. So she turned to the group of staff and asked, "What happened 'again'?"

The ladies eagerly brought her into their circle, always delighted to have another person to gossip with.

"Didn't you see the news? They said that a meteorite was actually predicted to crash into earth in a month, but something made it turn."

"And two months ago, there were supposed to be two meteorites. But something also made them turn away from our planet."

"And don't forget about last year. We could've died to an earth-sized meteor back then— Scary. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers."

"Turn? As in, they all just... turned?" Akira said dubiously.

"Yeah, yeah! Turned, as in a ball bounced off the wall kind of turn."

"No, no, no! Turned, as in a car making a U-turn kind of turn."

"Don't you mean; Turned, as in Oh my God, Toru-san is actually gay! kind of turn?"

"What?!"

"I knew it."

"My Toru-sama is gay?!"

"I don't believe you!!"

"Oh, come on! It's so obvious from the way he dresses!"

Noticing that they're getting off topic, Akira quietly excused herself from the group.

She did some last minute cleaning, before heading off to her midnight job, of which she spent the next four hours working on autopilot. Thankfully, transporting packages from point A to point B doesn't really require that much brain power so her superiors didn't notice her lack of attention in her task.

It's definitely Saiki's doing. She finally concluded after a long, unnecessary debate with herself. It must be, since there's no one else who's capable of it.

But now, there's another question she'd like answered. Why haven't people been questioning the bizzare event? The ladies definitely said that it was broadcasted all over the news, so there's a good chance that the public saw it.

Akira made a face when a theory came to mind.

Does it happen so often that they just automatically expect at the meteorites to turn on its path?

She then wondered just how many times the strongest psychic on earth have saved their planet from its doom.

That must've been tough.

"Hey, Kuro! What's with the frown?"

Akira snapped out of her thoughts when a gruff voice called her name. She looked to her left and saw a middle-aged man with short, salt and pepper hair leaning on a pillar, a cigarette tucked between his fingers.

"Nothing, Matsuba-san!" She yelled back, laying the four loads she's carrying onto the ground before turning back to get more crates.

"Ya sure? It don't look like nothing to me, kiddo." The man commented, before sending a scowl her way, "And how many times do I hafta to tell you — Call me Goro, for God's sake!"

Akira rolled her eyes at the geezer, "I'm very sure. It's not like thinking have ever hurt anyone before," And for the heck of it, she added, "Matsuba-san."

Her cheek earned her an annoyed groan from the male, but didn't throw him off of her tail as she had hoped. Instead, the older man started to follow her around the warehouse, walking beside her as she brought loads from one truck to another.

"Thinking may not physically hurt somebody, but it sure as hell can affect you mentally." Goro said wisely, which drew a snort from Akari.

She nudged his side teasingly, "And where did you read that? From one of your pin-up magazines?"

"Shush, you." He lightly tapped her head, "I'm tryna be helpful here."

"Well, who said I wanted help?"

"A–ha!" Akari jumped when Goro suddenly pointed at her, "I didn't say that I was tryna be helpful to you, now did I." He pointed out, looking a bit too smug for using a middle school trick.

This time, Akari didn't even bother.

She laughed softly under her breath and rolled her eyes once more, "Fine. You win, Matsuba-san."

Said man grinned triumphantly, "Good t'know ya realize my greatness, Kuro-chan. Now tell the great Goro-sama what's bothering ya."

Akari took her time to collect her thoughts, trying to think of how to word it without exposing to the existence of supernatural prowess to the man. Goro let her be, he just continued to follow her in silence, knowing that she'd tell him once she's ready.

Eight minutes was how long it took before Akari finally opened her mouth.

"It's not a big deal, really." She sighed, "It's just that I realized that somebody I know has been... helping a lot of people without their knowledge, and— You know, I just thought that it must've been tiring." She finished with a shrug.

Goro hummed in thought, and after a few moments, said, "That's it?"

"Told you it's not that big of a deal." Akari poked her tongue out at him, though she quickly pulled the appendage back in before the man could hit her chin to make her bite her tongue.

He'd done it before and she had no doubt that he'll do it again.

