Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Things were difficult, after The Hair Massacre of 2012.

Sure, Teru’s new, short, boyish style was positively refreshing and cute and had instantly become a trend at her school. But after losing her grip on her place in reality, she would have hoped she’d at least have control over something.

She’d tried to reign it back with that wig, but that’s gone now. Like, completely. 

Things were especially difficult after The Hair Massacre of 2013 (Part 2): The Reawakening. 

But sometimes you make sacrifices. Sometimes when you attempt to save your friend from her own weird inner problems you get your hair shaved. And that’s fine. It’ll grow back.

And it did, eventually. Now, in the beginning of her high school life, Teru’s hair barely reaches her shoulders. Not as long as she once had it, but she makes it work. 

Teru likes her hair. It’s one of her best traits! She can’t do much with it, at this length, but she’s the only one who cares about that. And the truth of life is that a lot of things you care about don’t really matter. No one cares that she can’t braid it, or that when she tried regardless it looked messy and pathetic. They think her hair’s fine and they don’t see anything wrong with it, and isn’t that brilliant?

But just in case, as a nice sort of silver lining, she can play with others’ hair!

Kageyama had her hair shortened significantly in her last year of middle school (willingly! A wonder, she is. She really does possess all that Teru lacks), so her braids are completely out of the picture. But Ritsu still has her hair long! She even wears a braid half the time, so she might be a possibility.

But how does a girl go about asking to braid another girl’s hair?

It’s the type of question that sounds ridiculous after Teru thinks about it for more than two seconds. The answer, she’s sure: Who cares?

So in a way she often does, Teru spontaneously makes the decision to get her project started. She sends Ritsu a text: 

> I’m coming tomorrow. Don’t bother brushing your hair

> What?

> I’m visiting your house tomorrow. I’ll be there at about noon. Don’t brush your hair 

> What?
> Ok

Good. Even though Ritsu is one of her closest friends, Teru doesn’t technically hang out with her outside-of-school friends (or with her inside-of-school friends, for that matter) that much, so permission wasn’t guaranteed. And it’s best if not many questions are asked, because Teru wouldn’t know how to answer anyway. 

So half an hour before noon on a Saturday, Teru grabs some of the loose hair ties previously tossed into a drawer in her closet and sets off towards the Kageyama house. 

After a polite greeting from Mister Kageyama and some small talk as she takes off her shoes, Teru makes her way hurriedly up the stairs. As she reaches the hallway, she comes face to face with her friend. Her other friend. Her friend who’s the older sister to her friend.

“Hanazawa-san.” She blinks, “I didn’t expect you today.”

Teru laughs, flipping her hair over her shoulder (well, the tips of her hair). “Nice to see you, Kageyama-chan. No, I’m here for Imouto-chan.”

Kageyama just seems all the more confused. Perhaps it’s because Teru knows better than to rudely arrive without a heads-up, and it’s usually the older sister who’s informed about the visit. When it accrues. Again, not that often. Asking to hang out every week feels like it would be pushing it. “Did something happen?”

“Not yet. You’ll see,” Teru informs. She glides past the other girl, a part of her fluttering with joy when she hears Kageyama follow after her, before making a half gamble and knocking on one of the doors.

Luckily, it seems that it is indeed Ritsu’s room and not a closet or something, as she hears the younger Kageyama call out, “Yes?”

“It’s me! I’m coming in, okay?” She doesn’t particularly wait for an answer before entering. 

As it turns out, Ritsu’s room is not too different from her own. Even down to the bed placement. Except that instead of a television, Ritsu’s main form of entertainment is… books. Many and plenty of them. And her floor is carpeted a bright seafoam green-- Which Teru certainly doesn’t hate or anything, but she does catalog this as a quick rebuttal for the next time the younger esper decides to make a comment about her fashion sense.

Speaking of her friend, Ritsu’s sitting at her desk, presumably working on schoolwork. Because what else would a girl her age be working on. She only turns her head to acknowledge Teru, not even standing up or anything. “Hi, Teru-san.”

“Hello!” She grins as she hears Kageyama shut the door, eyeing Ritsu’s smooth dark hair, settled on her back and shoulders. “I see you’ve brushed your hair.”

“Well, yeah.” She finally rotates her chair to regard the pair. Her chair, whose color matches the bed sheets and the curtains and next time Ritsu says anything about Teru’s “ridiculous” outfit coordination, Teru knows how to retort. Or maybe not. Keeping tabs on how you can tease your friends doesn’t sound very nice. She doesn’t care if Ritsu thinks her bright sweaters are obnoxious, so she doesn’t need to reply with anything when she hears her opinions. “Nee-san, do you know why she’s here?”

“No,” Kageyama says in that soft voice of hers, “I was going to ask you that.”

Teru purses her lips, feeling her ears sting. Perhaps she should have asked to visit more politely. After all, some people like their sitting-at-home-doing-nothing days. Some people aren’t her. “Sorry.” She shakes her head and pumps pure will into her smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick. You can even continue with what you were doing.”

Looking around, it doesn’t take long to find Ritsu’s hairbrush-- at the corner of her desk. She awkwardly shimmies between the wall and the seated girl and steps back when she successfully fetches the tool, looking with intent at her friend’s beautiful black hair. “Can you just turn your chair and sit sideways?”

Ritsu warily lays a protective hand over the strands on her shoulder, brows furrowing. “What are you planning on doing?”

What is with that tone? Teru knows that she’s at least somewhat of a casual friend to them, so why does Ritsu sound suspicious? Does she think this has anything to do with psychic powers or something? Teru’s pretty sure Kageyama would sometimes braid her sister’s hair, so why does Ritsu look so cautious? Or maybe that is a weird thing to do, to randomly appear at your friend’s house only to braid their hair. She has no idea. Is she being off-putting?

Why is Ritsu on edge all of a sudden? 

Like a comforting hand on her shoulder, the answer to all her problems lowers kindly into her sights: Who cares?

“Just braiding your hair.”

Ritsu’s dark eyes redirect momentarily, perhaps exchanging a look with Kageyama. “…why?”

Shoulders unwinding, Teru sighs, trying for a more natural, less enthusiastic reaction, “I thought it might be fun.” She smiles as warmly as she can. She doesn’t care about braiding hair, but she does care about her friend’s feeling, making sure that she’s comfortable, “It’s fine if you’re not up to it or anything, but the idea came to me out of nowhere and I know your hair is just so pretty, Imouto-chan!”

Ding ding ding! She hit the mark-- Ritsu’s cheeks glow a charming pink and she averts her gaze, jaw tense. “You don’t have to butter me up. Next time just give more context before you come.”

Giggling, Teru grabs the chair and holds it in place as Ritsu shifts, exposing her back to the impromptu stylist. “Sorry, I didn’t think of it that way. My bad.”

Ritsu doesn’t reply. She simply continues to work on whatever’s in front of her, which Teru finds no problem with. Pressing a few fingers to the top of her raven haired head, brushing it carefully with the other hand, she finds that the job is easy. As mentioned, Ritsu had indeed brushed her hair earlier, but it’s not only that. Unlike Teru’s hair, which is naturally wavy, even if only a little, Ritsu’s hair is as straight as it gets. It stays in place perfectly and doesn’t bounce with pretty physics. 

Carefully sweeping her fingers against her friend’s forehead, she drags back all the locks that were laid over Ritsu’s shoulders to her back. It’s during this action that Teru notices that Kegayama is still standing there, watching.

Man, these girls sure are quiet, huh?

“Sorry if this is boring, Kageyama-chan.” There’s a chance that this silence is leaning towards the uncomfortable side and Teru’s too absorbed in her own head to notice. She supposes that might be the case, but she doubts Kageyama would have cared either way. But, still. If she’s at a friend’s house, she should act polite. “You can leave if you want to. I promise I’ll take good care of Imouto-chan!”

“I’m not bored,” Kageyama informs her as she takes a seat on the bed. That spot’s a little out of Teru’s range of sight, if she wants to continue with her self-applied work, so she turns fully back to Ritsu. 

“If you say so.”

Teru hasn’t actually braided someone else’s hair since preschool, but she gets accustomed to the angle quickly and organizes the various sections of hair easily. Ritsu seems content to work on her own stuff in complete silence like some sort of weirdo, and suggesting to put on music she might not even enjoy feels rude. 

Teru’s not sure whether it’s because Kageyama has her own insecurities on how to treat a guest, or if she doesn’t handle awkwardness as well as Teru might have thought she does, but she eventually breaks the silence first. When Teru is starting on the actual braiding process, she asks, “How have you been, Hanazawa-san?”

Bored. Lonely. Queasy at the most random moments of the day. But who cares about that anyways. “I’ve been alright, all things considered. What about you?”

To her astonishment, Kageyama actually has a lot to tell her. From mildly funny anecdotes from home that Teru laughs at, to inspirational stories of whatever her clubmates are doing that Teru doesn’t hesitate to commentate on. Even meaningless facts that Kageyama doesn’t seem sure on how to relate to the last conversation topic. Teru does her best to give her opinions and ask follow-up questions to keep the roll they’ve got going.

And as Kageyama goes on about what drink goes best with every type of salad, Teru can’t help but merrily think that she might have misused her own little encouraging mantra. “Who cares--” maybe people don’t care about the little mistakes she makes and whatever it is that causes her to feel irrationally self-conscious, but her friends will still care about what’s going on in her life, even if it isn’t interesting.

What a relief! If Teru likes to listen to Kageyama talk about nothing important, and they’re both the same, then of course her friends wouldn’t mind listening to what she has to say herself!

Teru opens her mouth to tell a funny story of her own of something that happened between her friends, or a difficult challenge she had to overcome in school, or even rant about something frustrating her classmate had done. 

Instead, she asks Ritsu what her signature drink to order at a restaurant is. 

Because Teru doesn’t have anything along those lines to tell.

She doesn’t really have close friends at school (aside perhaps from Kurosaki, who ended up in the same high school as her at the beginning of the year. But they’re not in the same class, and Kurosaki seems to already have a designated friend group consisting of people Teru doesn’t know. She guesses then that they aren’t that close of friends either). Teru’s popular, which means that her own friends there are all more like colleagues, in some sense. She doesn’t think that the Kageyamas would find anything that they gossip about at lunch interesting or funny. Teru’s friends aren’t mean or anything, but she’s not sure what retelling a situation she wasn’t even a part of is going to do for her. 

Aside from that, she’s doing fine in school and her classmates don’t really cause any problems. It would be stupid to get in trouble at a high school they all worked pretty hard to get into. If there’s any petty drama going around or something interesting happening with whatever gang might be affiliated with the building, Teru no longer associates with those types of groups, so she wouldn’t know.

So Teru guesses she’s a boring person now, but that’s fine. Kageyama and Ritsu don’t care. They like her regardless!

She finishes the braiding process in the matter of minutes. Of course she does. It’s only one braid for one person. But she still feels disappointed that the whole ordeal is over already. “What’s your favorite color, Imouto-chan?” Teru asks, making sure not to unintentionally talk over Kageyama.

“Uhm…” Ritsu puts down her pencil, staring blankly at the desk in thought. “I don’t really have one.”

Teru twists in place to give Kageyama a can you believe this girl look. When the older sister simply tilts her head, Teru eyes the bed sheets, and then the curtains, and the chair as she turns back to Ritsu. She wrestles with the hair elastics on her wrist and slides one down to the hair in her grasp. “Your favorite color is turquoise,” she says with no room for argument.

She didn’t bring a turquoise hair tie, but between the light lime green and the dark deep blue one, she picks the latter. She ties the braid off perfectly (imperfectly perfect. For that adorable klutzy girl look!) and steps back, letting her creation go, assured in its security. 

“And voila! What do you think?”

There’s not really much to form an opinion on. Ritsu adorned in a braid is not uncommon, and Teru is pretty sure she did a worse job than what the Kageyama sisters would usually allow when getting ready in the morning. But no one cares about that! Friends are nice to each other, even if there’s no real reason to be.

Ritsu carefully brings the production forward, halfheartedly looking down at it. “Not bad,” she murmurs before going back to her work, apparently done with her critique.

“It’s kind of messy,” Kageyama says, leaning to the side to see around Teru, “But it’s cute.” And then, with an adorable little twinkle in her eye, she asks, “Can you do mine too?”

Teru smiles sympathetically. “Sorry, Kageyama-chan. Your hair is too short.”

After being seemingly deterred for all of three seconds, Kageyama stands up with renewed motivation and reaches towards the blonde, “Well, your hair is long enough…”

Only in technicality, Teru sourly muses. Sure, she could probably do something with her hair, and while there’s nothing wrong with looking like a little girl’s pajama party project, Teru is feeling a little sore. She’s sure Kageyama doesn’t mean anything like it, but the thought of wearing a pity present, in showing off how much she lacks by working with what she has, makes her blood curdle. It makes her jittery and nauseous. 

So when she sees fingers nearly grazing her sorry excuse of a main source of confidence, she slaps the palm away as if it was nothing but an unexpected fly. She sighs wearily and awkwardly morphs it into a stiff chuckle when she sees Kageyama’s wide eyes. “Sorry, but my scalp is sensitive, and anyways I didn’t bring my own hairbrush. Using someone else’s is-- well, I don’t want to say gross--!” She laughs as she sees Ritsu’s flat side eye.

Kageyama stumbles over her own voice before letting out a quiet, mumbled, “Sorry, Hanazawa-san.” She looks away, face growing red in shame.

Teru just shakes her head, “Nope! I’m sorry for slapping your hand like that, Kageyama-chan! And sorry again for the random appearance, Imouto-chan!” She shifts her weight and just out her hip, running a finger down her pretty creation, “If you’re busy with stuff, then I’ll make myself scarce. You should spend some alone time with my braid. Your braid, I mean. But she’s my baby.”

“Whatever you say.”

Like a professional femme fatale fashionista, her hair reflects the light briefly as it fans out when she swiftly spins to the door. “Adios.”

As usual, Kageyama shatters her image of mystery and theatrics. “Let me walk you out.”

The walk to the front door is quite awkward, as Teru is still trying to shake off her hair-induced insecurities. And Kageyama is just the type of person who can enjoy the simple, quiet moments of life. Or maybe she has nothing to say.

“My job isn’t easy, but it is necessary,” Teru concludes when she slips on her shoes.

“What job.”

“Braiding.” She flips her hair once more as she stands up, “Tell Imouto-chan that she can keep the hair tie.”

At that, a stilled look of guilt enters the other psychic. “I’m sorry.”

Teru looks to the side, face hardening, “We go way back, you know, me and that hair tie. It was there for the birth of my first child. It helped me through my divorce. It’d even help me cheat on some tests when I’d forget the answer.”

When she looks up, Kageyama seems lifeless with the mixture of confusion and apathy to Teru’s so-called hard times. At a five second delay, she replies, “I’ll make sure she takes good care of it.”

Teru claps a hand on the other’s shoulder before opening the door silently and stepping out. She turns back one last time to nod resolutely the way a toughened husband does before leaving to join the war, closes the door, and goes home.

> lets hang out tomorrow 

Teru stares down at her phone as she blinks through an abrupt yawn, setting down the glass of water she’s just been chugging down.

Kageyama doesn’t normally text first. That is, unless she sees a yellow Hagemon item and sends pictures of them to Teru, thinking she would be happy to see it (and she is! It’s just that she doesn’t only like yellow clothes, or Hagemon branded stuff, but she knows that unasked for criticism over good faith acts hurt harder than most people can even punch).

But Kageyama is asking to hang out. Which they do sometimes.

It’s only been a week since Teru’s been to their house, though-- tomorrow being Friday. Maybe Kageyama has realized how cool she is and misses her, or something. Unlikely.

