That night, Akemi had actually taken Ren's advice and gotten more sleep than she had in a while. When she woke up, she had gone to school to be completely avoided by Saiki. Akemi went through the day slightly annoyed that Saiki was running away, but it made her a little more confident. Saiki was avoiding her confrontation, and that all but confirmed things even more for her. Though, when she came to school the next day, Saiki managed to get away from her again. And it was like that for the rest of the week.
"Do you think he's really avoiding you or has something else to do?" Ren asked as Akemi sat down. It was the end of the week and she had immediately gone to Ren after school like she had almost every day that week.
"No, he's definitely avoiding me," Akemi said with a sigh.
Ren hummed, "What are you gonna do?"
Akemi shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'll go to his house."
"Akemi, I don't think that's a good idea," Ren said with a serious tone.
"I know where he lives," Akemi muttered.
Ren let out an annoyed sigh, "Akemi, really?"
"Yeah, why not? His parents seemed to like me." Akemi said, propping her head up on her arms.
Ren shook his head, "Akemi, maybe you need a break from worrying about this."
"I just want a clear answer," Akemi said with a huff. Then she stood up. "Wish me luck."
"Wait, you're not actually going to his house, are you?" Ren questioned.
"Yes, I'm going to and you can't stop me," Akemi said. Before Ren had a chance to argue with her, she slipped out of the shop and started walking home.
When she got home, she changed out of her uniform, said hi to her dad, then left and made her way to Saiki's house. She remembered the short walk from New Year's and quickly made her way to the house. When she got there, Akemi took a deep breath before she walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. She shifted uncomfortably and suddenly regretted her slightly impulsive decision to come to the house.
Then, the door opened to reveal Saiki's mom, "Oh, hi, you're Kumiko, right?"
"Yes," Akemi replied with a polite smile.
"It's nice to see you. What do you need?" Mrs. Saiki asked
"Is Sai- uh, Kusuo here?" Akemi questioned, earning a nod from Mrs. Saiki. "Can I talk to him? It's for... a school thing."
Saiki's mom smiled brightly, a look on her face that made Akemi's face heat up a little. "Yes, come in."
"Thank you," Akemi said, stepping inside the house.
She took her shoes off and Mrs. Saiki told her, "Kusuo is upstairs in his room. It's the first door on the left."
"Thank you," Akemi repeated before heading up the stairs and over to the door Saiki's mom had told her to go to. Akemi took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
After a second, the door opened and Saiki was standing in front of her with a slightly surprised look on his face. But it disappeared instantly and was replaced with a frown, "What are you doing here?"
"You were avoiding me and I had to talk to you," Akemi said.
Saiki sighed and stepped inside his room. Akemi took in a breath before she followed him inside. Akemi glanced around the room as Saiki sat down at his desk. "What do you need to talk about?"
"Do you really need to ask that?" Akemi questioned, sitting down on the bed. Saiki sighed again and Akemi continued, "I talked to Teruhashi and Hairo a few days ago."
"Oh."
Akemi took a deep breath then a small smile formed on her face. "I didn't know you used to play tennis. Or that you used to have a girlfriend. Honestly, you don't seem like the type of person to play tennis or have a girlfriend."
Saiki sighed and took a few seconds to decide what to say next. Then he spoke, "Have you told anyone?"
Akemi's eyes widened slightly. "Uh, I talked to Ren about it, but that's it." Saiki sighed again and Akemi continued, "So it's true?"
"Yes. I'm a psychic."
"Holy crap," Akemi breathed. She knew it was true, but hearing it confirmed from Saiki was different. There had always been the thought in the back of her mind that she was just making it all up, but now that thought was crushed. "So, everything that happened at Okinawa, and all the other strange things have been because of you?"
Saiki took in a breath before he nodded, "Yes."
"Wow. That explains so much." Akemi murmured. She took a deep breath before asking, "So, you have superpowers and stuff?"
"Yes," Saiki answered with a sigh.
"What can you do?" Akemi asked.
Saiki shrugged, "A lot. The main thing is reading minds."
"Reading minds? You can read minds?" Akemi questioned, tensing up. So does he know about my mom? Does he know what I'm thinking right now?
"Yes, but not yours," Saiki answered.
"What?"
