บท 19: Chapter Twenty: Enticing Premium Quality Coffee Jello
"SAY ONEE-CHAN," RIKUTO STARTED TO SAY TO HIS sister as they walked side by side on the sidewalk. Akari was escorting her brother to his friend's house today. Since he had a bit of a detour the last time he was left to walk around the neighborhood on his own, Akari was tasked to watch him on the journey. There was no need for him to go out on his own and buy another manga since there was little to no room for it in his room. Also, their mother wasn't exactly happy with him buying a bunch of "useless picture books". They are not useless!!! They are pieces of art full of amazing characters and riveting storylines!!!
So to avoid Rikuto spending all of his allowance once again and/or bothering Saiki on his journey, Akari had to walk him to his destination. She wasn't exactly happy about it, but it's not like she had anything else to do today. Her parents knew this, much like it is most days, and figured that she should at least get out even for a short while today.
"Hm?" Akari hummed in question.
Rikuto skipped alongside her while pursing his lips, "Do you like Kusuo-nii?"
"He's my best friend… so yes." Akari furrowed her eyebrows at the strange question. How could Rikuto think that she didn't? She's around him a lot, like a lot. If she didn't like Saiki, then she definitely wouldn't be around him everyday. He has to be one of the least annoying people to be around, so yea, he likes him. Honestly, if Rikuto is going down the path that she thinks he is…
He shook his head rapidly, "No, no. I mean, like like."
Akari stared at him for a long moment, seeing what he was getting at. She shook her head and sighed, "You and dad are both obsessed with Kusuo and I being a couple." Akari doesn't know why they seem so invested in her non-existent love life. She's a teenager with no interest in having a partner, why do they keep trying to meddle in it?
"Well do you blame us?!" Rikuto sighed in exasperation, as if she was the crazy one. "You two are perfect for each other!"
"In what way are we perfect for each other? We both have psychic abilities, is that why?" That would be a shallow way to look at it. So the two super-powered teens have to be a couple? Is that how it works for Rikuto and her father? In that case, the same logic could apply to her and Toritska, or Kusuo and Toritska, so obvious that logic was skewed.
"Well not only that but-" then Rikuto abruptly paused his rambling and froze. He started to shake slightly as he spotted something a little bit away by the playground. "Monster! Akari, it's that monster again!" He shouted in alarm as he suddenly used his sister as a shield between him and the monster.
Akari blinked at the supposed monster that was now standing in front of them. While she wasn't scared of him, she kind of understood where Rikuto was coming from. "That's just Nendo."
Even if it was Akari's friend, it doesn't make him less frightening. So Rikuto continued to quak in his shoes, "O-oh, man, I'm gonna have nightmares again."
Nendo walked up to them, to Rikuto's dismay, and had his stupid smile on his face. "What are you doing here, gal pal?"
"Taking my brother to a friend's house." She explained before glancing at the boy who was beside Nendo. It was a bit of a strange sight, since she's certain that he doesn't have a little brother or anything. That's a bit… concerning? "Why are you with a little kid?"
The little brown-haired boy jumped over to them and smiled widely, "He's helping me find my baseball!"
Akari blinked at the explanation, "Oh."
"Hey, why don't you help us with finding it!" The boy exclaimed happily. If he can gather more people to help him, they'll definitely find it.
"Please, say no. Please, say no," Rikuto prayed quietly to the goddess Akari that she would heed his words and just walk away. He doesn't want to spend any more time close to Nendo lest he end up with nightmares for a week.
Though Akari shrugged her shoulders, "Sure." Rikuto just gasped out in dismay in his hiding spot behind his sister. Why does she tortured him like this?
The smile on the boy's face had grown ten-fold. "Great! We'll definitely find it with five people!"
"Five?"
Saiki then appeared out of thin air behind them. He seemed to be just as bored and annoyed as usual. Obviously, he had been joining them in the search for the poor boy's baseball. Akari was going to need an explanation on how that happened exactly.
