Okay, I had to admit. I was impressed with the extent of Kusuo's powers. However, I was not ecstatic to be pressed against him- or at least I assumed, since he was still invisible- in a tight closet. It couldn't have been used for more than cleaning supplies. The room smelled musty. With every breath I drew in, I felt as if I were suffocating- from both the closeness and dry odor. Shelves poked at my left side, so I was forced to stand against the adjacent wall.
Saiki was cramped in front of me. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, his figure came into my focus. Invisibility must have warn off. I could see his chest rise and fall softly as he took in breaths. I tried to ignore the heat radiating off his body. He was warm, and he smelled of mint and fresh laundry.
"Kusuo..." I started, trying not to let my voice quiver. It felt strange to use his first name, especially in the given predicament. I didn't want to seem nervous. In order to remain his equal, I had to be just as passive as him. It didn't help to hear his heart pounding just as mine. With both of our enhanced hearing, there was no doubt we couldn't not hear it. Nevertheless we were smart enough to not point it out. It was just the rush from the prank, that's all. It couldn't be something else, could it?
"I'm not a fan either," he mumbled before I could complain. His forearm rested by my head, his other hand resting at his side. He turned his head as to not stare at me directly. "Just stay like this until the hall clears." In the dim light seeping from the closet, I made out his pronounced jawline and sharp side profile. Soft light glowed on his face, amplifying his unique features.
"Was this your plan all along, perv?" I whispered, trying to keep things playful. The atmosphere was starting to get a little too heavy. Then again, that could have just been the viruses from the molding around the wall trims we were breathing in. Kusuo turned to face me again. I couldn't be sure, but he might have smiled. A glint of light danced on his glasses. I thought I saw his eye line flicker to my lips.
Time seemed to tick by slowly, suffocating.
He let out a soft breath, like a small laugh. My stomach tickled as I felt his warm breath on my face. He wasn't that much taller than me, but I still felt the extent of his masculinity. A strange urge to be feminine tugged on my heart. Something about this moment made my insides feel like goo.
I tried to raise my arms and push him, pushing the door open, but the resistance blocked me. My hands instead rested on his hard chest. Heat seeped into my palms. It felt comforting and right. My heart pounded faster at the close contact of the hands and him, separated by thin cloth.
"Was this yours?" Kusuo countered, shifting from the discomfort of my touch. He implied I wanted this. I would never care to be in such close proximity to him, I thought. And yet, there was something intoxicating about this touch. I could feel his heartbeat quicken, too, with a slight humming noise. I wondered where it could be coming from. Afraid of the answer, I dragged my hands off of him. My cheeks reddened as I felt my fingertips graze his stomach.
I thought he let out a breath. Maybe a small noise. It might have even been my imagination. Suddenly something fell- probably from his shifting. On instinct, I slid down the wall to pick it up. Unfortunately, I was now met with Saiki's lower half.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, a slight trace of shock lacing his tone.
"I-I was getting it..."
More time passed. Despite the buzzing of the halls, it seemed to be all drowned out within current circumstances. I tried not to look up. My body was heating up from humiliation, and I knew he could sense it. I also felt warmth radiate from him. Once again, tremors rippled through my body. I was about to explode.
"We should leave now."
Finally the hallway chatter died down and we both let out a breath. Saiki pushed open and door and immediately escaped. I followed behind him, relieved. The anxiety in my blood calmed. I blinked open to noticed the look of terror in his eyes.
"Kusuo...?" I turned around to see what was so shocking. There, in the closet, was not only cleaning supplies, but also a giant cockroach.
"Come with me, Y/n. I'm recharged." This time, instead of Saiki grabbing me, I clutched onto him and pinched my eyes shut as I was teleported into the great nowhere. When the dizziness faded, I smelt fresh forest.
I opened my eyes and became aware of my surroundings. Lush green leaves surrounded us, and a rushing sound enveloped our area. Birds chirped in the distance and water sprung from our feet. I looked down as my socks became soaked. I saw that we were in a river of some sort. I stepped forward and suddenly slipped on a rock. My eyes widened as I plummeted down, appendages flailing as the water sprayed my face. I was going to meet my death at some random ass waterfall.
Suddenly I felt arms wrap around my torso. I felt Kusuo's presence behind me, taking hold of my body. Other than the cold, earthy wind hitting my face, I felt a tickle of warm air hit my ear. I'd have shivered if he weren't holding me tightly. Good thing the drop had increased my heart beat or Saiki would have suspected he made me nervous. Suddenly I felt our descend slow, and we were no longer in peril.
I opened my eyes after squeezing them shut. The wind and the sight of plummeting to my death had kept them shut. We were now on a piece of rocky land by the bottom of the waterfall. I took in a few breaths, calming myself. Saiki had let go and was now sitting on a fallen log, looking bored as usual.