> Yeah sounds like fun! I’m actually visiting spirits and such after school, so do you want to meet me there? ^^

> ok

Uh oh. Two texts in a row with no smiley face? But it was Teru herself who told her that a little icon at the end of the message makes you seem more approachable! Could it be that she’s upset Teru already has plans? Is she heartbroken that Teru was going to meet her master without telling her? She didn’t think it was that much of a big deal. She didn’t even notify Reigen of her exact intentions, though she did think to inform her in general of her arrival.

She’s definitely overthinking this.

But who cares if she’s being paranoid. 

> Are you mad at me?

The three dots bounce around.

> no

Another text incoming:

> yes actually
> a little

Oh okay, Teru thinks with pursed lips. Not paranoia, but intuition. 

She automatically thinks on how to reply before the fact that Kageyama is (a little) mad at her catches up like a slap to the face.

What in god’s name did she do?!

This could be anything. She unfortunately doesn’t know Kageyama well enough to pinpoint this on one specific thing that the other esper might be sensitive about. 

Did she say something stupid when she was at their house? She actually felt like she was able to relax a little and not have to worry about socially performing. Or maybe that has nothing to do with it. Maybe Kageyama is offended that she had to be the one to ask to hang out, even though Teru is the rude one that invites herself unprompted everywhere. Of course, Kageyama probably doesn’t think of her like that exactly.

Maybe she’s angry about that one time Teru chucked knives at her and choked her. She kind of thought they were even on that front, though.

Is it because she didn’t braid Kageyama’s hair?!

What the hell is she saying-- who cares?

Oh god, she thinks, paling. Maybe someone does care.

> I’ll pick you up from school and we can talk about it on the way to Reigen’s

She’s so flustered she forgot to word it like a request and instantly winces when she realizes this fact. Too late, though.

> ok :) 

At last, Teru sighs, easing her grip on her glass. She hadn’t realized she was clutching it still, a thin crack now formed through it. Oops. She’ll have to figure out how to fix that. And this entire situation, actually. 

She glances down at the little smiley face. That’s probably a good sign.

It’s only after she reaches Kageyama’s high school gates the next day that Teru worries that the other girl might have her after school club to attend to or something, and that Teru’s going to have to wait here for longer than anticipated. 

She feels a little guilty about it, even when she sees Kageyama exit the school along with a good chunk of other students and head her way. Teru should ask sometime on what days she has her club. She did mention having one, right? Hopefully she’s not skipping.

“Hi, Hanazawa-san.”

“Hey.”

Kageyama stares at her like she’s waiting for something else to be said but Teru’s not really sure what. She’s not very keen on apologizing where everyone can hear. She probably shouldn’t apologize without knowing what she’s saying sorry for, anyway.

But she should say something, right?

Or-- Should she?

It’s a little unfair, how she feels so at fault when she can’t even think of what she did wrong. It shouldn’t be on her to get the first word in. It’s not like--

“Let’s talk somewhere more secluded.”

Never mind then.

Teru awkwardly follows Kageyama a few blocks away from all the students. But there’s still people here, so Teru is led partially behind a building, over its yard-- if you can even call it that. On the dry dirt outside of it, hidden from the public by walls of shrub on the outskirts of the property. They’re probably not allowed here.

When she’s done warily eyeing what she can see through the nearest window, Teru turns to Kageyama, who’s staring at the ground hollowly, presumably trying to figure out how to start.

Maybe. Her expression’s far harder to read today, closely resembling how she acted years ago, when Teru was just trying to find someone to impress and Kageyama more than anything evoked the energy of a brick wall.

It kind of hurts that Teru’s friend is mad at her when she hasn’t even tried to do anything. But who cares about that.

She fingers the small pocket of her bag and extends her findings forward. “Here,” she says with a sad smile, apparently shocking Kageyama out of wherever she was stuck inside her head. In her hand is a small yellow hair clip that Teru has had for a while now, but hasn’t really needed ever since her bangs were… cut. She has plenty of others anyway. 

“I bet you’re upset because of last week. I might not have been able to braid your hair but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have at least tried to do something with it. Your hair is just as pretty as Imouto-chan’s, Kageyama-chan, I promise.” She bites the inside of her cheek, instantly grasping how childish what she had just said sounded. She places the pin in Kageyama’s palm when the other mindlessly brings her hand up to accept it, staring down at it with bewilderment. “I’m sorry for neglecting you… Uhm, it matches you.”

She has no idea what that means. Literally none of Kageyama is yellow. Nothing in her school uniform and no part of her aura. But Teru likes yellow, so maybe she’s projecting.

For a while, she just watches the pin and says nothing. When Teru starts to slightly shuffle her feet anxiously, Kageyama wraps her fingers around the gift and lowers her arm back down, looking up to Teru. “Thanks, Hanazawa-san, but that’s not what I was mad about.”

“Oh.” Her posture unwinds and she feels her ears burn in embarrassment. 

Kageyama gulps, steeling herself and keeping Teru in worried suspense. “Are you… scared of me?”

Immediately, Teru’s face twists, eyebrows scrunching. “No?” She doesn’t really mean to say that the same way you’d answer a query about whether or not you have a crush on the designated loser boy of your fifth grade, but that’s how she ends up sounding. 

Whether or not Kageyama is affected by her offense is difficult to tell, and Teru positively loathes the nothingness in her sidetracked dark gaze. “You wouldn’t let me touch your hair,” she murmurs with a cringe-inducing touch of bitterness.

Teru stands in blank confusion for all of two seconds before her heart drops, body loosening with second-hand betrayal that was never even meant to be there in the first place. “Oh, Kageyama-chan… Kageyama.” Despite desperately searching her face, Kageyama refuses to make eye contact. “Kageyama-chan, no. Look at me.”

When she very much doesn’t, just tenses her now slightly shaking fists to the point the blonde worries about the well being of her little olive branch, Teru sighs. “I’m not… scared of you. Or that you’ll do something to my hair.” She clutches at her chest subtly, feeling her heart racing. She did something stupid and someone cared. She has to fix this. She has to be a good friend. “I’m not… happy about what happened to it, but this-- it has nothing to do with that, or with you at all, actually.”

A happy progression: While Kageyama still hasn’t lifted her head, she is looking at Teru through her eyelashes. But Teru thinks, with sweat building on the back of her neck, that this just means that she has to continue. 

Expressing herself is. Awful. But if Kageyama can do it, then so can she. She kind of blew off thinking about them as rivals, since comparing the two of them never used to end up with her feeling proud of herself. But they are equal, and they are the same, and there’s no reason for Teru not to open up to her in return. 

She hardens her expression and talks.

“Before we met, I never… f-felt like I had much control over my life. So I’d make sure I had control over how my classmates felt about me, and I’d control the delinquents at my school, and-- and I’d control how and where the Claw espers I was defending myself against would hurt. But, you know… I don’t do any of that anymore.

“So I’m-- I thought that-- So like, I’m back at square one, right? And I thought that, at least, having total control over my-- how my hair looked, wouldn’t be as s-- I mean, would be morally okay, I guess.” She takes an unstable breath. Oh god. Now she’s the one trembling. Who ever said that she was a charmer, good with her words? Liars, those people. “Do you understand? I don’t want anyone to touch my hair like that-- I’m sorry. It’s not a you thing.”

She feels like she just ran a mental marathon. It feels like her intestines are melting and fusing into themselves as some sort of bodily reaction, but that’s probably just her nervousness speaking and all that. 

Despite her hand still creasing her shirt and her heart pumping enough blood to revive a corpse, she does feel lighter. If there’s anyone she trusts with this part of herself, anyone she’s glad to feel this reliable about, it’s Kageyama.

Kageyama, who has her mouth partially open as she stares straight at Teru for once. It’s not a look she’s used to getting from this particular girl, and she’s helpless to the pride that claws its way from her oozy insides like a warrior triumphantly crawling out of the battleground’s debris.

And then, to Teru’s concern, Kageyama again lowers her head, shame coloring her face. She brings the fist clutching the pin up to her chest, in some ways mirroring her friend. “Ah… That was presumptuous of me. I’m sorry, Hanazawa-san.”

Despite the weighty atmosphere, Teru leans back with a laugh that comes straight from her stomach. She completely beams at her friend for the first time in a while. “Don’t apologize. I mean, what if you were correct? That would have totally been on me, in that case. It was just a misunderstanding, right? So I’m really glad we talked, Kageyama-chan. I’m proud of us!”

Finally, like the sun peeking through the clouds, Kageyama’s face brightens and she looks to Teru with what can only be described as awe glimmering in her reddish eyes. “Me too. I’m proud of us too.”

“Great!” Teru all but squeals with a little hop of excitement, holding herself back at the last second from jumping to the other esper and pulling her into a hug. She delights in Kageyama’s small but sincere smile, which she knows holds more excitement than what one would reckon from first glance. “Okay! Spirits Co. time! I’m braiding Reigen’s hair today.”

Kageyama nods, pure joy radiating off of her. She’s amazing. “Let’s do it.”

Chapter Text

They reach their destination just as Kageyama finishes telling her the plot of whatever anime her sister and mother are watching (or at least what she understood from it), with Teru adding in her opinions about common cliches and tropes. She still doesn’t have anything interesting to say of her own, only commenting on what was already expressed, but no one cares about that.

When they enter the office there’s immediately some sort of tension inside that Teru doesn’t understand. Whatever quiet chatter had been taking place between the pair of employees ceases as they step in and Teru is greeted by Reigen’s bright, if somewhat nervous, grin. “Teru, welcome! I see you brought Mob with you.”

“Yeah…” She looks around, trying to figure out what the deal is. Serizawa makes brief eye contact with her but Teru turns away before the older psychic can say anything. “How are you, Reigen-san?”

“Just peachy! How about you?”

“I’m good! Right, Kageyama-chan?”

Kageyama stares at her for a second, “Yes.”

“But I assume it’s not all sunshine and rainbows?” Reigen says with a solemn sigh, quickly followed by that modest smile of hers, hands intertwined over her desk. Teru looks at her, perplexed as she clutches the strap of her school bag. Discreetly, she tries to figure out if something tragic happened in her own life that she’s miraculously forgotten about. “Why don’t we talk about it over at the couches?”

Oh, right. Teru ordered a consultation without any context, so Reigen probably thinks she actually needs advice or something. It’s great to know she’s the source of the distress. Kind of. 

As Serizawa takes her cue to slink off to the backroom to make tea or something, Teru grabs the client’s chair that sits in front of Reigen’s desk and rotates it ninety degrees, subtly stepping in the way of the business woman. “Actually, I think you should sit here, Reigen-san.”

The woman stops in her tracks and cautiously glances between the chair Teru’s holding onto and her own-- certainly more comfortable-- seat. “Is this some sort of intervention? Are you going to sit in my chair instead?”

“No, it’s more like an interweave-tion!” She sends Kageyama a brief but big, self-congratulatory grin, eyebrows raised. Kageyama replies with a smile of her own, although admittedly a much nicer humble one. “And no, I’m not going to sit in your chair.”

“Hanazawa-san wants to braid your hair,” Kageyama informs, most likely having remembered how well being vague worked out for Teru last time.

Pouting, Reigen brings a ginger hand to her bangs. “Why?”

Jeez, why is everyone so guarded? Are all girls secretly as protective of their hair as Teru is?

The two high schoolers exchange an uncertain look. Then, Kageyama remarks, “Because your hair is boring, Shishou.”

That seems to do the trick, as Reigen sulks and sits down at the chair while Teru rummages through her bag to pull out the brush she brought with her today. “I cleaned it thoroughly, so don’t worry.”

Pulling her bun apart, Reigen merely glares at her sideways and mumbles, “‘Kay.” Undeterred, Teru snatches the hair elastic from the woman’s hand before she can shove it in her pocket, and sheathes it around her wrist. 

Reigen’s hair isn’t as smooth as Ritsu’s was, even though it is shorter-- however that might be because it was up not even a few seconds ago. But Teru isn’t going to complain for having more work. It’s what she’s here for.

Much to her amusement, after Kageyama rapidly gets tired of standing around, she walks around Reigen’s desk and sits in her chair herself. The woman just scowls at her in seething betrayal. “Well, Mob? What role do you take here?”

“I’m hanging out with my friend.”

Meanwhile, Teru carefully brushes the dirty-blonde hair in front of her while she tries and fails to figure out how to start a conversation beyond meaningless small talk. It’s only when she hears a soft, muffled sound from beyond the door to the kitchenette that she comes up with a topic. “So where is Kurata-senpai?”

Reigen hums, swiping her finger on her knee. She’s been quiet for the past few seconds, ever since Kageyama has finished sassing her, Teru realizes. Which, no, isn’t a lot of time. But when it comes to the friendly lady, it might as well be five minutes of pure silence. But she answers without much delay, “Tome doesn’t come every day. He has friends, you know. And homework.” She sighs, slightly leaning backwards and scrambling upright again when she realizes that there’s no backrest to support her.

Refraining from grimacing, Teru pats her friend’s master back into place. She herself isn’t visiting Spirits and Such a lot, but it certainly has nothing to do with friends or homework. The kids she hangs out with during lunch aren’t anyone she hates, but even calling them friends is a stretch. Since that’s all they are-- people to hang around with at lunch. She’s pretty sure that the table she usually sits at are simply two different friend circles that she’s inserted herself between.

Yes, people at school like her, but now that she isn’t pretending to be more invested in them personally than she actually is, there’s no reason for them to invite her after class to play or study or whatever. She’s good at joining ongoing conversations, but she doesn’t have anything endearing to express out of thin air that would make someone yearn to familiarize themselves with her better.

So Teru busies herself often with her schoolwork. Add that in with the fact that she’s near the top of her class already and that she simply works fast, and what you get is her being left bored with nothing to do, all because someone (her, mostly) already took out all the mini-esper Claw-wannabe groups. And instead of spending this newfound free time with a hobby or something to-- oh you know-- make herself interesting, she’s out here braiding people’s hair just to fill in an indescribable gap in her heart.

Gritting her teeth through that train of thought, Teru doesn’t falter in her grooming. “Reigen-san, I’m always open if you need any help around the office.”

She scoffs. “You’re in high school, I know you too would rather hang out with your friends, but thanks for the offer.” Teru purses her lips. She might not be actively trying to make herself look cooler than she really is anymore, but that doesn’t mean she wants people to see her as desperate and pathetic, so she won’t insist. “And anyways, I don’t really need as much help from you kids since Serizawa is around.”

Oh right, Serizawa. Teru suppresses a sneer as she sets down the brush, carding her fingers through Reigen’s hair.

She doesn’t hate Serizawa. It’s difficult to explain and stupid and petty-- but Teru doesn’t like her. She doesn’t hate her. She just hates the way she acts and the way she regards Teru and her character at her core.

But she doesn’t hate her, and she genuinely doesn’t think that Serizawa is a bad person, so she holds her feelings in. It’s so easy to be mean, and it sometimes still slips out. But Teru doesn’t want to be mean.

Speak of the devil-- the woman of the hour returns from the backroom to set a tray of cups on Reigen’s desk and regard the scene in front of her with confusion. “What’s going on here?”

When Kageyama and Reigen don’t pause their dialogue in order to respond instantaneously, it looks regrettably like it’s Teru’s job to do so. “Horse racing,” she answers with a straight face.

Serizawa chuckles awkwardly, brows furrowing. “You’re doing Reigen-san’s hair?”

Stomping over her self directed frustrations, Teru replies, “Yup! Just for fun.”

It’s with some embarrassment that she realizes that the two other ladies are still talking about something or another, leaving the blonde girl to work in her own suffocating silence, similarly to how it had been at the Kageyama’s last week. Only this time Serizawa is there too, which means a painful conversation of their own. 