Rikuto jumped over to the older boy and clung to him. Ah, his savior is here! "Kusuo-nii, save me from the scary monster." He was certain that Saiki would help him, especially if he tried to annoy him over it. The big scary monster will go away when Saiki uses his abilities to scare it.
"There's no monster, just Nendo." Saiki stated simply, though he obviously understood where Rikuto was coming from. Nendo does look like something that would crawl out from under your bed and drag you to the underworld.
'How did you end up here?' Akari thought to Saiki, who obviously heard it. Well, she knows his luck, and he had most likely been dragged into this against his will.
Saiki shrugged, "The boy hit my expensive coffee jelly with his ball… so I threw it away."
'Just how expensive was this coffee jelly?' She knows that he can act irrationally when his precious coffee jelly is threatened. Though that did sound maybe a little bit ridiculous. Honestly, why Saiki went out and bought coffee jelly instead of coming to her house to see about getting some of her father's is beyond her.
Saiki was silent for a moment as he pursed his lips, "...¥3,000…"
Akari just stared at him for a long moment, not believing that he would actually spend all his monthly allowance on coffee jelly. 'It was just one?'
"Don't judge me." Saiki sneered already knowing that Akari would make fun of him for it. It's his money, he can do what he wants with it!
Akari laughed lightly at her friend, a teasing smile on her face, 'I'd never do that.'
So the group continued on their search for the boy's baseball. They searched all of the playground, the surrounding roads, across the streets, and yet nothing. Well, Akari didn't do as much searching as the others did. She wasn't going to be getting on her knees to look through the grass, she'll let the others do that. Call her lazy, but she'll stick to just walking around and looking. Honestly, same. I wouldn't wanna get dirty.
"Is it not here?" Nendo said, "It couldn't have gone far."
Saiki's eyes then crossed as he used his powers to search for it. "It did. I can use my clairvoyance to search for it."
'How far did it go?' Akari asked.
Saiki explained, "It's currently underwater." Akari clicked her tongue. Yea, that was far. "I can't find it. Too bad." Saiki thought, already giving up, "I must give up. It's my fault for throwing it far away, but it's his fault too. Time to return home and eat my coffee jelly."
While Saiki was content on just leaving already, Nendo wasn't going to just leave this poor kid on his own. Nendo then suggested, "I'll just buy you a new one."
"It needs to be that one!" The young boy exclaimed with tears in his eyes, "It means a lot to me because my grandpa gave it to me before he died." Ah, so it's got sentimental value, which means that it would be even more upsetting if they didn't find it.
Nendo nodded his head solemnly, "I see. We will find it then! All right! Everyone, look for it until we find it!"
"Thanks! The pink-haired boy left though." Yeah, Saiki was gone, but he didn't just leave. He had gone off to search for the ball with his abilities. Not that they would know that though.
Nendo gasped at Saiki's abandonment, "What?"
Akari shook her head and explained, "He just went to the bathroom."
"Oh, that makes sense," Nendo exclaimed, "our pal wouldn't just leave us like that!"
So while Saiki went off to use his powers to hopefully get the boy's ball back, the others continued their search. "Negishi signed that ball," The boy said as he, Nendo, and Rikuto all were on their knees looking through the bushes. Akari watched over them, a supervisor of sorts, as she was content just watching them search.
Nendo's eyebrows furrowed as he threw a twig away, "Who is Negishi?"
"The baseball player!" The boy exclaimed as if Nendo was dumb not to know who that was. I don't think many people would know what that is, kid.
"Seriously?" Nendo gasped, "That's amazing! Was it expensive?"
"Grandpa said that another ball he signed was sold for nearly ¥3,000."
Rikuto leaned over to the boy, "You ever think of selling it?"
The boy gasped at that suggestion, "No!" As if he was going to do that! Still, think about it kid, that's ¥3,000 you could use for something like a college fund, can never start too early to save up for that, right?
"I see." Saiki thought as he came walking back up to the group holding the ball. "That's what happened." Currently, he was coffee jelly less since the ball and his treat were worth the same amount. Sad.
They spotted him, with the ball, and jumped up to him, "Did you find it?"