"Good grief, you really can't go five minutes without tripping, can you?
"Excuse me? You were the one who teleported us to some random ass forest after seeing an insect."
"It's not random. We're at Angel falls, Venezuela."
"It doesn't matter; you overreacted like a crybaby."
"You would have done the same thing," he defended himself.
"So? I thought you were the man. The alpha. Girls like me are allowed to be soft and fragile, aren't they?" I batted my eyes. Kusuo made a face.
"Stop acting like that."
"You stop acting like that."
"You're being an idiot."
I stuck my tongue out at him. He scoffed and turned away. That's when I noticed his clothes had gotten wet. I found myself tracing his body, unable to stop myself from looking over his slim, masculine frame. I was surprised to see his back actually had some definition. On top of that, his shoulders were broad and his waist was thin. His pink hair was soaked, and light glinted off the water droplets donning his face. I noticed my hair was dripping, too.
"So they were pink."
"What?"
"Your panties. They were pink. I'm assuming that's a matching set?"
I looked up at Kusuo, now turned back to me. His purples eyes had a glint of mischief that even his glasses could not hide. I followed his eyeline to my chest, where, sure enough, my uniform was soaked and sticking to me.
Not only was the uniform white, it was also fairly transparent. Water added on top of that meant a total disaster. My uniform was tightened around my chest, showing off my blush pink laced bralette. He was right; I was wearing a matching set. Lucky enough, the mint skirt stopped just before my knee, and was not see-through. However, during that fall there was no guarantee that my skirt didn't flutter up enough to expose anything. Either way Kusuo had said and seen too much.
"What the hell!" I blurted, immediately covering myself up. My dark hair clung to my back and I pulled it forward, hiding my chest. I relapsed to formality, scared of the closeness things were becoming. Saiki continued to stare with no shame. I admitted I had checked him out, but there was no reason for him to point out his judgement.
"I was only stating a theory."
"That's so pervy of you!"
"Relax, I didn't mean it in a sexual manor."
I couldn't stop the crazy red tint seeping into my cheeks. I now felt even more humiliated and angry than from the encounter with Toritsuka. Maybe not to that level, but still. Saiki looked too fine to admit, so I felt insecure.
"Believe it or not, pink is my favorite color." My chin was lifted up by him. My eyes met his, sparkling with tease. His finger pointed to his hair.
"I-I don't care! Get away from me. I'm going home."
"Y/n, do you really think you have a shot at getting back to Japan alone... from Venezuela. With no money and a soaked uniform?"
"Well, pretty girls have a lot of privilege! Just look at Teruhashi!"
"You don't consider yourself pretty, do you?"
"Listen hear, Pinky Pie-"
"I was kidding. Good grief, you can't take jokes, can you?"
I bit my tongue, deciding silent treatment was the best option. He finally sighed.
"I'm sorry, Geez. Look, we have less than ten minutes until I'm recharged again. But hey, it's cool and pretty here at least. We should use this opportunity to test your powers. We could spend the rest of the day here, if you wanted."
I wouldn't spend alone time with Kusuo while I was basically naked and soaked. But, he was right, it was pretty. Light shone from the gaps of the forest, rushing water and birds chirping filled the atmosphere, and it was peaceful. That was the problem. I was having a hard time facing him without my eyes adverting to his chest, and I knew my bra was visible.
"I have work after school." That was true, but I wasn't going to mention the rest of the reasons. He sighed.
"Why don't you just show me a little preview of your powers?"
I guessed there was no harm in that. "Fine, but you have to dry me off first."
"How do you know I can do that?"
"You're basically God, aren't you?" I was hoping to prove this idea wrong, but suddenly I felt the water evaporate off my body and my clothes pop off my skin. I was fully dry.
"There, happy? Now come on, show me your powers."
My powers... what even were they? I'd never really had anything special, and I was afraid to disappoint him. To be honest I haven't even tested them. I only knew for sure the human enhancements, which I told him.
"Super speed, telepathy, hearing, okay... that's it? Not even strength?"
"Oh my God, Saiki. Not everyone was born in planet Krypton."
"Well you obviously left out electricity."
"It's not even electricity, really. It's just like a charged manifestation of my emotions that I can't really control." I only knew that, whenever I was upset or excited, they got out of control. I'd tried to manipulate electricity in the past, but there didn't seem to be a link.
"Show me," he said. We spent a few minutes trading shows of our powers, or mostly him showing me. I could only run to Hawaii and bring back a Hawaiian bobble head.
"I thought you were out of shape."
"If I'm running at a human pace, I am. My body is conditioned to hyper speed."