Perhaps the older esper realizes that the two of them don’t talk often and wants to change that fact, but Teru wishes she’d also take the hint that the reason they never communicate is because Teru largely avoids it. But she doesn’t want to say any of that to her face. Serizawa isn’t a bad person, and Teru feels bad disliking her half the time. The other half she’s too busy keeping her gaze straight as to not eyeroll.

Usually Serizawa isn’t really distasteful, and Teru gets by with only having problems with her as a person. But now she’s being asked casual questions about her life (how has school been? Anything interesting happening in your life lately? Have you watched the new blah blah blah? I heard kids your age love it!), and even if Teru was enjoying this interaction, she still wouldn’t have any good answers. Because she doesn’t do anything anymore.

And that’s how a stifling feeling of sadness finds her as she braid’s Reigen’s hair, head bowed to the side to mumble half sentences as someone tries to talk to her from the opposite direction, because Teru wasn’t made for casual conversation.

She doesn’t want to be in this anymore, but she doesn’t want to dismiss Serizawa in any way that seems rude-- especially while she tells Teru something or another her father has recently gotten into. Teru’s movements are clumsy as she finishes her work, tying the braid off with Reigen’s old and thin black elastic. She lets go of it with a flourish which is thankfully a good enough way to get Serizawa to shut up, and tacks on a big smile while she places her hands on each of Reigen’s shoulders, framing her creation.

“And it’s done!” she announces. She thinks it might be worse than the one she did for Ritsu but who cares about that.

Reigen halts whatever needless random advice she was relaying to Kageyama and picks up the braid with fumbling fingers, straining to look at it over her shoulder. She turns to her student and grins, “What do you think, Mob? Do I look pretty?”

Kageyama blankly looks her over, making momentary eye contact with Teru. “Your hair looks pretty, Shishou.”

“You’re so mean,” Reigen mopes at once, forcing Teru to bite her tongue to hide a chuckle. She wishes she could feel comfortable joking around like that with an adult. But she doesn’t really have time to think of that at the moment, because Reigen stretches herself to look at her with a soft smile. “Thank you, Teru. I can’t remember the last time someone did my hair like this.”

She feels her ears burn at the earnest warmth in the woman’s voice, and hides her hands behind her back. “Anytime,” she says, voice a little too quiet and gaze unable to stay in place. 

Reigen stands up from her chair and makes her way to the other side of the desk, Kageyama stepping out before her master can shake her off or bat her away. In the center of their passive aggressive bumbling, Teru notices the trey, now only holding her own cup. It’s most likely lukewarm at this point, and Teru doesn’t feel like she’s going to stay here long enough to drink it anyway.

This place is cool, and Reigen is especially great. But Teru has no idea how to respond to her weird quips-- she’s not as funny as the woman or organic in this place as Kageyama is. She doesn’t fit here. 

Teru wishes she could see this place as easy and relaxing, but the truth is that she doesn’t know how to act most of the time. Especially since Reigen wouldn’t give her work to do, so she’s just expected to sit around doing nothing. She’s already useless enough at home, she wants to do something else when she’s here.

And even when she tries, god forbid Serizawa lets her be. If the woman doesn’t try to force herself into pleasantries with the girl, then she just stares at Teru like she’s trying to figure her out. Teru wouldn’t be surprised if that is actually the case.

She doesn’t hate Serizawa, but she hates being in her presence. She hates having to even think of her.

Said psychic looks up from whatever waste she’s working on from her own desk and smiles at her as if Teru standing around like an idiot is an invitation to speak up, “Wow. Great job, Hanazawa-san! Do you think--”

“No.” She turns around and hates herself a little more, bag nearly knocking against Kageyama as she walks back to Teru’s side. “Well, my work here is done. I’ll see you ladies later.” She salutes nonchalantly with two fingers like she’s the protagonist of an action movie leaving the scene, and doesn’t look back-- like she’s expecting the room to blow up after her exit.

Obviously, it doesn’t. She hears the fumbling goodbyes of the staff before the door shuts. And shortly after making half her way through the corridor, she hears the door open back up, followed by the hurried footsteps of a light person. Teru stops, not actually having planned on leaving Kageyama behind. When the other girl reaches her, they make their way down the stairs and out the building.

Teru stares at the sidewalk intently as they enter fresh air. “You know, I’ve been braiding hair since I was only three months old.”

“Do you hate Serizawa-san?”

Inhaling sharply, Teru whips her wide gaze to Kageyama before swiftly looking away in shame. She stutters, “I don’t hate her! I just don’t-- I don’t…”

“…like her?”

She hums non-faithfully, slowly coming to a stop in the middle of the street. Kageyama doesn’t say anything and Teru suspects she’s not going to pressure her to explain, but she is probably going to judge her for it, in one way or another. Make her own assumptions. And they might even be kinder and more rational than how Teru really feels, but they wouldn’t be true. And Teru was just getting someone so awesome to understand her-- she doesn’t want to ruin it already. “It’s stupid.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Sure, but… It’s really dumb.”

“I don’t care.”

Ah.

They walk to the nearest park in complete silence, Teru trying to figure out how to word her own feelings in her mind without sounding like a petty child, and mainly failing. Kageyama sits down on the first empty bench they reach. When Teru simply glares through the ground, the other girl gently takes her wrist and pulls her beside her.

Continuing to stare at a grass patch, they sit there for a few seconds. Teru can’t completely predict Kageyama’s moral compass. She’s selfless, but she can also be selfish. She’s average, basically. She could react in any sort of way. She is close to Serizawa, if Teru recalls correctly.

But she’s also Teru’s friend.

“Is it because of Claw?” Kageyama asks tentatively, breaking Teru out of her stream of consciousness. She can’t help but scoff.

“The fact that she’s made mistakes but wants to improve and become a better person is the only thing I actually respect about her.”

When Kageyama doesn’t respond, ruby eyes steadily boring into the side of her face patiently, Teru exhales weakly, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. She’s secretly always wanted to rant about it, but she knows it’s a strange topic not all will comprehend. “And that’s the thing-- Sometimes, in some ways, I feel like we-- she and I-- are similar.” She clears her throat, rubbing her palm over her skirt, but compels herself to continue. “She’s an adult, but I know that on the inside she couldn’t have had the time to fully mature. And me, I’m-- Sometimes it feels like I grew up too early.”

Uncoiling, she leans on the backrest, though she still refuses to raise her hanging head. “And I get that even if I feel this way, I’m still a stupid, immature teenager and all that. And I know all that’s not… normal-- even if I am average!” She briefly makes skittish eye contact, not wishing to imply anything that contradicts what they both know she’s learned long ago. Of course, Kageyama doesn’t seem to be judging her in the slightest, at least from what it looks like, and Teru quickly goes back to studying her own lap.

“I know it’s not normal, but it’s not really my fault, you know? And it’s not Serizawa-san’s fault at all that she’s like that, either! But she acts like it’s all wrong and that she should act the way she’s ‘supposed’ to, or something. Like it’s bad that she’s not the right age-- or-- whatever, I don’t know. 

“But I’m that way too! And if she’s so ashamed of being like that-- It’s like she’s ashamed of… me.” She clumps her mouth shut the moment her brain tells her she has already fulfilled all that she has to, ears stinging with heat. There’s a burning behind her eyes, but she’s much used to it by now, and a deep breath is all it takes to calm herself down.

Despite her head telling her to let it be now, when it appears that Kageyama is about to say something, Teru lastly adds, “I know she’s not doing it on purpose, or that she’s trying to do the right thing-- but that’s just what it feels like.”

That’s all it really comes down to. Feelings. She already knows the explanation, so there’s no resolution. And she gets Serizawa’s way of thinking, so there’s no way to really soothe the teen. It just is what it is, and there’s nothing that can really be done from here on out.

Kageyama doesn’t seem to agree, though. After a minute of both girls watching the people strolling around the park in silence, she claims, “You should tell her that.”

“Why.”

“So that she can understand you. She knows you don’t like her.”

Teru’s face crumples with guilt that makes her stomach twist and she curves away. She can’t even mask herself in ways that would contribute to her surroundings, apparently. “I can’t talk to her.” She’s either too frustrated to function kindly when in her presence, or too regretful to stand even looking at the woman. 

Not to mention, what if Serizawa doesn’t accept her? Or what if she says something obvious and condescending, thinking she’s doing the right thing without even realizing that that’s exactly what Teru detests about her?

“I can tell her.”

Teru stiffens and tilts her head to Kageyama questioningly, brows furrowed. It seems to make her a bit hesitant this time around, but she repeats herself nonetheless, “If you can’t talk to Serizawa-san, then I can tell her. If you want,” she adds.

“Why?”

It takes another second for her to answer, blinking unsurely in all different directions, “Because you two are important to me, and I want you to get along.”

Before she can even figure out if she likes the idea or not, relief flows into Teru like cold water down her throat after a long dry day. It looks like she doesn’t have to struggle anymore. Or, at least, for the time being.

“Okay.”

After her shower, Teru lays down on her bed as she often does. 

Once again with nothing to do, she thinks of how boring she has become. She hasn’t had any problems with it personally, since she can distract herself easily in her mind, but she has to admit she feels apprehensive about it now. 

She thought that after Kageyama got rid of the disingenuous traits Teru tacked onto her own character, she’d be able to build herself into a new improved person. But apparently she’s still bare as ever. Who would want to be friends with her? Sure, she does her best and tries to be kind, but that’s hardly a personality. She can’t see Kageyama flippantly abandoning her when she realizes how unoriginal Teru is, but just thinking about it has the blonde tasting the sinking sensation that comes from being surrounded by people who don’t truly care.

She could ask for advice but she already knows what Kageyama or Reigen or whoever would say: If you’re not satisfied with who you are right now, then start being the person you want to be!

Of course that’s the solution. But every time she thinks of perhaps joining a club at school, there’s an unexplainable wash of dread that assaults her. She’s not sure what gives. None of the current clubs particularly interest her to an intense degree, and for some reason the idea of joining one-- even just to see if she’ll like it-- makes her feel lonely.

Rolling to her back, Teru closes her eyes. She’s uninspired. When’s the last time she felt motivated like that? Being flung aggressively towards the sky comes to mind. But she’s not sure if she can summarize that experience into one singular activity. Maybe it was the abrupt switch from gloomy chaos to utter serenity-- something artistic like that. Or maybe it was the realizations she had at the time. Philosophy? Maybe Teru just likes the sky. There’s a lot to like.

She wishes she could recreate that moment again, but she’s not sure if that’s possible with all the different things that were happening simultaneously at that exact moment. It’s evening now, anyway, so the outside isn’t as bright and colorful as it was above the clouds that day. 

The ceiling to her room fills her entire vision. It appears that she’s opened her eyes at some point, not entirely recalling doing so. 

Except the ceiling is far too close to her face. Teru looks down and blanches horribly at what she sees. It’s her, calmly lying on her bed, closed eyes and all. 

That’s new. 

She’s floating, and it’s strangely uncomfortable. More like being suspended gracelessly underwater than what her usual psychic floating feels like.

The colors are far brighter than they should be, each object surrounded by wriggling outlines of vivid hues, somewhat resembling a cinematic 3D movie without the blue and red pair of glasses. Except if she had also hit her head not too long before entering the movie theater.

She jerks her… arms? Does she have any? --her soul, and swims down back to her body at an achingly stagnant pace. It’s breathing alright, and when she gets close enough, there’s a pull on her spirit to return to place, ensuring that she’ll be able to go back just fine. Probably.

In any case, at this moment, Teru swims back up and away, seeing an opportunity. She floats through the roof, glad to be on the top floor of her building. The temperature outside makes no impression on this form, but she can almost swear that she somehow still feels the freshness of the air above her apartment. 

Teru isn’t distracted though, she peers straight up. The evening sky is an ugly dull blue but she bets that if she flies high up enough, she might be able to see the stars.

So she… wriggles, and shimmies and jumps to the air. She’s not sure how she does it, but she’s doing it. She registers the sensation of the wind passing through her, yet there’s no bite, only a dull breeze coursing through her being.

It only takes a few minutes of pure movement for her to give up, laying off in her climbing. She stares at the beyond above. She’ll have to go way up if she hopes to see even a glimpse of the stars, and the more time passes the more lightheaded she feels. If that makes sense.

She lets herself feel disappointed for a second-- the bright dots would probably look mesmerizing with this strange filter on Teru’s vision. Maybe she’ll go stargazing the average way another day.

When she curls around and looks down, she wobbles in place. It’s light enough out that she can essentially see everything below. More than just her neighborhood, in fact. She can see strangers milling around with their families, on the way back from or to a restaurant. Last minute conversations between coworkers intending on splitting up to head to their respective homes and teenagers grocery shopping before all the stores close for the day. 

So many people and places Teru doesn’t even know. She feels a strong yearning to be a part of it all.

What is she doing up here? She should be down there with everyone else!

Teru zooms back into her apartment and when she passes through the ceiling, glides slightly more thoughtfully into her body. When she opens her eyes, she’s disoriented. No more are the funky colors, but she instead feels similarly to whenever she stands up too quickly, a light headache and spots in her vision-- only she’s still lying down at the current moment. 

Even when she returns to normal a minute later, she’s too tired to really get up and do anything. She thinks it’s fair to not expect herself to go out and talk to random strangers-- that’s definitely not the way to do it. Besides, she somehow ended up pouring her heart out twice today-- to the same person, no less. She deserves a break.

When she reaches beside her pillow and grabs her phone, a message awaits her.

It’s not from a number she recognizes. It’s some sort of video game screenshot that she scrolls past with a frown. There’s a caption:

> i got the hair from a super-mob-el maker collab special event 5 years ago

> I think you got the wrong number? I don’t know who this is 

Although the initial text was sent about ten minutes ago, Teru blinks in surprise when she instantly sees the three dancing dots. They flicker on and off for a short while-- enough to make Teru even a little curious-- before a reply comes. A very pitiful, discouraged sounding reply.

> serizawa katsuya

Narrowing her eyes, Teru scrolls back up to the picture to examine it beyond a fleeting glance.

It’s some sort of player customization screen of a game that she would have been able to name correctly if there weren’t also three other popular franchises that look exactly the same. One of those games you play as a knight that fights monsters or something to that effect. The player in the picture is a tall, stoic looking woman with flowing blonde hair, silver armor… parts (surely not enough to properly protect her, but that’s probably just a design thing, and doesn’t get in the way of gameplay) over an epicly ripped dress in a color that reminds Teru of her own school uniform. Lastly, she wears elegant looking boots.

The character is standing in a powerful yet charming pose, hand on her hip.

Teru blinks down at it. 

A realization comes to her that burns the tips of her ears. Is that supposed to be her?

If she knew that this wasn’t the epitome of a stiff, anti-social teenager trying to make friends with someone they think is cool, she could have even thought of it as childish.

But despite her embarrassment, this is kind of exactly what she wanted. 

Serizawa made a knight character based off of her to try and say sorry.

A simple thank you and a compliment won’t be enough, Teru is certain. She drops the phone and leaps off her bed (feeling temporarily dizzy promptly after), crawling down to the cabinet under her television. 

She has an old, dusty and clunky 3DS that she hasn’t used in over two years. But she doesn’t think too much of its state as she flips it open, thankful that it has some battery left in it. Whatever games she has don’t matter, as she navigates towards the mii creator with some trouble. 

She doesn’t remember exactly how Serizawa looks, since Teru refuses to look at her most of the time, but she knows what the woman feels like-- when Teru lets herself see it. It’s a bit difficult creating exactly what she wants when what she confidently remembers about the other esper are her hair and outfit, while miis focus almost solely on the individual aspects of the face. 

So she has no other choice but to make it a little imprecise, but incorporates the parts she can be at least fairly positive on. Kind eyes, small smile, thick eyebrows. She puts Mii Serizawa in a pose that the older esper might not have ever rocked in real life, but Teru thinks is cute, and slides back to her bed, grabbing her phone.