"Well then, it's simple really. You just hafta—"

"Woah, woah, woah." Akari cut in before he could say more, "I didn't ask for a solution. I was just pondering about it, is all."

"But don't cha feel bad for the guy?" Goro pouted. "If I'm doing something good, I at least want someone to know what I did."

Akira stared blankly at him.

That... is actually a very good point.

Have anyone actually thanked him for all that he has done?

"...But he doesn't know that I know — or, at least, I don't think so." She muttered to herself before turning to Goro for some answers, "And I don't want him to know that I know. What do you think I should do then?"

Goro's smile, that had emerged when she thought deeply about his statement, 1uickly shifted into a full-blown grin.

"Lucky for you, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

⊂(･◡･⊂ )∘˚˳°

After a one-hour power nap, an unhealthy dose of morning coffee and three hours of delivering newspapers to each houses, Akari stumbled into Class 2–∭.

It was still quite early when she arrived, so the classroom was currently vacant of its students.

Perfect.

Taking one last look into the empty hallway, Akira quickly headed to a specific desk and dug through her bag. Once she found what she's searching for, she pulled it out, revealing a neatly wrapped coffee jelly — She always got a few leftover cups whenever she worked at Yogachi, so giving one away wasn't much of a problem.

Akari kneeled on one knee and slid the dessert carefully into the desk. She calculated it perfectly, placing it not too deep so Saiki would be able to see it once seated but still enough so passerbys wouldn't be able to notice it when standing.

That should do it.

Satisfied, Akari nodded to herself before heading to her own seat right behind it. She neatly unpacked her things, putting the books in her desk and her pencil case at the corner of the table, and checked her watch.

7.24 a.m.

"There's still about an hour left." Akari thought out loud, yawning widely behind her hand, "Maybe I should catch up on my sleep." She muttered, already resting her head in her arms.

.

.

.

It didn't feel like Akira had slept all that long.

Honestly, she even thought that she'd still have plenty of time to properly wake herself before the class would start.

But when she opened her eyes, the girl realized that she'd slept through the entire first period, which meant that she'd gotten almost two whole hours of uninterrupted rest.

"—So I were to change the exponential. There you go, can somebody tell me what the answer would be—? Yes, Muramiya-kun."

"Um... Seven-hundred-and-sixty-four point five-one-two?"

What the hell?

Blinking blearily against the light, Akira slowly lifted her head off the table, careful as to not bring any attention to her. She subtly looked around but it was like no one had noticed the new transfer student waking up from her slumber.

This doesn't make sense. How come no one woke me up? Not the teachers nor the students. Akira wondered before a thought echoed in her sleep-deprived mind, Maybe a powerful being gave me a blessing for all the hard work I've put in for my family.

Yes, that makes sense. Or maybe it's a side effect from being an anomaly in this world... Akira pondered thoughtfully before dismissing it with a shake of her head. Ah, whatever! I don't want to think about it.

Her mind leaving the topic behind, the teen hurried to pull out her notebook, intending to copy anything that's been written on the blackboard to review later.

If she'd been less disoriented and more alert, Akira would've realized just how absurd both the ideas were. But since she's currently too drained and grateful to think more deeply about it, the girl accepted things as it was and thanked whatever deity or god for the boon.

⊂(･◡･⊂ )∘˚˳°

Akira slipped her shoes on and called into the apartment, "I'm heading out to the convenience store now. Any of you want something?"

"Oooh! I want ice cream, nee-chan!" Came Akito's immediate reply, which was followed by Aoi's "Me too, me too!" and then, Asuka's "Me thwee."

Akira felt a fond smile tug upon her lips, "Fine, fine. But then I won't buy those jelly you all love, alright?" She said back as she opened the door.

"What—?!"

"Aah, wait—!!"

"Nooooo—!"

Thump!

Her siblings' cries were cut off as she slammed the door shut.

It was a lie, of course.

Akira was obviously going to buy her siblings both the ice cream and the jelly. She wouldn't notice the difference even if she took a pinch out of her monthly allowance.

As Akira walked down the street, something caught her eye.

