imagine if kurumi kept all of kusuke and kusuo’s old school projects from when they were little. you guys know how in preschool and kindergarten there are those ‘who is your hero?’ ‘who is your idol?’ ‘who do you look up to?’ questions that they ask the kids and they have to present it to the class? i was thinking of kusuke finding kusuo’s answers to those when he was like four and he starts crying when
Very few people could possibly blindside Saiki Kusuo. In fact, there were only two that he knew of. But as far as Kusuo was aware, one had no reason to show up in his town, and the other was helping his mom with something or other for the next couple of days. Conveniently, there were no other nuisances around either.
And so, there was no reason to worry.
Kusuo was on a return trip from the store, having picked up a few things his mother needed. He could have just found a safe spot to teleport from, but this was fine. The night was pleasant enough, and he should make it home in plenty of time to catch the show he wanted to see in an hour.
Everything was fine.
That is, until he was blindsided. Completely and utterly blindsided. Said blindsiding threw the esper a good ways down the road and right through the wall of an abandoned building.
He blinked. He blinked several times as he tried to discern what had just happened. Well, for certain, something had run up and punched him in the face. And while that itself was a concerning issue, it was not the most concerning one here. The force had knocked him off his feet. It had knocked him down the street. It had thrown him. He was actually thrown? Him? Saiki Kusuo had just gotten thrown by something? Thrown through a wall by something? Impossible.
What sort of a -
Laughter. He recognized that jovial laughter advancing on the building.
The nuisance that shouldn’t even be in town. Saiki Kuusuke.
"Were you surprised, Kusuo?“ Kuusuke asked as he came to stare at the boy sitting, near shocked into stupor, within the pieces of the wall he’d just broken through.
It made a little more sense that his brother was involved, at the least. If anyone could make something that could do this to Kusuo, it was him. But…
As his thoughts came back to it, Kusuo felt something loose fall against his tongue. He spit a tooth into his hand. Kuusuke had managed to knock out one of his teeth with that punch. Kuusuke. Kuusuke had knocked out. A tooth.
Just what had his brother hit him with? He closed his hand around the tooth and it vanished, popping back into it’s former place as time reset for it.
"Ku~su~o!”
Right, that guy was waiting for a response. First though, they had to fix their mess before someone else came by and asked questions. Kusuo picked himself up and exited the building through his hole without a word. Then he touched the building to restore it’s time. Within a few moments it was… well, it wasn’t good as new, but it was good as it was yesterday!
That done, Kusuo could turn his attention on his brother. The other’s appearance made him jump. It actually made him jump. Just how many surprises was he going to get tonight? Someone like him didn't get surprised. This was unnatural.
X-ray vision made it really hard to get a good look at someone, but the image that had unnerved Kusuo returned for a second each time he blinked. And he blinked quite a few times to be sure that what he was seeing wasn’t just some distortion caused by the darkness.
Kuusuke’s skin had a greyish, ashen sort of tint to it, and his eyes were a literal shining, bright red. Then there were his teeth. Two at the top and bottom of his mouth were much longer and sharper than they should be.
Kusuo squinted at him. Did you catch a late case of chunnibyou?
Kuusuke tilted his head to the side. “Something wrong, Kusuo?” He hadn’t heard his brother’s own question, of course. He was wearing his telepathy cancelling device tonight. It wouldn’t do if Kusuo knew all of the cards he had to work with now.
Kuusuke shrugged as the look on his brother’s face became one of irritation. “Well then, here.” He tossed Kusuo the bag of groceries he had been carrying before. “You dropped this when you went flying. Teleport it home! Then let’s have a fight! You won’t have such an easy time of this one!”
Kusuo stared at the bag of groceries. If he allotted any time to playing with Kuusuke, he would surely miss his show. He got enough Dracula nonsense on a weekly basis with Kaidou around him. Whatever it was that Kuusuke was trying to pull here, Kusuo didn’t need it right now.
I don’t have time for this. He knew Kuusuke wouldn’t hear it. But that didn’t matter. Kusuo was making his intent clear enough by walking away from him.
If Kusuo was a normal person, there would have been no warning to the next time Kuusuke tried to blindside him. But he noticed Kuusuke’s image shoot past and jumped high into the air just before his brother could land his attempted kick to the stomach.
"Awwww, looks like I’m still a bit slow.“ Kuusuke put on a mock-disappointed face as Kusuo landed on the other side of him.
For you, there’s no way that was slow. Kuusuke had just moved much faster than any normal human should be able to. But how was he doing that? He wasn’t wearing one of his power suits. Had he concocted something to enhance his body for this?
Well, either way. It wasn’t something Kusuo was going to dwell on. He had time for absolutely none of this nonsense. But he knew that sparkling determination in his brother’s eyes. There’s no way the other was going to leave him alone. He sighed.
I didn’t want to do this, but I guess I’m going to have to drag you home with me. He made certain no one else was in range of them with his telepathy before turning on his brother and taking off his glasses.
…
Nothing happened.
His brother remained there, unpetrified, wild smirk plastered to his face. And the longer Kusuo stared at him, the more he noticed what he had not before.