She takes a photo of the little avatar. The screen in the picture has this weird overlaid pattern on it and the brightness of it dims everything else in the background ominously but that’s hardly anyone’s concern. She pulls the picture up in the chat and hesitates momentarily before sending, immediately shutting the phone off and tossing it onto the bed.

Scrunching her nose, Teru wraps her arms around her knees. She was so anxious that she forgot to add some sort of witty caption-- but no one cares. What an awkward, stupid interaction. 

She tilts her head into her lap, a smile trembling behind her knees.

Chapter Text

Wednesday evening:

> lets hang out again :) 

> I’m meeting with Mitsuura-san and the girls this Fri after school at 04:30 o’clock, so how about you come then?

> ok but i cant skip on track again so ill be late. senpai wasnt happy when he learned it wasnt an emergrnsy last time

> Oh my god ofc!!! o.o
> We usually watch a movie and chill after training and stuff so we’ll definitely be there when you arrive!
> But I’ll make sure we don’t do anything fun without you Kageyama-chan!!! (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

> thank you ! 

> Do you want me to send the address?

> yes :) 

Throughout the week, Teru has been asking her lunch buddies about the clubs they’re in and cruising around for a few minutes following the end of classes to see the school’s after hours activities in action. Slowly but surely, she’s come to a devastating conclusion.

They all seem interesting. But not too much. 

Sure, she wants to learn a bit of the literature others her age find appealing, or play a game of soccer. But not enough to join a club.

It would have been bad enough if she simply didn’t care about any of it, but now she’s constantly plagued by getting her hopes up every time something catches her eye. She always seriously considers the specific activity or subject for approximately a day, even comparing two different clubs that might be fun, before she gets bored of it by nighttime and moves on, feeling disappointed anew. 

She can’t commit. 

Contrarily, she had been able to stick to one thing back in middle school-- cheerleading. Although she did only pick that activity up because it was acceptably feminine and the cheerleaders were quite liked at Black Vinegar. She did enjoy it, but then because of her telekinetic induced remarkable maneuvering, she had managed to get some of the other girls jealous. Which could have definitely been resolved calmly and maturely if she had a better attitude at the time and didn’t act like she was so much superior to everyone else.

By the time she met Kageyama, the entire team had already resented her and Teru just left the club after a strange apology. She wouldn’t have been able to attend practice with that wig, anyway. At some point she found that she’d rather avoid the kind of attention that cheerleading would have brought her regardless-- if only to make sure nothing got into her head a second time-- so it was for the best in the end.

And then a bunch of stuff happened with Claw and Teru joined Mitsuura’s psychic group so she kind of forgot about the whole club problem. And then she realized that she doesn’t have any concrete hobbies that don’t include going to public places by herself, or with people she doesn’t know how to naturally converse with and-- Well, that’s kind of the situation right now.

The only thing Teru was really dedicated to as a cheerleader was her image, so she’s not sure she’s going to find that determination in any other pursuit. Except for maybe her psychic powers.

She’s been helping the others in the lab for roughly two years now, but the truth is that they barely do anything paranormal anymore. Teaching and practicing was fun, but it seems that everyone else has already reached their limits. One day Kurosaki had sat down with her and admitted that he wanted to stop expanding his powers. He had reached the point where, in a choice that would usually result in a fifty-fifty outcome, he’d pick the correct card ninety percent of the time. His success rate would decrease moderately depending on the amount of components he could pick from, but before Teru could push him to go further, he asked to stop. 

Apparently being able to guess the correct choice in most random situations was dampening life’s authenticity, and Kurosaki didn’t want to be burdened with being able to predict the future.

Teru wondered if he would change his mind the moment that something similar to their first Claw kidnapping happened again, but she guesses not everyone thinks like her in that regard. It’s not like she wanted to stress him out, so she just asked that he pay attention to see if his powers are diminishing in the meantime.

Some time later, something similar happened with the Shiratori sisters. Daichi had said something about being able to pick up on other people’s emotions, and that it was distracting. At least the telepathy between them stayed consistent, but that means that the only thing they had to work on in regards to that is communication through long distance, which they couldn’t really do in the lab. Though they did tell Teru that they would work on it whenever the opportunity presents itself.

A different type of problem had been raised with Asahi and Hoshino respectively. The former’s control over her flame has practically been perfected, only she’s reached the cap of how much fire she can produce at once and has been stuck for months now without any improvement. Meanwhile, Hoshino hasn’t been able to pick up anything heavier than the lab’s couch for approximately ten seconds at a time. Teru has her working on lifting things from a distance but Hoshino has kind of given up on it after her first failure. Looks like her morale has been brought down significantly since the whole couch thing.

Anyway-- There’s sadly no esper club at her school. Which just means she’s going to have to make her own.

When Teru reaches the laboratory on Friday she’s immediately whisked aside to aid Kaito with homework. Regular school homework. Thankfully, the girl is a year younger than her so it was mostly stuff that Teru is readily able to help with. She works on her own assignments simultaneously as well, since she figures she might as well.

She finishes hers much quicker and wonders if she should have asked Kurosaki to join her, since they must have similar things to work on. But he’s currently discussing the latest season of a drama with Asahi while Hoshino is showing Teru this cool flipping pen trick that she only has to use some telekinesis to pull off.

While eating a large amount of the food on the snacks table, Teru manages to start small talk with Mitsuura, who wants to know if she’s developed any new psychic techniques (and this time she does have an answer! She’s not usually creative enough to come up with something out of thin air). When Mitsuura moves to talk to the sisters, Teru figures she should continue on her very important mission.

Hoshino, Asahi and Kurosaki are in the main area, the TV is on but they’re lounging on the sofas discussing the newest trendy gadget all their friends already have, ignoring the movie playing. Teru pulls off an aesthetically pleasing bright item from a nearby shelf that might be an expensive art piece or might be a children’s toy, and tosses it to Hoshino’s lap, effectively getting the three’s attention. “I have a mission for you.”

The psychic’s eyeliner-touched almond eyes flutter up at her, possibly due to the fact that it’s been a while since Teru actually instructed them to do anything. “Yeah?”

“I’m going to test your ability to maintain control over your powers while in a distracting environment. Move those beads around while you keep up conversation. I’ll be attempting to distract you in other ways.”

Hoshino’s face noticeably pales. Which Teru guesses she can understand, but still thinks is a bit of an overreaction. Yes, she’s overestimated her pupils’ capabilities and underestimated the effect her own powers can have on others in the past, but it’s not like any of them have actually been doing anything grueling for the past months. 

It’s not like she wants to freak them out, though, so she smiles kindly and says, “I won’t be attacking you or anything. I’m just going to braid your hair.”

Almost predictably, Hoshino places a hand over one of her long, elegant and dark pigtails. “Will you at least be brushing it first?”

“Of course!”

There’s a slight lull in the conversation until Asahi pipes up. “I bet Teru-san is super good at styling.”

At that, Teru proudly flips her hair over her shoulder with a sassy swing of her head. “I’m an expert of sorts.” She immediately regrets her words when she sees a hint of awe in the three’s eyes. Before any jealousy or adoration or some other emotion Teru can list that would have her sounding pompous manifests, she leaves to grab her bag and quickly returns, glad that the three have already moved on and are back to chattering.

Not wanting to interrupt again, she goes to stand behind the sofa, mildly guiding Hoshino to lean on the backrest while she continues to fiddle with the toy-or-perhaps-costly-artifact. Fortunately, Hoshino’s powers don’t make her hair float, so it won’t get in the way of Teru’s braiding. Admittedly, she hadn’t thought of that aspect beforehand. She should have. She just kind of came up with an excuse on the fly.

Teru likes her own hair, but she can’t help but envy Hoshino’s length. Of course, her blonde locks will grow out in due time but for now she’ll take satisfaction with taking care of these curly, dark strands. She gently undoes the pigtails and marvels at the amount of hair cascading over the cushions. She’ll do twin braids, she decides. 

As she works, her three disciples are jumping from one topic of conversation to another. It’s entertaining enough to listen to but add-on comments and jokes keep popping into her head, swallowed back before they can drop from her mouth. She’s not new to participating, but saying the expected and filtering her words tends to be exhausting.

It’s a habit she picked up long ago, right after her first fight. Her real first fight. Well-- fight might be a stretch, but--

About a week into first grade, before she got her ego and before Claw and before her parents left. Before she turned different into special , she was already odd one way or another in the eyes of others. She always had trouble sympathizing with the other kids-- She felt bad whenever someone would trip and cry, but after a while it got amusing, before quickly becoming boring. She didn’t understand at the time that she was the one who had a naturally higher tolerance to pain and better self healing abilities, courtesy to her powers. She thought everyone else were over-exaggerating and she’d bluntly tell them to get over it.

Aside from that, she was never one to be modest. No one told her using her powers to win games was considered cheating, since she wasn’t so open about it. And why should she feel bad for constantly winning if she was doing it on purpose? She sucked up to the teachers, enjoying their attention, and despite recognizing that the other kids looked at her silly, she just didn’t care.

That was until she found her pencil case in the trash. All her supplies were colorful and glittery with bows and English words she couldn’t even read at the time. She picked up that pencil case (covered in one of the most feminine Hagemon characters, the one that little boys think it’s cool and manly to make fun of) while shopping with her father. So she wasn’t happy it was thrown out so cruelly along with some of her other equipment, to put it plainly. 

While staring down at the garbage can, the perpetrator stood behind her and started talking trash. Told her that the immature look of her items showcased how she wasn’t as much of a hotshot as she apparently pretended to be. 

In short, she turned around and punched that kid across the hallway. She didn’t really mean to hit that hard-- her powers were still somewhat new to her.

She had gotten into trouble, but that was at a time when her mother was still there to defend her, pointing the obvious to her teachers-- that a kid her age can’t dent metal lockers with one swing. Needless to say, she wasn’t bothered again, but no one was keen to be her friend for a while after, either.

The moral she learned back then was that if she didn’t want to be targeted by meanies, she had to act a certain way (and look how well that worked out for her. Thank you, Claw). Eventually, being one amongst many wouldn’t appease her anymore either, but that’s a different consequence for a completely different day.

And while Teru is now more herself than she’s ever been, the truth is that the notion of caring is a tricky concept. On one hand if you care too much all the time you’ll be miserable and insecure and you’ll never get anything done, but on the other hand if you don’t care about anything at all you’ll just end up an arrogant, ignorant idiot. 

Teru tries to keep balance, but she tends to tip to one side despite her best efforts. While she can handle criticism, her internal instinct is always to scoff it off, and she’s not great at staying humble. Maybe keeping her thoughts behind her teeth in these kinds of situations-- even if she doesn’t care as much for her place in the world-- is her way of compensating and regaining harmony. The less she talks, the less chances she gets to say something hubristic or even something childish and stupid. 

Maybe some selfish part of her still achingly wants these people to look up to her in some sort of way.

At that moment, she finds herself finishing with the styling, but she doesn’t make a scene about it. She doesn’t feel any less hollow than she did before, and she ponders if this whole hair exercise is even doing much for her.

But there’s a slight lapse in the discussion and Teru takes the plunge. “Hey, Kurosaki-kun?”

The ginger looks up from his phone and hums questioningly. 

“If I was to make a psychic club at our school, would you join?”

All eyes are on her now. At some point Kaito and Daichi had joined them in the living room, while Asahi left briefly for some reason or another. Bathroom maybe. Kurosaki is stilled and slightly bashful when he answers, but that seems like something he does anytime Teru regards him with no warning anyway. “Uh… Would they even allow it?” He runs a hand on the back of his neck, “I mean, you’re a first year.”

Standing motionless, Teru very nearly slaps her own forehead. 

She’s so used to starting on whatever it is that she wants to do that she forgot that some things she literally just can’t accomplish. What a humbling experience.

Half carrying out her impulse, Teru drags a hand over her forehead, chuckling. “Ah, you’re right. I didn’t even think about that.”

“But isn’t this kind of like a psychic club?” Hoshino asks, tilting her head back. Grinning, she continues, “Are you already through with us?”

Flushing with mortification, Teru stays frozen for a whole entire second. Ultimately, she’s able to breathe in and keep her cool, “That’s not it at all. I’m just not entirely sure what club I should join.”

“If none of it interests you, Teru-san, then why not join one that your friends are in?” Kurosaki suggests, “Hanging out with your friends can make anything much more fun!”

But the closest thing I have to a friend at school is you, and you’re not in any clubs either, Teru deliberately doesn’t say.

“I joined the chess club because my friend goes and now it’s my favorite sport,” Daichi says, to which Hoshino argues that chess isn’t a sport and Kaito remarks that her sister is the worst player. All the while Teru blankly stares.

When attention is brought back to her, she beams, pumping a fist in the air, “Yeah, you guys are right. Thank you!”

Teru is saved from having to explain why her braiding isn’t very expert looking, among other potential cumbersome questions, when she hears the main door opening and she promptly excuses herself.

The first thing she sees is that Dimple is here. The second thing Teru notices about her friend is that she has something latched onto her temple. She gasps, cutting off however it is that the newcomer was about to greet her. “Kageyama-chan!” Mouth wide in shock, Teru points to the other’s head.

Lips still parted from the interruption, Kageyama gingerly grazes her fingers over the faded yellow hair clip. “Wh--”

“You’re the prettiest girl in the world!”

Once again lost for words, the girl just stands stationary.

Wagging her finger, Teru puts on a serious expression, “But don’t wear it for track club, okay? It might fall off!”

“Yeah…” Kageyama’s hand falls back into place, and she looks around curiously at the strangely decorated interior. “Hello, Hanazawa-san.”

“Don’t tell me this is where you get your sense of fashion.” Dimple jeers, floating around the entrance and glimpsing into the main area where a huge, bright, eye-patterned painting hangs. It would have been quite disturbing if it wasn’t so stylized.

“It’s not,” she murmurs, “The only thing I’ve seen you wear is someone else’s clothes.”

“Be nice, Dimple,” Kageyama chides as she places her bag near the cluster of everyone else’s. “Her fashion sense saved our relationship, remember?”

Dimple grumbles and rolls her eyes while Teru hums cheekily, hands crossed over her chest even though she has no idea what the hell Kageyama is talking about.

Teru clicks her tongue. Her fashion sense is not that bad.

…it’s not that bad, is it?

Besides, when’s the last time she’s seen Dimple-- when she was outside of her uniform, no less? Yeah, the spirit’s just talking smack.

She’s interrupted from her thoughts when Kageyama takes a look at her and asks, “What’s wrong?”

Teru inhales but then lets it out heavily when she realizes that there’s no reason to mask her woes. “You really can see right through me, can’t you, Kageyama-chan?” She straightens up and twirls a strand of blonde hair around her finger, brow furrowed, “I was thinking of making a psychic club at my school, but I just realized I can’t since I’m only a first year.”

Kageyama’s eyelids rise slightly in wonder, “You’re going to start a club…?”

“Well, if I could.”

“Who says you can’t?” Dimple butts in, floating down beside them, “Just get some other idiot at your school to start up your cult.”

“It’s not a-- a cult!” Teru snaps, “I was hoping for it to be something like the lab here-- a support group, a place to train, etcetera. And I don’t know any espers at my school.” She sends a glare up at the spirit, “Aside from Kurosaki-kun, but he’s the same age as me.”

“Who says it has to be another esper? Just find some third year loser and convince them to do it.”

“Don’t do that,” Kageyama interrupts. “Hanazawa-san, why do you want to start another club? Isn’t this place good enough?”

Teru groans, frustrated, “It is, but…” She mumbles her complaints incoherently. 

Still, Kageyama hums as if she understands. “We don’t have to talk about it right now.”