On the other side of the road, walking the same way as her were Saiki and Teruhashi. The sight of Saiki deliberately avoiding Teruhashi reminded her of the exact scene in the anime that's currently playing out in real life.

Akira let out a breath of amusement when it seemed to have turned into a game where Saiki was doing everything he could — i.e. dodge, swerve, and duck — to evade all of Teruhashi's effort to get skin-to-skin contact.

The girl just doesn't learn, does she.

But Akira had to admit.

That stubborness the angelic girl possessed had grown on her, even through the barrier of her phone screen. And evidently from the anime, she had– or, she would also grow onto the overpowered esper if things were to proceed as... destined, for the lack of better words.

I wonder when they'd bump into Nendou. If I remembered correctly, Saiki is going to teleport and Teruhashi will think that he was an illusion that she made up.

Akira snorted. What a way to start crushing on someone who's essentially stranger.

Though, it was rather peculiar — how Teruhashi managed to go from thinking that she had a crush on Saiki to crushing on him for real — for she never really know Saiki Kusuo the psychic. The girl only knew of Saiki Kusuo as one of the very few 'no-Oh!'s in the world when met with her beauty. She knew that the boy was in the same class as hers, and that he's a loner whose mind nobody could read.

And then there's the fact that she only started to pursue the psychic because he didn't fall to his knees the moment she graced him with her presence.

Is this a girl's equivalent to the "No girls have ever hit me before" trope? Akira suddenly mused. Now that's something to think about.

Though amused as she was, she does feel somewhat akin to sympathy for the guy. For someone who also prefers being alone than hanging out with a bunch of people, Akira pitied him for getting cajoled into hanging out with his colourful group... (in the future).

Though only slightly.

Because no matter what he said in the anime, ever since the time she easily turned Nendou's invitation down, Akira is one-hundred percent convinced that he genuinely cared for them and didn't seem to mind their antics all that much....

Or, will not mind their antics—

Well, you get it.

Man, knowing the future is hard.

"Good afternoon, Kuro-san."

Akira's thoughts halted while her body stopped in its tracks, when she heard someone calling out to her from behind.

She'd only heard the voice once since she transferred, but she was able to recognize it in an instant.

It took her a second, but she eventually turned towards the source of the voice and gave him a pleasant smile. "Good afternoon, Saiki-san." She greeted the pink-haired boy, wondering what he needed from her, as she spied Teruhashi slowly making her way to them.

Akira waited a few moments to see what he wanted to say but the psychic simply stood there, staring at her with a blank look. She couldn't help her gaze straying towards the bluenette, who's getting nearer and nearer by the second.

Thankfully, her horde of fanboys seemed to be holding her back for now, but it doesn't change the fact that she will arrive sooner or later with a crowd trailing behind her like a lost puppy.

And if she's still with Saiki by the time she arrived, it'd mean that Akira, herself, would have to interact with the proclaimed angel and that'd just bring too much attention on her than she would've liked.

So obviously, Akira needed to escape. Now.

"So," Akira trailed, hoping that he'd say his piece quicker, "To what do I owe the pleasure, Saiki-san?"

There was a moment of silence before Saiki finally said something.

"I know."

Akira blinked slowly, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

Or at least, trying to look like she's trying to figure out what he was talking about.

Because she knew.

She knew instantly what he's talking about.

And she knew that he knew that she knew.

⊂(･◡･⊂ )∘˚˳°

Goro: *Grinning* "Sooooo, who's the guy?"
Akira: "Huh? What guy?"
Goro: "Oh, maybe i'sa she? Ya can tell me, I don't judge nothin'."
Akira: "But I still have no clue as to what you're trying to say."
Goro: "Ya know! The friend you've been lookin' at."
Akira: "'Looking'—? What are you talking about, Matsuba-san?"
Goro: *Nudging Akira and wiggling his eyebrows*
Goro: "Playin' coy, ey?"
Akira: *Throwing her hands up in exasperation*
Akira: "Can I at least know what you're teasing me about?!"

Saiki Kusuo: S01 E01

It's a bit shorter than the first chapter.

But for the sake of suspense and cliffhanger, t'is something I must do >:)

J Out!