Kusuo hadn’t stared at Kuusuke long enough before to notice just what was wrong with the rest of him, which was far more jarring than his little change in appearance.
"Ku…su…o.” Kuusuke had to admit, he enjoyed the look of open-mouthed shock on his brother’s face. “That power, only works on things that are alive.”
Saiki Kuniharu and Saiki Kurumi weren’t sure what to expect when their first child was born. But, very assuredly, they were not expecting his first words to come only a few days after his birth. And even more assuredly they had not expected them to be, “Damn it, Kuusuke.”
It wasn’t said in the manner of a child that was throwing around words he’d heard by chance. These words came with a spiteful venom to them. This baby, this little tiny baby that was brand new to the world had a score to settle… with himself, apparently.
“Maybe we’re just looking too much into this mama.” Kuniharu finally concluded.
“Do you think, papa?”
“He’s just a baby. And it doesn’t make sense that he’s mad at himself for any reason, right? Unless he needs a diaper change or something.”
“I don’t.” Talking aloud at this age felt oddly inconvenient and convenient at the same time. On the one hand, communication was possible. On the other, he really didn’t want to bother. He just glared ahead at his parents’ amazement that he could properly respond to them. What an absolute pain.
And now he had to wait. Not that he wasn’t used to waiting. He’d played that game for a very long time already. But this was frustratingly absurd. That guy… To go this far…
Well, the baby had to admit he was at some fault too. He’d had no choice but to trust that guy with his devices, after all. In that regard, he’d let his guard down. Out of everything that guy could have done, this was something he couldn’t even fathom in his wildest dreams. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
Somewhere, from the void of nonexistence, he knew his brother was laughing. He could almost hear that annoying laughter, followed up by, ‘So what will you do now?’ as though it were just some simple game.
What would he do now? He would sock a newborn baby to the moon when he arrived in a couple of years, that’s what he would do.
Ψ Ψ Ψ
To the moon? Is that what He’d thought a couple of years back? Haha, no. The moment he heard his brother’s mocking voice in his head a few days after he had arrived, he was ready to chuck him into the sun.
Aaaah! That’s how this works! So! Saiki Kusuo was finally born! Were you waiting long, Kuusuke?
His parents had been slightly concerned with the way their two year old just glared at his newborn brother from the moment he first saw him. But they thought nothing of it in the end. He glared at everyone. They figured it was just his way of getting to know people. Idiots.
At the least, however, he didn’t need to worry about speaking aloud to him. For a while, his mother wasn’t going to let baby Kusuo be separated from her. That would mean that two year old Kuusuke wouldn’t be able to ask him anything privately for a while. While usually inconvenient, at the moment telepathy seemed like a godsend. He could talk to his brother from his own room without anyone being the wiser.
And so that is how they began conversing in the middle of the night, Kusuo in his sleeping mother’s arms, Kuusuke staring blankly at the ceiling as he lay in his bed.
Hahahaaa. You’ve been pretty unhappy, huh? I’m surprised!
Why did you do this?
You really don’t know? Come on. You’ve got a more keen intellect now. Surely after all this time, you’ve figured it out.
Maybe he had. But maybe it was just so absurd that he didn’t want to believe it.
This isn’t what I wanted.
Oooh? From my understanding, this is exactly what you wanted, isn’t it? Just what is wrong with this? Isn’t this the best outcome? I’ve taken your burden away from you. And nothing can set you back. No volcano, no meteor, no other random dire event. You’re free. You’re free to live the life you’ve always wanted now.
This guy was the same as ever. He could read the two year old clearly, and yet he still toyed with him. None of that was the reason the older brother was so bothered by what had happened. What the reason itself was, well. He wasn’t going to admit that aloud, or even via direct thought. But Kusuo knew either way. He knew whether he wanted to or not. You uprooted our entire lives just for this game.
This isn’t a game. This was supposed to be a gift. Haha! But I suppose we can make a game of it for old times’ sake! Alright! Let’s see if you can beat me now. You might’ve been quiet as Kusuo. But as soon as I can wander without mama worrying too much, I’m going to be loud. I’m going to do whatever I want with this world. It’ll be fun!~ Think you can stop me? If you can, I’ll set things back to the way they were.
Hasn’t this gone a little too far for that?
Aaaah, aaaah! Every plan needs some form of contingency. Don’t worry about it! You should just put your best into winning. You’re going to really have to give it your all this time. After all, in a sense, you’re finally up against yourself.
Good. Maybe you’ll actually give me a challenge for once.
Hahaha, how harsh. I guess it’s decided then, huh? Well. Good Luck, Kuusuke.
Right, you’ll need it.
He wasn’t nearly as confident as he made himself sound with that, and it was bothering to know that his brother was well aware of that kind of wavering. But it was fine. It was fine to let that guy believe in the edge he had for now. He had that mad scientist’s old skills now too. That probably technically made him the mad scientist here, but he wasn’t going to give into the mad part quite yet. After all, he wouldn’t have suddenly decided to do something like this. Probably.
Still, now there was work to do. He’d better get started.