"Hey, pal!" Nendo shouted.
More than overjoyed, the boy took the ball from Saiki, "Thank you! I'm glad it's back!"
"This is for the best." Saiki thought, a strange expression on his face. It appeared as if he was dismayed to have to lose his coffee jelly, but also content with helping the kid out. "I can just buy another coffee jelly. This child's ball is one of a kind." The sentimental value could beat his need for coffee jelly he supposed.
Akari walked over to him with a thoughtful expression, 'You gave up your coffee jelly to help him?' When it comes to the treat, Saiki never usually compromises or gives it up, so it's more than astonishing to see it happen.
"Is that surprising?"
She shrugged her shoulders slightly, 'Maybe…'
Rikuto hopped over to the pair and started to whine, "Ok, found the ball, can we go?" He wanted to get as far away from here as he could. Plus, he wanted to get to the twins house more than ever now. He needed some relaxing time with his friends and their manga to calm him down.
Akari sighed and nodded her head, "fine. See you later, Ku-kun." The siblings departed the group and headed back on their journey to Rikuto's friend's house. However, she continued to think about how… thoughtful Saiki was about losing his coffee jelly. Though the way he gave it up to help that boy just… struck her someway. A way she can't explain fully. So as she dropped her brother off and started to head back home, she figured that Saiki deserved something for what he did and gave up.
---
The next day, it was once again a pretty relaxed day. Akari had the option to stay inside and bask in her darkness unlike the previous day, but for once she made the conscious choice not to. She had worked most of the night to make this treat for Saiki. After yesterday, she was determined to cheer him up. So she knocked on the door with her box held in her hands. For some reason, unknown to her, she felt anxious about this. There was a small thought in the back of her head; would Saiki actually appreciate this?
"Yes!" Kurumi called out as she opened up the front door. She smiled sweetly as she saw who had shown up, "Ah, Akari!"
Akari gave the woman a small tight-lipped smile, still a bit nervous about being there, honestly. She entered the house and found that Saiki was sitting at the living room couch. He didn't seem confused to see her there, but he was a bit confused by the box in her hand. Wonder what she brought him.
Saiki stood up and walked over to the kitchen table as Akari placed her box on the table, "What is this?"
"It's for you." Akari softly stated, playing with her hands in order to not look at him, "I figured you'd want some coffee jelly after losing yours yesterday."
Saiki stared at her for a moment before looking at the box on the table. While it's not uncommon for Akari to give him stuff like this. However, he felt like this was different. Not totally sure what was different about it, but just that it was… He felt warm because of it.
So he opened up the box and was more than surprised to see a few portions of coffee jelly in the box. It wasn't the premium ones that he had gotten for himself yesterday, but they were homemade. He suspected that they were made by Yamoto, which meant that they were going to be good. Maybe even better than that premium coffee jelly, who knows.
Saiki grabbed one of the cups of jelly and started to eat it. After taking the first bite, Saiki blushed happily, "Doing something nice is nice." Though this coffee jelly tasted a bit different than what Yamoto usually makes. He couldn't really pinpoint it, though he would say it's a… good difference. The shadow-manipulator watched his reaction and smiled, more than content with how much he seemed to like it. He looked down to Akari, "You asked your dad to make these for me?"
Akari bashfully looked away, her pale cheeks starting to turn a light pink, "No… I made them."
"Oh." Saiki blinked after a short moment of silence. After all of their friendship, he has never seen Akari cook or bake anything. He figured it was just because she was both too lazy to learn and didn't think she needed to with her father always cooking. However, if she was able to make this… He should ask her to cook this some more.
"They're probably not as good, but I wanted to try making it." Obviously, she was quite unsure about herself at this moment. Akari isn't that much of a cook, despite her father having taught her how to cook a few dishes. Though if there's one thing that she had made sure to try and learn to make coffee jelly. Just for Saiki.
"It's good."
At his affirmation, Akari couldn't help but smile. An expression that Saiki more than liked to see on her. So yea, doing a good thing definitely paid off for him.
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