Sagging in relief, Teru follows the other girl to the main area, where Kageyama immediately pauses a distance away from the group. “Ah. I see you’ve already braided…” she trails off momentarily, “…her hair.”

Teru does her best to not snicker. “Hoshino-chan, yes.” She sighs, tilting her head sadly, “These guys are so ungrateful, Kageyama-chan. None of them have even complimented my babies yet.”

For another moment, the newest guest examines the dark braids from where she stands. She looks to Teru next. “What’s wrong with them?”

This time, she does bark out a laugh, throwing her head back. “I did tell them to not pay it any mind. But maybe I’ll skip on doing Asahi-chan’s,” she admits sheepishly, “I don’t think this whole thing is actually helping me.”

“What is this, a coping mechanism?” Dimple sneers.

“No, it’s a roping mechanism.”

“Forget I asked.”

Teru and Kageyama exchange a sideways glance before giggling in unison.

While they’re there Kageyama snacks on a sandwich of all things, and they all watch a movie together. Some new animated film that Teru has to admit she enjoyed despite her initial worry that it would be too childish for her tastes.

It’s not too long after the movie ends that the group disperses, not without the rest of the lab pleasantly remembering to compliment Teru on her braiding. She shouldn’t be surprised. She knows that they indeed like her. She’s too used to only receiving shallow admiration, but these kids really do enjoy her company.

At some point-- and Teru isn’t too ashamed to admit that she doesn’t know exactly when-- Dimple had meandered off to whoever knows where. Now it’s only Teru and Kageyama who walk side by side to their side of town. (Again, only semi-apologetically,) Teru prefers it this way.

Teru doesn’t hate Dimple. She doesn’t like her, but. Bleh. She doesn’t need to defend herself on this, she feels.

But without the spirit yapping about this or that, there’s a quiet around them that Teru would have probably recognized as not so awkward if she was the type of person who was content to be ignored.

“So what are your thoughts on the state of the economy in this day and age?”

“Maybe you should join the debate club, Hanazawa-san.” 

Taken off guard by the jab, Teru sadly looks at the ground, lips twitching.

Alright. She’ll stay quiet.

Or maybe Kageyama means that genuinely. Or maybe she doesn’t realize that Teru is still kind of in a period of her life where she doesn’t receive jokes well.

“Do you think I talk too much?”

She takes a moment to actually consider the query. “I don’t think you do.”

“What you said sounded mean just now.”

“Huh?” Kageyama turns to her questioningly, then lowers her head when she sees Teru’s expression, now mirroring her miserable demeanor. “Oh, sorry.”

“Why should I join the debate club?” Teru asks.

“You wanted to join a club, right? Or start one?”

Teru relaxes, straightening slightly from her previous slouch. “Yeah. I initially thought to just join an existing one but I couldn’t figure out which one I wanted. How did you pick your club, Kageyama-chan?”

Ever pleased to talk about fitness, Teru is happy to see Kageyama perk up. “I almost got roped into Tome-senpai’s telepathy club, but in the end I joined body improvement because I thought Tsubomi-kun would be impressed with my muscles.” She blushes softly, looking away shyly, “But now I do it because it’s fun and healthy.”

So she started working out to impress the boy she likes, huh? Teru can almost smirk with sheer endearment. It’s astonishing how she hadn’t caught on to Kageyama’s average dose of human corruption sooner. It really was there all along. “Wow, Kageyama-chan. That’s so interesting… I don’t have any cool motives like that to join any of my school’s clubs.”

“What’s wrong with the debate club?” Kageyama asks innocently, “Don’t you have opinions on the state of the economy?”

“Of course I do!” Teru insists, “But just not enough to join a club about it.”

“But you won’t know for sure until you try.”

God, she is so right. “But what if it is boring? And everyone will want me to talk all the time-- I already know how to win arguments. I don’t want to do it anymore.”

Kageyama starts fiddling with her uniform’s decorative bow, humming in thought. “I don’t think you talk a lot, Hanazawa-san, but if you want to do a quiet activity, then why not something artful?”

“Everyday? I’d get sick of thinking creatively if I had to do it everyday.”

“Then some sort of sport?”

“Hm… I don’t want the attention.”

“Something educational?”

“Meh.”

The look Kageyama gives her is significantly less patient than it was at the start of the conversation. Flatly, she asks, “Why do you want to join a club?”

“Because I’m boring.”

A few meters later, Teru realizes that Kageyama has stopped walking, and she turns around to face her. The dark haired esper is silently staring at her, face familiarly difficult to read.

“If I was in the same school as Kageyama-chan, I’d just join the track team. But I’m not, so.”

The dark haired esper blinks at her. “Do you… want to join a club so you can hang out with your friends?”

Teru hesitates. “I guess.”

“Then join one of their clubs.”

And-- without Teru’s permission-- she actually gets offended. She takes a small step back in distress, face heating grossly as anger explodes in her chest. “Don’t you think I would have?!” she barks. Kageyama reels back slightly with shock. “I don’t have as many friends as--!” She manages to shut her mouth up and turns her smoldering gaze to the side, ears burning in shame.

The mostly empty street is deathly quiet as a result of her booming ire. If there was someone else on the other side of the road, they’d have already scurried hurriedly to avoid the scene after all that. But Kageyama doesn’t seem as confused as Teru would have expected her to be. She doesn’t ask her about her popularity, or why she has difficulty joining her so-called friends’ clubs.

She’s still fiddling with her uniform, breathing a little heavier. Kageyama might have a considerately plain face, but at this point Teru can recognize the guilt in her expression easily. “I thought you would have already made some by this point.”

“I-It’s not easy!” She takes hold of the strap of her bag, clenching her fists to the point of white knuckles to hide the fact that her hands are shaking. Right-- It was Kageyama who first pointed out to Teru that she’s just a lonely loser. Of course she knows the problem. 

But it’s not fair, Teru thinks. Kageyama said they were the same-- but even back then, she had her body improvement club, and Ritsu and Reigen. And now she has all these people and Teru can’t even think of someone she can join a goddamn club for. “Not everyone can make ten thousand friends like you.”

She bows her head and pouts. It’s been a long while since she actually cried from abrupt emotions, so although she feels like tearing up, nothing happens.

Kageyama inhales, the sound sharp in the silence of the near evening. “I’m not that close to all of them.” Her voice is dim with what Teru can only describe as hurt, and the blonde manages to keep her lips sealed, even if instinct tells her she’s being blatantly lied to. “Almost everyone else is in different schools now. And I don’t see Shishou as much since I don’t work at Spirits and Such anymore.”

Teru softens somewhat, peering up and watching the other lower her gaze and hide behind her bangs in return. But she has a hair clip holding a part of it up, so Teru can see the honesty in her eyes. “Tome-senpai is a grade above me, and he has other friends who are actually his age. And it’s difficult to maintain a long distance friendship so Tsubomi-kun and I aren’t really talking that much. That relationship was awkward anyway. And Sagawa-san is in track with me but we only ever talk about working out and she leaves as soon as it’s time to go home.” She wavers momentarily. “I’m grateful for what I have…”

It kind of sounds like she’s trying to convince herself more than anything.

Suddenly exhausted, Teru slowly drops to a crouch with a long exhale, hugging her knees. “I’m sorry, Kageyama-chan. I didn’t mean to get angry at you.”

Now in her line of sight, red eyes redirect to her, forgiving and genuine as always. “No,” she says after a moment, “You thought I left you behind, didn’t you? For a moment-- I’m sorry I did.” She pats her uniform’s bow, straightening it, and lowers herself to be at level with her friend. “Right now, I was scared that while I stumbled back, you outgrew me.” She reaches out and takes Teru’s hand, which the blonde doesn’t protest to. “I’m sorry, Hanazawa-san.”

Teru simply stares at their hands, squeezing Kegeyama’s fingers. Kageyama, who’s just like her. She really is just like her. Touched, and now relieved of her frustrations, Teru feels her eyes actually burning up and she buries her face in her knees. After she wipes the little that does come out against her skin, she finally lifts her head and grins. “Kageyama-chan, we’re such losers.”

Kageyama actually chuckles at that, and while Teru doesn’t want to say that she’s glad that the other is as bad at having friends as she is, she kind of is thankful for it. That’s probably pretty selfish, but she is only average after all.

They’re not rivals anymore. They haven’t been for a while. If Teru feels too alone, she should know that Kageyama is always comfortably in reach.

Chapter Text

> Kageyama-chan we need to hang out one on one just the two of us sometime! (๑•̀ㅁ•́๑) Come to my apartment this Fri or Sat and let’s slumber party!

The answer comes after an hour and forty minutes:

> ok!
> ill come saturday afternoon :) 

> Yay!!!

Teru guesses that meeting once a week is just their thing now. Not that she’s complaining. And while she wouldn’t mind meeting Kageyama during the working week instead of on the weekend, if anything disrupts her schedule and she doesn’t finish the day’s homework within the same evening, she’ll lose it. Even if the homework isn’t due for a while.

So until then, Teru will have to go through the school week the usual way.

Well, not exactly.

Even if Kageyama stays her closest friend, Teru still wants to have actual buddies in school.

And… Dimple did have a point.

Not about manipulating someone else into doing things for her-- but that if she wants to make friends, she’s just going to have to find another lonely loser and make it work.

On Monday’s lunch break, instead of eating in class with everyone else, Teru takes her bento and goes on a walk around the school, trying to locate any targets. There are a few people eating alone, but she finds herself too shy to approach. As much as every half decent person likes to say that they would invite a lonely student into their friend group, if everyone actually stood by their word then no one would be sitting alone, would they?

Some of the kids are ones that she instinctively avoids because they’re students her classmates consistently make fun of (she’ll have to work on that), some of them seem intimidating and some she recognizes as quiet and difficult to get along with.

While trying to decide what to do, Teru becomes too stressed and ends up sitting at some corner by herself just so she can finish lunch before break ends. The rest of the day Teru is too embarrassed to do anything social besides internally berate herself for her lack of said social skills.

On Tuesday Teru braces herself throughout the entire morning, crushing her self respect and image until she’s nothing but a polite, emotionless robot. During lunch she once again takes her bento and wanders around, only this time she sits down next to the first hermit she meets.

“Hello!” she says as she settles down on the grass, not wanting to come off too strong. The other person is a timid girl in her homeroom class that never has her homework done. She doesn’t answer Teru’s greeting nor any of her few attempts at small talk, simply eating her food while craning her head away.

Of course the blonde feels somewhat dejected, but she knew that this would be tough. She smiles through the entire meal and convinces herself that the silence can be eventually converted into something friendly.

On Wednesday, the girl isn’t at the spot, meaning Teru has to look for her next victim. A third year student is perched on a bench near the outdoor bathrooms and Teru beelines towards him. He’s playing on some sort of console while empty candy wrappers sit next to him on the bench, threatening to be blown by the wind.

“What are you playing?” She beams, sitting on the other side of the trash. 

The boy barely spares her a glance, absorbed in his game. In fact, he scoots away from her subtly. “None of your business.”

Rude, but fine. Teru has learned her lesson and doesn’t try to start a conversation. But a few minutes into her lunch, the other kid seems to get sick of her anyway and stands up on his own, leaving her with all his litter behind.

The desire to cry while also wishing to smack someone on the back of the head as hard as possible is unfortunately a specific combination of wants that Teru is all too familiar with. So although she silently fumes at having to throw away his garbage like some sort of servant dog, she holds herself steady and quickly returns to normal. If you call an aching, gaping hole in the chest “normal.”

Maybe she shouldn’t consider that normal, because she still feels bad when evening comes around. But she’s able to alleviate her spirits by texting her friend, talking about what they expect this weekend. And then Kageyama tells a story about how Ritsu somehow managed to flip their couch over, and they laugh about that until Teru has to say goodnight.

The next day she isn’t able to bring herself to go through any of that letdown again, despite yesterday’s pickup, and ends up sitting with her usual group. They ask her where she was the past days with a dash of concern, which touches her to an unexpected degree.

On Friday, Teru takes her bento and strides towards the back of the school. When she roamed around on Monday, she had spotted what looked to be delinquents crouching around. Or maybe they just seem like delinquents. It’s not like she caught them fighting or smoking or anything-- since that would be stupid to do during the school day.

But Teru knows how hooligans act and she had gotten that impression from them, cackling and elbowing one another like they’re the funniest people in the world. She’s not scared of it, naturally. It might be a hazardous mentality, but she finds herself secretly empathetic towards pathetic punks-- at least when they’re her age. More patient than most strangers ought to be.

It’s definitely not a great way of thinking. Finding a community in these types of groups is how all her ex lackeys were coaxed into doing her bidding. Just because they’re troubled doesn’t inherently mean that they’re worth it. But sitting with them for a few minutes couldn’t hurt, right?

If she finds them unbearable then she’ll leave and won’t look back. But who knows. Maybe there’s some idiot with a heart of gold that could use a legitimate friend.

She’s in the shade of the school, passing by flower beds and small, established groups of friends hanging out far from the crowd. The closer she gets to the spot near the outer wall, the clearer she can hear the biting voices and she unwittingly tightens the hold on her lunch.

But before she can turn the corner, Teru feels the distinct sensation of someone watching her and she halts fully, glaring around. 

From behind a decorative gap in the main building’s architecture, a boy steps out. His hair is too tidy and his uniform is too pristine for him to be a part of the loud gang and Teru’s shoulders ease as she looks back curiously.

“You probably shouldn’t be here,” is what he ends up saying, voice boyish with the type of fluctuating confidence Teru finds in herself at some of her weaker moments.

“How come?”

“A bunch of delinquents hang out here.”

Teru hums. This might be a candid person looking out for her. But then again, this also might just be another boy looking down on her. “Yeah, well… I’m looking for somewhere to sit,” she chirps, holding back from saying something condescending just yet.

The boy falters momentarily. “You’re Hanazawa-san from class one-C, right? Aren’t you pretty popular?”

Not enough to be identified by students outside of her class, or so she thought. Do people talk about her behind her back? Is it bad that she doesn’t really recognize this person? That probably doesn’t matter right now.

“I wouldn’t say I’m popular. What about you? Are you eating by yourself right now?”

The boy’s face colors as he scowls, and Teru recognizes that she might not have worded that perfectly. She corrects herself before he manages to retort, “If so, can I join you?” Tilting her head naively, she fixes her most charming smile.

Fortunately, that cools him off. With still pink cheeks, he daintily points to where he came from, “O-Okay. If you want to.”

The place they end up sitting at is making Teru’s backside numb and when she asks about the spot, the boy tells her that since this school is bigger than his last one, he managed to find a good amount of hidden corners in it. Teru doesn’t think this high school is really that big-- It’s prestigious, unlike a lot of the other options. But apparently he went to an even more esteemed middle school in a different corner of Seasoning, which was much smaller. Teru tries not to say anything taunting about it.

He doesn’t have any scathing opinions on the economy, but he does like the Hagemon pattern on her bento box. He ends up saying something relatively mean about one of the other popular girls, but he immediately apologizes, looking at the ground all ashamed. Teru can wholeheartedly respect it. It means that she doesn’t have to act more attentive and sweet than she actually is. 

Still, it’s their first time talking so there are instances where they start speaking at the same time or Teru has to explain a joke she cracked, but at least she’s not bone tired by the time lunch ends and they separate.

Kageyama has only been to her apartment once before, and it wasn’t on a good day. There’s a chance Teru isn’t a good judge of what or what not should be considered a suitable place to slumber party. For the past few years, the only time she’s visited anyone else’s homes that wasn’t an entire family’s, was when there was some sort of party involved. So maybe she forgot how small her apartment is in comparison.

She doesn’t even have a couch.