"I can't read your mind. Or use any of my powers on you." Saiki said. He sighed again. "That's why you were able to figure it out."
Akemi blinked, "You can use your powers on everyone, but me?"
"Not entirely. I can't read Nendo's mind or bugs." Saiki explained.
"So I'm on the same level as bugs and Nendo?" Akemi asked in an annoyed tone.
Saiki sighed, "No, that's why you're so interesting. None of my powers work on you."
"I don't get it."
"I can't read Nendo's mind because he doesn't think. He's an idiot. But I can use my other powers on him. With you, it's like something's keeping me from using any of my powers on you."
Akemi shifted and took a second to process everything that Saiki was saying. After a minute, things seemed to really sink in and now more and more curiosity filled her. "So you have other powers, besides mind-reading?" Saiki nodded and she asked. "What are they?"
"There's a lot," Saiki answered simply.
"And you're not going to tell me all of them?" Akemi questioned
"No," Saiki said shortly, earning a frustrated sigh from Akemi. Then he added. "It doesn't really matter, none of them work on you."
"Why?" Akemi asked, pulling her legs up on the bed and sitting cross-legged. "What makes me different?"
"I don't know," Saiki said, sounding slightly defeated. "I've been trying to figure it out since you got here. And I was kind of hoping you'd know."
"Oh."
Silence filled the room and Akemi stared down at her lap. She didn't know what else to say. It was a lot to process, but she somehow was still keeping up with all of it.
"What..." Akemi started hesitantly. "What do I do about Ren? I told him everything and he'd notice if I just let it go."
Saiki hummed, "See if you can let it fizzle out. He's probably on the fence about all of it, so if you come up with a good reason for letting it go, he'd probably believe you."
"I don't really want to lie to him," Akemi mumbled, she looked back up at Saiki, but couldn't read the expression on his face. She sighed and lightly shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out."
More silence filled the air. A few minutes passed before Akemi asked, "So... now what?"
Saiki stayed quiet for a minute before he said, "You can answer some of my questions."
"Ok..."
"Why are you so distant?"
"Wh... what?"
"When you first transferred, there was... something up with you. And it seems like you're hiding something." Saiki explained. "It makes me hate that I can't read your mind."
"And it makes me glad you can't read it," Akemi muttered as she instantly figured out what Saiki was asking her to tell him.
Saiki glared at her, "You know my biggest secret. I should get to know at least this."
"I-..." Akemi took in a sharp breath. After Christmas, she felt a lot better. She was making strides to get better and it was working. Maybe her next step was to start telling more people about her mom. At least when it came up. She had told Ren and that ended up fine. "My... My mom passed away a little more than a half a year ago... That's why..."
The room went silent as Saiki's eyes widened a bit. Out of everything he was expecting, Akemi knew he wasn't expecting that. After a minute, Saiki opened his mouth and mumbled, "Sorry."
Akemi stared at him. It was like hearing him talk for the first time. She had noticed that Saiki had never really opened his mouth to speak, but never paid much attention to it. But seeing him actually speak instead of using some sort of telepathy made her really appreciate what he had said. One simple word seemed to carry so much weight. Normally, when people said things like this to her, Akemi had always felt like they were just saying things. Like the words didn't really mean anything. But, for some reason, this was different. It was real. Genuine.
Akemi lightly shook her head. Her heart was beating just a little faster than before. "It's ok. It's just been hard, you know? We moved here because my dad thought it would do us good, but it took a lot of time to adjust to things. And then we moved and I had to adjust to that too."
The room went silent again and Akemi took a few deep breaths before she said, "Please don't tell anyone. I'm sure I'll end up telling more people eventually if it comes up, but for now, I don't want to do that."
Saiki nodded and Akemi let out a long sigh in an attempt to release the tension in her body. After a minute Akemi stood up, "Well, I'm gonna head out now. Thank you. This all feels like a weight off my chest." Saiki nodded and Akemi added. "I'm going to keep your secret. I promise."
"I trust you," Saiki said, a small smile that Akemi never thought she'd see on Saiki's face appearing for just a brief few seconds. Even if it was short, the image still stuck in her head even after the emotion had gone from his face.
Akemi smiled back before she stepped out of the room and left the house without talking to anyone else.