Saiki thought my powers had some link to him, so he started experimenting with physical touch.The real truth of it was, I became nervous when touching him. I didn't want him to know that, so I tried to refrain from it. I felt different when I was with him. I didn't think too much about it, afraid it was feelings... Still, as we held hands, I did feel a certain connection, and it wasn't just emotional. Though it still felt like we were polar opposites, we felt the same in a magnetic reference. It was hard to be near him, as our bodies energies rejected each other. And yet as soon as our fingers were intertwined and we concentrated, the hum of our powers synced up.
"We should try to see if you have chameleon energy," he suggested.
"What the hell?" I asked, somewhat offended that he thought I could be linked to a reptile.
"It means learning, adapting capabilities. If I try to teach you some of my powers, you could possibly pick them up." And so we did. Saiki started with the basic, telepathy. He thought I could learn to send images and such to other people.
Since we were focused on each other, we held hands. This made us able to speak to each other through our minds. There were a few animals within the forest so we tested sending thoughts that would attract them here. I couldn't communicate with animals, so Saiki said it was like killing two birds with one stone.
I watched as his face grew serious and then rested again. A few moments later, a deer came hopping into our scene.
"What did you tell it?"
"I sent images of blueberries by the river. Now, you try."
I started thinking about what could attract an animal here. The only thing attractive that I could think about was Teruhashi, as much as I hated to admit. I tried to focus and focus, but for some reason, I could only think about the blue headed girl. I decided to give it a try anyways since I probably still couldn't communicate with animals.
A few moments passed, and nothing happened.
"I guess it didn't work?" Saiki pulled his hands away from mine. A pulse had started running through our bodies after I got nervous about disappointing him. I sighed.
"Well, that's to be expected wh-"
Suddenly the ground started rumbling. The sound of hundreds of footsteps rushing towards us filled our ears. Saiki grabbed my hand, ready to teleport. I tightened my hold around his. Through the forest, hundreds of animals, big and small, came galloping full speed towards us.
"What the hell?" Saiki and I said in unison. The animals continued charging, bellowing war cries, and spreading out around us, looking desperately for something. Or, some one. My stomach dropped in both excitement and fear. The animals continued their rampage, heading our way.
"Jesus, we gotta go!" I yelled, squeezing Saiki's hand. My world folded and vision blackened, and then suddenly we were back at his house.
I collapsed on the floor, panting from anxiety. We were almost trampled. Even Saiki looked shaken.
"What the hell did you send to their minds?"
"...Teruhashi." I shouldn't have been surprised her image also had effects on animals.
"Well... at least it worked." Saiki cracked a small smile, his eyes slanted devilishly.
"What?" I questioned him.
"Why were you thinking about Teruhashi?"
"Well... you said think about something that would attract them. The most attractive thing I can think about was Teruhashi."
"You literally could have used the image of blueberries as well."
"Yeah, but blue got me thinking to Teruhashi, too."
"Good grief, she got to you too?"
"No! I just..." Glancing around, trying to avoid the conversation, I noticed his alarm clock.
"Saiki, shit! School ended thirty minutes ago! I've got to get to work!"
"Take me," he said, following me out the door.
"What the hell! I've got to get dressed. You've seen enough already."
"You owe me coffee jelly."
"What?"
"I saved your life and teleported you like three times. The least you could do is buy me a coffee jelly."
"Oh my God, Kusuo- Saiki. I'm literally working at a maid cafe because I am broke. I do not have the funds to buy you a coffee jelly."
"Besides," I said, turning around to body check him, "it's not like you need the extra calories." I was obviously lying, but I wanted to piss him off.
"Fine, what a pain. And stop trying to resist my name, Y/n*. Plus I'll just watch you work. Seeing you in a maid dress is already enough for me."
"You perv..!"
"Only because it's so humiliating for you," he said, tipping in to pop my personal bubble. His glasses twinkled with humor. I glared.
"Do not follow me, Pinkie Pie. I do not have the patience today. You spent seven hours with me; isn't that enough for you?"
Kusuo glared at the nickname I set for him. "Fine, I'll just meet you there. Don't be late." He closed the house door behind him after letting me out, then promptly disappeared.
"That cheater," I muttered, knowing he'd teleported once again.
. . . . . . .
*
Kusuo now refers to you by using your first name, a sign of informality and closeness in Japanese culture.
A/N: That was a long chapter- 2882 words! I hope you enjoyed it! Things are really starting to pick up now. I might be doing a couple edits to fill in some plot holes during and after the finale, but most will be grammar and spelling updates. Remember to vote and comment! As usual, here is your chapter Saiki pic:
see you next time, my beloveds! <3