But no one cares about that, because this is only a Kageyama and Teru party. Teru isn’t trying to impress her. Not anymore, at least.

She thinks Kageyama is one of the most interesting people in the world. Once, she thought it was because of her massive power, but now Teru curls up on the carpet and listens to one of the most objectively mundane retelling of the week one could produce. But just the fact that it’s from and about Kageyama-- her great friend-- means that Teru is more invested than she is invested in most world-changing political debates.

Kageyama tends to neglect explaining who the people she mentions are, and sometimes forgets to finish a tale before starting another, so Teru kind of has no idea what’s going on and what the timeline is most of the time. But after a few minutes Teru politely asks for more detailed accounts, and now Kageyama’s story-telling skills aren’t so feeble (no offense). 

The beauty in the simplicity of what food she ate for dinner and what advice Sagawa told her during track (Teru still has no idea who that is. Someone from the track team, she guesses) and what silly thing someone said during English class gives the blonde confidence to open up about her own week. And Kageyama listens to all of it, like it’s more interesting than the movie they watched last week.

She softly criticizes the girl from Tuesday and badmouths Wednesday’s boy’s littering and consults Teru about Thursday, when she didn’t feel up to trying again yet. “You’re pretty brave,” she says, “Talking to so many strangers can be disheartening.” It’s a bit humiliating, but Teru feels a little better about it now.

Kageyama celebrates yesterday’s more successful lunch hour after Teru recalls everything that happened then. “What’s his name?”

Lying on the carpet with her arms crossed behind her head, Teru pouts towards the ceiling in thought. “It was, like, Asagiri Mino…ri? --ki? --Minori-kun. Something like that.”

“Oh.”

When Teru senses that the silence isn’t their typical comfortable kind, she turns her head to the girl sprawled on her stomach beside her, head similarly pillowed on her arm. Her face has dimmed considerably and she runs a finger through Teru’s green rug thoughtfully. “Do you know him?”

Kageyama hums. “He bullied me for a period of time.”

Teru feels her heart deflate miserably. So much for that guy.

She didn’t know Kageyama was bullied.

“Should I not be his friend?”

After circling the floor a few more times with her touch, she answers with certainty, “No.” She staggers, “I mean, no. I mean--” She stops to huff a frustrated sigh, and follows up more carefully, “What I mean to say is that it was a while ago, and there’s a chance he turned over a new leaf. It’s a complicated story, but in short. He bullied me, I beat him up, and then I never saw him again.”

“You beat him up?” Teru asks, honestly surprised.

“Well. Sure.” Her voice wavers slightly and Teru regrets opening her mouth. “I don’t particularly like him, but I also don’t know what he’s up to anymore. He was pretty upfront about being evil, so if he’s really nice to you then it’s probably fine-- though I don’t really know what he’s like in real life. If he ends up being mean to you then you can just punch him.”

A humorous snort escapes Teru, and she slaps a hand over her mouth. Kageyama stops in tracing the carpet to peer at her with a coy smile. “Some people need a good knocking and then they’re fine.”

Oh, that kind of hurt. Teru feels her ears burn, a self-degrading smile stretching her lips as she averts her gaze. 

She knows Kageyama has all the justification to tease her. Even if it was a challenging part of her life, the other girl is the one who had ended up with the most damage. Teru understands it. Yet she can’t help the shameful sting that makes it difficult to breathe properly.

And then a hand lands on top of hers, and suddenly she’s making eye contact with Kageyama again. “I’m sorry,” her friend murmurs, “He reminds me a little bit of you, in the best type of way. I don’t hate him or anything.”

Teru’s eyes flutter unintentionally in her quest to keep them from overflowing. “I’m sorry about that day, Kageyama-chan.”

“It’s okay. All I’m trying to say is that I don’t mind it if you two become friends.” But then almost contradictorily, her grasp on Teru tightens and her gaze sharpens, though somehow Teru gets the feeling that it’s not directed at her. “But only as long as I’m still your best friend, Hanazawa-san.”

“What?!” Teru all but yells, eyes wide, “Kageyama-chan! Only if I’m your best friend!”

She wavers for a half second before nodding enthusiastically the moment she seemingly comprehends her conditions, and that’s all it takes to lift the nauseous weight off of Teru. She laughs, delighted. 

They make dinner together and although it ends up spicier than they intended, neither of them complain. Kageyama has some reservations about eating on Teru’s bed and while at first the blonde waves her off, the more her guest hesitates, the more she convinces Teru that she doesn’t have the patience to change her sheets either, even though she’s eaten on her bed plenty of times.

Arguably, eating on her carpet isn’t all that better, but Teru near restlessly tells Kageyama to just catch any fallen foods with her telekinesis. No one ends up dropping anything and they watch an agreed upon movie, but she doesn’t say I told you so.

They take turns in the shower and Kageyama has a set of pajamas that look like they were plucked straight out of an illustration from a children’s book. Technically, they’re more mature than Teru’s Hagemon theme. The classic big graphic on the shirt and the small, crowded pattern on the pants.

What do adults even wear as pajamas?

Teru’s back to lying on the floor for some reason, one hand rested on her stomach. “Kageyama-chan looks really cute in her nightwear.”

Kageyama, who had just come back from her shower, looks down from her spot at the doorway and fidgets at the forward compliment. “Reigen-shishou has Ugly Bear pajamas.”

Teru grins lopsidedly. Huh. That answers her question, then.

Instead of asking her to pull out the futon, Kageyama lies down next to Teru again as the latter stretches, figuring out what to talk about next.

They manage to jump from one topic to another during conversation, whatever they’re talking about somehow being wildly different than what they were discussing only minutes ago-- but Teru thinks that might just be how talking to someone works. 

Maybe she’s tired, or maybe this is how best friends act, but Teru feels that she’s able to completely let go. She doesn’t play up any responses and doesn’t think too deeply into what they’re talking about, laughing out loud without a care.

They gradually come off a high after a giggle fit, chests heaving. Teru opens her mouth to start a new conversation but finds that she’s run out of things to say. Seems like they’re out of topics to talk about. “I’m tired.”

“Me too.”

“How about I pull the futon out then?”

“Okay.”

The bedding is layed out, the lights are turned off and the girls are in their respective sleeping spots in the first truly quiet moment since Kageyama had arrived earlier today.

Teru guesses this is the part where she shuts her eyes and sleeps and all that, but she’s not sure how hard she’s supposed to drag these types of situations… It is a slumber party, sure, but she feels she has at least enough energy to close off the day properly.

Buried under her blanket up to her neck, one leg sticking out, Teru pushes the back of her head further into her pillow and eyes the little amount of light that reaches her corner of the room at this hour. “Hey, Kageyama-chan?”

Maybe the inability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat isn’t as common as she formerly thought, because Kageyama sounds somewhat drowsy when she answers, “Hm, yes?”

“Do you want to see something cool?”

There’s some rustling, “Okay?”

Teru isn’t actually sure she’ll be able to do it again, since last time was a mere fluke. Regardless, she closes her eyes and breathes deeply, imagining the great beyond. The starless sky that threatens to swallow her whole. The bright, blue noon that shines sunbeams straight into her heart and pumps it with utter warmth.

Before she knows it, Teru is floating loops in the middle of her room. She bumbles around and faces Kageyama excitedly. It still feels like she’s working muscles just so she doesn’t roll out of the window but Kageyama doesn’t raise an eyebrow at her clumsy movements. 

The girl is on her back, watching Teru with shining eyes. In fact-- it seems that the now-spirit’s form is casting a soft, yellowish glow around the entire area that must be too weak to have been seen at last time’s earlier hour. Teru privately likens it to the stars she misses before scoffing at herself, chiding her own vanity.

In spite of her contained thoughts, her aura shines and reflects in the trinkets on her shelf and the mirror that leans to the side of her TV. Kageyama’s usual jet black hair glows almost bronze and the round features of her face are highlighted at the edges. Something insecure in Teru begs herself to bolt back to her body.

“You astral projected.” 

Is that what this is? 

Yup!

Can she even speak? Kageyama doesn’t reply. But then again she doesn’t reply often anyways. Since Teru doesn’t really say anything worth replying to anyway. Not that that’s a bad thing. They’re having fun, she thinks.

In her mulling, she apparently missed Kageyama going through the motions, so she’s caught off guard when a white spirit floats out from below. Looking very non-human, above all else. But it’s unmistakably Kageyama, simply recognized with what Teru absorbs with her sixth sense.

Curiously, it-- Kageyama-- presents in an off-white color, radiating a soft blue. Teru doesn’t really see auras, but she’d always thought Kageyama’s power to be more… colorful. Maybe like this, in such a small form, it’s dense. She almost entirely lights up the room.

And she looks. Cute? Different. Is that what Teru looks like right now? With two eyes and two arms and a little wispy tail.

Ah, but Kageyama is watching her. Unlike Teru, she’s stagnant. An invisible breeze blows her… head designs, and her round eyes watch Teru as if she’s waiting for something. Fair enough.

Managing to redirect herself, Teru swims upwards but before she can phase through the ceiling, she looks back to Kageyama, making sure to gesture to the best of her ability for the other girl to follow. She ignores the image of their unconscious bodies laying flat and focuses on not panicking while she unintentionally stays too long in the in-between process of exiting her apartment.

She’s never too keen on leaving herself vulnerable-- whether she’s occupying her own body or not-- but she’s already done this before. And if something happens, she can go back and beat whoever endangered her physical form to smithereens. If Kageyama hasn’t already at that point.

When they’re both outside, Teru jumps upward, repeatedly looking back to imply Kageyama should come with her.

Up. 

She tries to speak in the most straightforward of ways but is still uncertain if she’s getting through at all. In any case, Kageyama obediently sticks by her and when Teru is confident she’s not going to ditch, she brings her gaze solely to the sky. She swims as quickly as she can to the void darkness broken only by the lonely moon. It’s been shown clearly that Kageyama has a better grasp on this form (to absolutely no one’s surprise. Teru wasn’t even aware that Kageyama knew how to astral project-- Teru also wouldn’t bat an eye if she was informed that the powerful esper figured it out in real time) so Teru’s not worried about out-flying her.

When she deems it’s been enough time (not that she has any way to keep up how long it’s been-- or how high up she is, in fact-- without looking back) she stops, her body floating on with momentum without her permission. 

Flapping her perhaps-actually-conceivable arms, Teru rights herself in order to look at the distance below her. But, before that, Kageyama serenely catches up, looking straight at her all the while. 

And then it’s just them and the dark empty horizon. Teru still can’t hope to see the stars from here but Kageyama regards her patiently with her friendly, caring gaze. 

Teru is hit with the realization that Kageyama has followed her all the way up here. Away from everyone and everything else just because Teru wordlessly asked her too. Even though she knows that it’s entirely not a big deal, the sudden urge to cry shakes her to her core and she’s helpless in the face of it.

Without the routine ritual of breathing in and holding steady, Teru can’t do much with the unidentifiable emotions that melt her edges and make her insides sink.

Whatever or however she looks or resonates of, Kageyama is evidently able to tell that something is wrong. Her eyes somehow widen further and she frets in place before ultimately closing in on Teru, enveloping her in what is possibly the huggiest hug known to mankind.

It’s all types of cold and odd, but after a moment, something warms within and spreads to every corner of her essence. It almost burns, but in the way that hot showers burn. Teru relaxes in it and doesn’t think of whether this is completely safe. Even if they somehow swap auras, Teru doesn’t mind hauling a little bit of Kageyama Shigeo around in her soul. It tastes like youth and smells of gardens that consist of more dirt and vegetation than elegant flowers. It’s her best friend.

When Teru composes herself-- whatever that entails of-- she backs away slowly and tries to smile at the other since she still seems disturbed. By the looks of it, perhaps facial expressions aren’t Teru’s best bet, so she bends herself down and waits for Kageyama to follow her gaze.

The world below is significantly harder to comprehend, shrouded in darkness. The streetlamps below bring the memory of two beings outside of where it behooves them to be, lighting up the room. It’s difficult to spot individual people from up here, but Teru thinks the effect is all the same. Eerie and silent be damned, that’s the exact earth that Teru wakes up on everyday.

When she catches Kageyama in her peripheral vision, she tries to say,

When I see everything else, it makes me happy to be a part of it.

She doesn’t get an answer and shortly laments that this message will most likely never make it to her companion, as Teru will surely not have the guts to get it through her physical lips.

For a few minutes, they spend their time idly watching the nothing that is everything. When Teru realizes that it’s unlikely that Kageyama will make the first move, she starts their journey back down.

Then she’s back in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Even without her inside, her body has regulated itself to the darkness, so if she were to look down to her friend she knows she would be able to see her clearly. Even without their spirits acting as lanterns.

And this whole sequence of events could have been sweet and cool, if she didn’t break down for no reason. What was that about, anyway? She already knows that Kageyama is right there next to her-- so why is she so emotional about it now? 

Did she seriously need a visual reminder?

She thinks back to bright blue manipulated into surrounding every corner of her person. To being unable to take “no” as an answer until it was beaten into her.

Maybe it is as simple as that.

The only sound now is that of the city outside. Teru purses her lips.

“I’m embarrassed.”

“Don’t be,” she hears Kageyama faintly reply, sounding almost breathless. 

When Teru tilts her head to look down at the futon on her bedroom floor, Kageyama is already watching her. She’s smiling so affectionately that her eyes narrow, crescents above rosy cheeks. 

It’s the greatest thing Teru has ever seen. 

“I think you’re amazing, Hanazawa-san.”

Teru starts the next week with an almost dangerous amount of self-confidence. In the past, whenever she walked the halls with this amount of poise it would mean that she ended the previous day tossing someone around. Whether it be lowlife psychics or random gangsters from other schools.

But today’s good mood is completely clean. She holds her head up and smiles and waves to anyone who glances her way and bows happily to all the teachers she passes.

Kageyama thinks she’s amazing.

Teru is doing something right because for all her efforts Kageyama thinks she’s amazing.

If that’s not a good motivator, then Teru doesn’t know what is.

Her happy little cloud dissipates partially only a few minutes into entering the building. Not to rain on her, but to shine her in reality’s light. She didn’t expect Asagiri to come find her.

He leans on the door frame to her homeroom, not realizing that someone behind him, inside the class and right outside his personal space, is teetering hesitantly. He’s blocking their exit, it looks like. 

“Teru-san,” he greets coolly, “We’re eating lunch together today too, okay?”

Or maybe he has indeed taken note of his roadblocking. Maybe he just doesn’t care. Teru thinks back to what Kageyama had said. She mentioned Asagiri used to be a bully. It would be disappointing if that was still the case. Regardless, Teru takes his sleeve and leads him inside.

When he sees the student leaving with visible appreciation in their body language, Asagiri blushes, his entire face red. Well. Was he just standing here the entire time waiting for her? Maybe he’s also bad at reading his surroundings. Or maybe he’s not used to it. He murmurs an apology that the other kid is by now too not here to hear, but Teru thinks none of it really matters.

Asagiri brings his attention back to her when she lets go of his sleeve. “I eat lunch almost everyday, so it won’t be any problem eating with you again.” She inclines her head towards the door, her good mood infused into her words, “And don’t worry about that. When I woke up this morning a bird tweeted to me in Morse code that this is going to be the best Monday of the month, so there’s no need to be embarrassed.” Teru grins, hoping to help.

Looks like another success. Asagiri has his brows furrowed, but some of the color refuses to leave his cheeks. His dark turquoise eyes sparkle when he replies, “Uh-- okay!”

(Turquoise… She should visit Ritsu again soon.)

To be honest, Teru is troubled by the fact that Kageyama and Asagiri know each other. Yes, the exact relationship that they had is horrible-- and she knows she’s been given the go ahead with this potential friendship despite that… But until this point, all of Teru’s budding friendships have been planted in the first place by Kageyama’s hands. Or by association. 

Technically, she encountered Ritsu organically, but that was hardly a good first impression. Because of Kageyama (and Dimple?) Teru was able to properly (okay scratch that, that was anything but proper) meet Ritsu again. And Reigen, and then Mitsuura and the rest of the group. And Dimple? And Kurata and Suzuki-- the latter thanks to Ritsu. And eventually Serizawa too, Teru guesses.

But now she had met someone one-hundred percent naturally-- not even because of any shady esper powers going off. She’s endlessly thankful to Kageyama for all the good she did to Teru’s life, but she was admittedly excited to do something good on her own.

Though, she supposes that Kageyama isn’t pulling many strings here, if any. She made it clear she doesn’t really want anything to do with Asagiri, so he’s all Teru’s. If this companionship lasts for long enough, that is.

And if she wants this new friendship to be completely authentic, she can’t let Kageyama’s bias taint Teru’s opinion just yet. She has to judge for herself whether or not Asagiri is a worthy friend, and hope he someday opens up to her on his own accord. And when that happens, she’ll do the same in return.

Frankly, that sounds kind of scary. 

But if anything like that happens, she doubts it would be so soon.

Can you blame her for thinking this way, though? She might have only made one close friend, but that was with an awful first encounter, followed up with a team rescue mission and then another heart to heart beat down only a few months later. Teru doesn’t have an average record of experiences with making friends, so her understanding for how they work is dubious at best.

But Asagiri is probably in the same boat, so who cares.

Chapter Text

Wednesday: 

The way Teru leans against the wall is a backache hazard. But Teru has done things far more intense in the name of friendship, so this is practically nothing in comparison.

Though, admittedly, the way she slouches down with her knees up is a flashing hazard. Again, she’s been through worse, and anyway Asagiri is the only one here and he’s sitting beside her. If he tries to peek she can kick him in the face. Kageyama gave her permission.

But just as she thought, he’s only interested in picking through his ridiculously well made lunch (there are food items in the shape of every creature in the animal kingdom. Like, every day) and rolling a rock under his foot as he contemplates over whatever it is that boys think about.

“Hey, Asagiri-kun. Are you in any club?” she asks, clicking her chopsticks in the air boredly.

“No, but… sometimes I help this program after school. Basically I hand out flyers in different parts of the city and sometimes attend events. They try to bring awareness to bullying and workplace harassment and stuff like that.”

Teru gently places the back of her head against the wall, sighing. So no club. “Lame.”

In a way that Teru perhaps should have seen coming, Asagiri’s face goes red and he glares at her, baring teeth, “It’s not lame! It’s really important!”

This kid is so sensitive, it’s a little funny. But Teru doubts that poking him would do either of them, or their friendship, any good. “That’s not what I meant,” she hurries to say, straightening up, “Awareness raising is super cool! It’s just that I’ve been meaning to join an afterschool club but I don’t want to do it alone.”

“Oh.” Asagiri looks back down to his bento, an onigiri shaped like a panda bear smiling back at him. “I bet there’s a bunch of kids who’d join with you. You’re really nice, after all.”

“Meh.”

The warning bell rings but they don’t get up right away. When Teru closes her bento, Asagiri says, “If you want, you can come help hand out flyers with me.”

“When is it?”

“I go Tuesdays after school but I’ll also be helping next Sunday from ten to two.”

“AM?” 

“…no?”

“I’ll come.” She pushes herself up to her feet, tucking her lunch box under her arm and smoothing down her skirt, ignoring the little bit of vertigo with the swift shift in positions. “Give me your number after classes, okay?”

He takes the hand she offers him and shoves his own to his pocket when he’s stable. “Okay.”

> hanazawa-san do you want to slumber party at my house on satudray?
> ritsu will be there too :)

> I actually have plans Sun morning so is it possible if I sleep over between Fri to Sat instead?

> ill ask my parents
> they said ok
> and they invite you to dinner they want to see you if thats ok

> Ofc it is!!! ^^
> Also I’m going to the lab this Fri so if you want to come by again you’re welcome to!

> thanks but i think ill pass i want to do my homeworl before you come over

> Ok!!! If you haven’t finished by the time I arrive then I can help you (ง •̀ゝ•́)ง

> ok ! thank you :) 

> Np ♡

This time, the three dots hop around for a couple good minutes,

> <3 hanazawa -san! 

As she was sure from the get go: This was a good week. 

She hangs out with Asagiri every break, talking about any topic. While Teru loves talking to Kageyama, Asagiri tends to speak more, generally. He has a lot that he likes to complain about. Sure, it makes him sound fairly entitled, but it seems he knows that to some extent. It just means that he trusts Teru not to seriously reprimand him for his privileged opinions. She does occasionally laugh at him, though.

Friday afternoon, at the lab, they actually go outside to a nearby park to play ball games. Not even anything competitive or aggressive. Simple catch. It’s nice.

They end up watching a horror movie (or at least what middle to high school students would consider horror. Teru knows this group of friends have been through scarier) which does get her in the first jump scare. The rest of them she spends snickering at the others’ reactions.

After hurrying home to change and grab an overnight bag, Teru makes her way to the Kageyama household.

Ritsu is as friendly and passive to Teru as she always is, and the Kageyama parents are easy to talk to and don’t bring up any distressing political discourse during dinner (which Teru isn’t sure was a logical thing to potentially fret about, but you never know. Especially when you’re as out of touch with the concept of parenthood as she is).

The three girls play video games on the TV, Teru performs averagely, Ritsu snarks and complains through an entire movie (not horror) and then it’s lights out. 

Teru lays on an extra futon next to Kageyama. Who chooses to sleep on the ground like that nightly. It’s fine. Ritsu has a bed all for herself but that’s fine. Teru will get over it-- she’s slumber partying with her best friend, after all.

“What plans do you have on Sunday?” Kageyama asks just as Teru settles under her very comfortable blanket. 

Idly rolling her gaze away from the corners of the room, Teru yawns but when she makes eye contact with the other girl she wavers. She still doesn’t completely understand how Kageyama feels about Teru’s new friend. A blessing doesn’t indicate a desire to hear about them. But it’s not like lying is an option, so Teru answers.

“I’m hanging out with Asagiri-kun,” she admits, face buried in the blanket up to her nose. “An anti-bullying and harassment campaign or something.” Oh, Teru realizes, the anti-bullying thing most likely isn’t a coincidence. But guilt is a necessary and promising emotion, right?

Kageyama hums and closes her eyes momentarily. When she opens them back again, she’s smiling faintly. “You’re already making friends, Hanazawa-san.”

“You don’t mind that it’s him?”

“Not really.”

Teru shifts, kicking out a leg from her bedding to cool it off. She hopes she’s not killing the mood, but… support is an action best not revoking. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Copying her, Kageyama settles into her futon, dark hair fanning over her pillow. Said cushion has a cute pastel orange casing and is lightly stained with age. “It was during an exorcism. He was being possessed and I astral projected into his soul and got trapped into this world the evil spirit set up.”

Okay. Kageyama is efficient and to the point as ever, however that’s not what Teru had expected at all. When did Kageyama start working for Reigen, again? Teru thought this whole bullying thing happened way back. Didn’t seem like the girl’s ex athlete club would be down with this treatment, after all. “How long were you in there?”

“A few minutes, but time worked weird there. It felt like half a year.”

Teru sucks a wincing breath through her teeth. “Why would he bully you?”

Kageyama furrows her brows, baffled or offended, “I dunno? He sucked.”

“No, I meant--” Teru coughs, flailing her arm sluggishly from beneath her covering, “Didn’t he know you were trying to help him?”

“What? Oh, no, we forgot we were trapped. It felt like real life.” Her breath is slow and sleepy, the way the rising of her chest shifts her blanket. “He transferred to my school in that world. And I didn’t have my powers. But the worst part was that I didn’t have any of my friends or family. No one stood up for me.” Her voice softens significantly, vulnerable as she often has the courage of being, “The empty house hurt me the most.”

Sympathy pains twist behind Teru’s rib cage and she frowns into the darkness, wishing she could have helped somehow. It feels like common knowledge at this point that Kageyama always has company to call upon. Even back when the two of them first met. Dimple, the past body improvement club, Reigen, Ritsu-- And now Teru. All the people that went after Kageyama when she had her last meltdown. Teru might have been envious of it, but it’s cruel to think of a world where Kageyama doesn’t get any of that. “That really does suck, Kageyama-chan.”

“Dimple helped save me in the end, so I was fine.” Then, inexplicably, that pity is turned back to the blonde. There’s so much sorrow in her eyes that Teru doesn’t really know what to do with it. “Don’t you get lonely, Hanazawa-san?”

Ah, so that’s it. Teru’s life might be a sad sight from the outside-- but that’s exactly it, isn’t it? From the outside. Teru isn’t from the outside. She’s a natural at shaping and regulating herself to fit her surroundings. Or, more like, to stand over it. Another way for her to control her life.

Her fingers itch to braid. 

“That’s why I’m trying to make friends!” is what she ends up saying. And her voice doesn’t sound that sad. Because, well, she’s not that concerned with her own life at the moment. Truthfully, it’s been going well, relatively speaking. She’s just not sad, to put it simply.

Kageyama blinks at her, like she had expected Teru to spill out her own feelings in return. She hates to disappoint, but there’s not much she can do with what’s expected. This is what she has to say for herself.

But, Teru knows what this is-- beyond Kageyama showing sympathy. She’s trying to relate. It’s another one of those acts-- that’s sweet and kind, caring wrapped around a selfish desire. 

The other esper is expressing a past isolation. She wants to see a similar experience echoed in a familiar face. To see someone down with her, if only so she won’t be alone.

You can’t miss what you’ve never really had, though. And aside from that one time in first grade with her school supplies in the trash, Teru was never really picked on.

She doesn’t want to leave Kageyama hanging like that though. If Kageyama can’t find a way to relate Teru to her struggles, then Teru will just have to spin this the other way around. “I don’t think you were lucky, you know. It wasn’t a coincidence that you had your bodybuilding team come to collect you that day we met, or that you made all those friends before high school.” She smiles brightly, tucking a blonde strand behind her ear to make sure Kageyama sees her cheer, “If you continue to work hard, even if it takes a little bit of external motivation, you can make a billion new friends, or even reconnect with your old ones!”

There’s sparkles in Kageyama’s eyes, and Teru privately pats herself in the back smugly. “You think so?”

“I just know it.”

“What motivates you, Hanazawa-san?”

You! Who else had introduced her to the sky, to the rest of the world? But the first piece in a domino effect won’t do much as an answer this deeply into a discussion. 

Limbs melting to the mattress, Teru sighs dreamily. “Last week, when we went upwards-- The first time I astral projected I flew up in the hopes of seeing the stars, but there was too much light pollution.” She tilts her head playfully as she watches Kageyama regard her attentively. “But when I looked down, I saw everything else, and…” she trails off nervously. She was right: She can’t finish that sentence out loud. She still doesn’t have it in her.

Doesn’t seem like it matters though, because Kageyama lets out a dazed, “Wow…”

“Yeah.” She exhales, shifting to her back, “We should go stargazing one day.”

“Yeah,” Kageyama repeats distractedly, and Teru knows this to be a sign that the conversation has ended, so she closes her eyes.

Except--

“Wanna see something cool?”

Kageyama’s voice is more than routine to Teru’s life at this point, but its faint chime over the otherwise silent room still has the blonde’s heart pumping fast with excitement. She peels an eye open. “Mhm?”

When Teru sees her settling against her own futon, arms buried under her comforter, she expects to see the light blue glow of her soul as it exits her body.

But that’s not the hue the room takes.

The air all around Teru thickens considerably and she momentarily panics, recalling the dread of destroyed schools and forests but she forces herself to inhale and try to relax. She can breathe. It might feel like she’s submerged underwater, but she can breathe.

And it’s not the same as back then, she realizes. It’s not the biting, suffocating sensation of Kageyama’s darkest desires. Not entirely, at least. Teru can still sense the coldness of it against her ears and the leg that’s popped out of her blanket. But it’s only a part of the aura that fills the room. Unavoidable traces, thinned out and weaved in between the soil of Kageyama’s soul. That ominous, defensive power only being one flavor-- even if easily noted with its harsh bitterness-- in the concoction that is the girl’s power. 

Teru ought to recognize it for what it is without this much delay. That’s her friend.

But in her defense, her attention isn’t even on the goosebumps that had sprung on her skin. 

The room is glowing, Teru notes with awe.

Not that soft light of Kageyama’s soul. No, she’s still right there in her body.

It’s her aura, out of its condensed, pure form of her being.

The ceiling, the walls, floor, furniture (minimal as it is) are all bathed in deep blues and purples, shimmering and slow-moving like a lava lamp. She wouldn’t be surprised if teal and pink are projected onto her slack face.

Unlike a typical light source though, it finds its way into every crevice and nook, free to explore the surfaces like it’s its own entity. Teru isn’t even entirely sure it’s as simple as illumination. It’s fuzzy in her sights, unmatching with the space behind it as all the colors and shapes roll by. 

Unthinkingly, she reaches a hand up, almost expecting to feel the cloud of soft magenta that floats above her head. It brings back the memory of the first time she had watched a 3D film at the movie theater. 

Nothing grazes past her hold, though. Aside from the cold pressure draped on them like a chilly evening after a hot springs bath, numbing the tips of her fingers. It’s not the only thing that reminds her of Ibogami, actually. 

That place, so far from the city, was the perfect place to see…

“Hey, this kind of looks like space,” Teru finally lets out as she eases her arm back down. It wasn’t nearly as vibrant as this, however. 

Not that that’s anything close to a complaint-- The way Kageyama’s colors sparkle against separate surfaces as if competing for her eyes’ attention is far more otherworldly than anything Teru has personally observed. Certainly more star-like than her adventures through her roof. This is closer to what Teru thought Kageyama’s spirit would look like last week.

When she turns her head, she’s shocked to see that Kageyama already has her gaze trained on her. “When did you figure out how to do this?” Teru asks, eyeing the dark blue that passes over her friend’s face, curiously never obscuring it. 

The passionate red of her irises contrast pleasantly against it. “This is the first time I tried.”

Teru seriously should have expected that. But still, of course, she gawks back in unfiltered wonder. Surely, her eyes are twinkling more majestically than whatever it is that Kageyama is doing to this room. 

You’re amazing.

Such an obvious, repeated statement is starting to sound hollow in Teru’s ears (as true as that statement is), if only because she’s insecure about the way she perceives others. “You’re really going to outshine me only a week after I showed you my neat trick?” Although-- Kageyama did just mention that she astral projected into Asagiri’s mind or something, so it’s not like Teru actually showed her anything new.

Kageyama just keeps staring at her with that straightforward look, like she’s waiting for Teru to say something else.

Is she awaiting to be properly complimented? When only a couple years ago Teru had to rid herself of the over enthusiastic attitude of a worshiper? She knows Kageyama wants to be more than her powers… 

It’s probably not that deep. 

“It’s really pretty, Kageyama-chan.” She smiles expectantly, “Do you know why?”

Her friend tilts her head, giddy anticipation rippling through the invisible weight settled onto the room.

“Because it’s you!” She gestures to the patterns on the ceiling with her elbow, watching with delight how Kageyama’s eyes widen, turning back to the rest of the room like she’s seeing it for the first time.

Teru similarly returns to viewing without hesitation. It’s true. In the most abstract of ways, that is Kageyama. In one way or another.

And it is pretty. It looks like her, feels like her. It also looks like-- well, like space. 

It even sparkles like the stars…

“Did you…” Teru hesitates, blinking up at the textures, “It doesn’t look like the night sky on purpose, does it?” She didn’t show this to Teru because of the blonde’s recounting of her failed desires to watch the stars, did she?

But the air around her heats with shame, and when she looks, Kageyama is red in the face. Teru gasps. She then laughs. And laughs again, louder-- only to stop herself when she realizes that they’re not nestled warmly in the infinite sky. They’re at Kageyama’s house, where there’s other people sleeping.

Placing her palm over her mouth, Teru squints happily at her friend. Kageyama is back to her side now, facing her, but refuses to make eye contact.

She’s hit with a wave of affection that has nothing to do with the smell of blossom that invades the scent of childhood home backyards that Kageyama’s aura resembles. This girl isn’t just amazing-- 

She’s wonderful!

“I’m convinced, Kageyama-chan,” she starts to say, cautious of her volume, letting her hand drop and lie beside her, “Even if you get lonely sometimes, there’s no way someone like you will ever end up friendless like that forever. But I know it’s scary when you can’t exactly be certain. So I have a proposal.” 

Dark ruby meets deep ocean, and Teru doesn’t hesitate when she says, “Although it’s unlikely-- If we’re both still single by the age of thirty-five, let’s just marry each other.” 

Kageyama stares mutely. 

“That way no matter what happens, you know you won’t end up alone.”

When she doesn’t get a reply in the next ten seconds, Teru at last catches on to what her friend must be confused about. She almost slaps her own forehead for her mistake. “Well, I mean-- I guess only if it’s legal by then… Ah, but Japan does kind of owe you one for saving it, don’t you think? I met the prime minister, you know. Well, met,” she scoffs at her own wording, “I merely protected her from a terrorist, and then lost in the end anyway. Didn’t really meet her… But I probably earned a few brownie points for trying, right?”

Kageyama’s still silently examining her with that unreadable expression, pink in the room’s odd lighting, and Teru starts to feel prickly. She clears her throat, “Again, only if we’re single, Kageyama-chan. I doubt you would be, at that point. And-- only if you want to of, course. If you’re desperate enough.”

“N-No…” she finally stutters out, “I don’t think anyone would need to be desperate to marry you, Hanazawa-san. If anything… Am I even your type?”

Teru hums in thought. It’s a good question. There’s nothing inside her that says that marrying Kageyama would be unpleasant (except for maybe the amount of money she knows a wedding costs-- but that’s not really the point of this pact. That, and the potential discrimination against this type of relationship. But Teru is psychic. She’s weird in general. And she doesn’t really care so much about what people think of her more harmless attributes. Again, it’s a balance making sure that her indifference isn’t affecting her moral standards. But she’s absolutely sure that a consensual love life isn’t something she should doubt herself about). 

But Kageyama apparently has more trouble telling herself “who cares,” so Teru will answer honestly and seriously. 

What is her type, anyway?

All she can think is… pretty (in her personal tastes, obviously. It’s not shallow to want to be attracted to your partner, right?), fun (again, only in her own estimation. She just wants to make sure it’s clear that she’s not speaking objectively. When she does start dating again, it’s going to be harmless and real!) and kind. That last bit had been changed over from “popular” immediately after their first encounter, and now Teru can’t stand the thought of dating anyone narcissistic. 

So, she answers, “Sure you are!” A wink. “Don’t worry about it so much, Kageyama-chan. We still have like twenty years until then.” Kageyama doesn’t answer her right away, silent with thought. “You don’t have to say ‘ deal’ right now. Just know that it’s on the table in the meantime.”

It takes another few seconds of quiet for her to reply, but Teru is used to this type of leisured dialogue at this point in their relationship. “Okay. I agree, then.”

Satisfied, Teru bundles herself up in her borrowed blanket in case Kageyama is going to keep up the room’s effect as they sleep. She wouldn’t mind. The material is very cushy. 

As is their right on a slumber after-party, the girls wake up later than they typically would, and Teru eats a lazy breakfast cozily without having to worry about speaking to the Kageyama parents. Ritsu sits with them, even though she’s already eaten and has been awake for a few hours, the nerd.

“Any plans this weekend, Imouto-chan?”

She shrugs, murmuring, “Hanging out with friends later.”

Teru nods along, already starting to think of how to continue this non-conversation, when the younger girl thankfully asks, “What about you?”

She lights up, “Ah! I’m also meeting with a friend! From my understanding, we’re going to do volunteer work.”

“Of course you are,” Ritsu amusedly mumbles. 

“I was invited. So I’m mostly doing this to spend time-- Of course, I mean-- I do care about bringing awareness to the cause. But, you get it.”

“I guess it’s a way to ‘spend time…’ Are all your friends as boring as you are?”

Says you, Miss Student Council. That one hit a nerve for sure. “Nah.” She picks at her food. “Well, maybe.” She doesn’t actually know that much about Asagiri personally. For now, he’s interesting to her in the sense that he’s entertaining. That might be a little mean, but as long as she’s taking him seriously she thinks it should end up okay.

“Don’t say stuff like that, Ritsu,” Kageyama scolds in her monotone voice, adding onto the guilt evident in her sister’s face that had appeared after Teru’s response.

“Y-Yeah. I don’t think you’re actually boring, Teru-san.”

The blonde grins crookedly at her, still hunched over her meal. Maybe Ritsu also works on the “who cares” mindset and gets carried away with it from time to time.

She warmly thinks, Ritsu, Kageyama, Asagiri, Serizawa even… All her friends are like her in some way or another, aren’t they?

Kageyama is mostly soft.

Her voice, her gaze, her heart. Of course, she isn’t always. She gets upset and angry, but it isn’t often that Teru is on the receiving end of her agitation. 

Asagiri, on the other hand, is the opposite, apparently.

When not murmuring under his breath or studying the meaning behind Teru’s words closely, he always has some biting remark or an eyeroll. 

Kageyama’s laughter is as gentle as she is. Goofy and happy and soft that calms the mind.

Asagiri laughs like a hyena. It made Teru wince that first time he cracks on Sunday. With every funny remark, he throws his head back and howls hysterically, pointing at whatever’s caught his attention.

And Teru laughs. She has to--! She thinks it might be the funniest noise she’s ever heard in her entire life. The pure delight in his reddening, hiccuping face is a thousand times funnier than whatever it is that he said that made himself laugh.

She’s not sure if it’s because the school setting continuously makes him stiff, or if he really does think that Teru is that funny, but nearly the entire time they spend together they laugh so hard that Teru can feel a growing headache by the time afternoon comes.

There’s nothing joyful about bringing awareness-- and they try to subside their giggles when someone passes by (usually resulting in Teru handing out flyers and explaining the cause while Asagiri hangs back almost awkwardly, even though she’s supposedly just a guest here. Which is another funny thing she makes fun of him for) but when they’re let to roam the busy streets by themselves, they find a topic and twist it until they can milk any humor out of it.

It’s very freeing, and open, and she guesses it makes them looser than usual.

“Yeah, so I actually had to train how to destroy zip ties, in case anything happened.” And then he laughs, hands on his stomach, because to them these kinds of things are funny. Teru doesn’t even realize that it might not be to anyone else.

Swaying beside him, avoiding landing on the breaks in the sidewalk, she says, “You know I actually was almost kidnapped one time?”

“What? No way!” he shrieks a little too loudly, whipping his head to her, eyes the size of saucers, “That’s crazy! Did you escape?”

She looks down at her very much still-here self, “Uh, yeah.”

They both burst out in laughter, Teru having to steady herself against her friend.

It’s not enough to come undone completely, though. Asagiri doesn’t tell her about whatever happened with Kageyama and Teru doesn’t really tell him about beating up kids in the past. Or Claw. Or about… being psychic at all, actually.

She probably should. It’s a big part of who she is-- her current self, and she’s not ashamed of it, or planning on leaving it behind.

But she hesitates nonetheless. Maybe she doesn’t want him to see her strangely. For once someone likes her without even seeing her powers or knowing what she can do. She’s never had that. And regardless, if he really was possessed that one time then he might be a little traumatized by the supernatural.

It’s not lying. It’s self defense. If he throws a hissy fit about it then she can bring up him bullying Kageyama-- No, she can’t. That’s not right. She’ll just have to lie in bed and be sad about it, she guesses. Or punch him in the stomach. Kageyama said she can.

They make what Teru assumes is good progress with the flyers, having to chase a few down multiple times whenever they were blown by the wind. They clean any other garbage they find on the ground, Teru giggling at Asagiri’s cringing face whenever he has to pick something up, and they take breaks to eat ice cream or chug water. 

By the time Asagiri’s driver (no political arguments included) (who seriously has a personal driver? He gets a taunting elbow in the side for that) picks them up in a too-expensive car, Teru’s legs and lungs ache respectively.

After giving her address, there’s a silence as they ride that Teru assumes is pleasant. Until Asagiri asks, in that same grumbly tone he uses at school, “People usually act weird after they find out how rich I am.”

Not lifting her gaze from the window, Teru hums, “I’ve seen weirder.”

A soft exhale. Relief. Teru nearly chuckles hearing it. They’re both worried about similar things, it seems.

A few minutes of quiet later, he speaks up again. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

Oh boy. This might be it.

She bites her lip. “Yes.”

“Really…?”

At the suspicious tone of his voice, she turns to him, not letting any of her anxiety present on her face. “Yes. Do you?”

He pushes the tip of his foot onto the seat before him, and Teru grimaces at the way it picks up the dirt from his shoe. “Yeah.”

“Cool.”

“Do you think that there are actually people who like tomato soup?”

Okay. So that’s the end of that, apparently. 

She’s kind of thankful. Almost everything in her life feels so sudden that when something progresses peacefully and unhurriedly, it feels odd. But she doesn’t think it’s bad.

“I like tomato soup.”

“Right but do you think that anyone normal likes it?”

He immediately bursts out in giggles at his own statement, his stupid high pitched tee-hees pulling an involuntary wheeze out of Teru. 

She can work with this.

Chapter Text

The next week might actually be better than the one before it. 

To be honest, this might be one of the best time periods of Teru’s life altogether. She has friends! And! …more friends! She still needs to figure out a hobby or interest, but for now hanging out with friends is her hobby and interest. She’ll think of something. It just means that when she does she’ll have even better weeks in the future.

Teru and Kageyama text everyday. They’re best friends, so it’s only natural. And they’ve been hanging out during the weekends, which is so much fun.

And while Kageyama’s position isn’t even close to being threatened, it’s only reasonable that Teru’s been spending a lot of time with Asagiri this week.

They go to the same school. They eat lunch together (finally inside, where there are chairs and stuff, now that it’s obvious they’re not losers eating by themselves. Not that you’re a loser for eating by yourself. Whatever) and Teru even got Kurosaki to eat with them on Tuesday. And they didn’t seem to hate each other’s guts for no reason, which is great. Sometimes boys will do that around her.

Later that day, Teru accompanies Asagiri on his afterschool duties, and they have as much fun as they did on Sunday.

So it’s inevitable that he comes up in text when Teru is telling Kageyama about her day. 

She doesn’t seem annoyed by it. In fact, she often asks about what they’re doing together. Like “Was he waiting for you in your classroom again?” and “Does he share the food in his lunchbox with you?” and “He doesn’t try to touch your hair, does he?” and “You don’t think he has a crush on you, right?”

Teru didn’t know Kageyama could be so invested in gossip. Or maybe it’s not gossip-- Maybe she’s invested in Teru’s life! She’s making sure that Teru is getting the best friend (mind you: best [adjective] friend [noun]. Not best friend [noun] which Kageyama already is) experience she can from someone she feels unsure about. She’s so selfless in her selfishness!

And Kageyama tells Teru about her day too. Like how she started eating some of her lunches with a group of mostly third year students that seemed to Teru like the same brand of lame and accommodating that her old telepathy club was. And she also sometimes eats with Kurata and his friends. To which Teru responds with an I told you so.

Thursday:

> i dont have track after school do you want to meet up and study together?

> Omg yes!!! (੭˃ᴗ˂)੭
> Should I come to your house?

> i can pick you up from school :)  we can go to spirits and such

> Ok!!! I can’t wait! ♡♡♡♡

> <3 <3 <3<3

Two hours later, in between classes, from Kageyama:

> ♥︎
> i learned how to do it
> ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

> ♥︎♡♥︎♡!!!
> Me when I think about Kageyama-chan: (ꈍᴗꈍ)♡♥︎♡

> hahahafjk
> i thinkmy tummy huetrs

> Oh no! D: Are you ok???

> yes
> im ok hanazawa-san keep senfing me your love ok??

> I’m sending everything I have!!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ I hope you feel better soon!

> yes

“I wouldn’t say it hurts. It’s just that it’s invasive, you know?”

“Sure, sure. But what can you do about it, right?”

“Flossing helps.”

“Who the hell flosses?”

“People who don’t like going to the dentist.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m gonna floss, though. Going to the dentist is already them flossing for you.”

“Right. That’s the problem. I don’t want them to.”

“Man, I don’t get you at all.”

Teru huffs, swaying her bag around her hips casually. They’re talking about some other random thing again. She and Asagiri are kind of similar, and they’re also kind of not, but that’s not really a bad thing. It’s funny.

“Anyway, uh, why have we stopped walking again?” He’s apparently only now taking notice of how they’ve just been standing outside the school gate for the past five minutes or so, letting the few other clubless students walk by.

“Err, I’m waiting for my friend. You can leave, if you want.” That might be for the best, actually. She would deny any accusation that she’s been hiding the fact that she’s friends with Kageyama the same way she’s been obscuring the fact that she’s an esper-- It’s more that Teru hasn’t gotten around to it yet. She’s not sure if an unexpected meeting would be the best way to go about it.

“You have friends?” he murmurs with sarcastic wonder.

“Yes,” she groans, swinging her head around slackly, watching the sky, “I have more friends than there are stars in the Milky Way.”

“You’re so full of it.” He grabs her shoulders from behind mid-twist, ceasing her movements. He coos into her ear playfully as he leans his chest onto her back, “Admit it, Teru-san, without me you’d be a friendless, weirdo lo--”

“Asagiri-kun.”

The boy rips himself away from her with a start at the unexpected voice, and they both turn around to see one deadpan dark haired esper. It only takes a second for Asagiri to register what he’s witnessing and for his face to go pale. Teru’s not entirely certain she thinks it’s all that funny this time.

“What were you going to call her?”

Gaping, Asagiri only manages to sputter a half sentence, shaking his head like he’s been caught doing something naughty by any parent that isn’t his easygoing mother.

Teru comes to the rescue, lightly punching his shoulder in order to demonstrate the type of carefree dynamic that they share. “He didn’t mean it. Right, Asagiri-kun?”

“You didn’t mean it?” Kageyama holds her fists to her side and Teru thinks they’re folded tighter than they ought to be.

“Yes! I mean-- N-No, I didn’t mean it!”

“Asagiri-kun, I’m sure you know Kageyama-chan already. She’s the friend I mentioned. The one I just said I had?”

He whirls towards her with such a panicked, dreadful expression that Teru nearly chokes on her own spit. Instead of filling her with the amusement she’d usually experience from his reactions, it just makes her feel uneasy.

But of course, Kageyama is her knight in shining armor, and is softer than she sometimes looks. “Hanazawa-san talks a lot about you.”

Asagiri whips back to gape at her before freezing as he takes in her words. For a beat, his turquoise eyes warily jump to the corner of his sight, towards the blonde. “She does?”

“Yes. You’ve been a good friend to her.”

“I have?”

“Yes.” And then, at last, her face calms. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It is?” He blinks hard before again shaking his head vigorously, dropping his taut arms to his sides. “I-I mean, it is! Uh, Ka-Kageyama-san--!”

With seemingly no rhyme or reason, Kageyama steps forward and grabs Teru’s hand, subtly tugging her. “Me and Hanazawa-san are going to study together now. Talk to you later.”

“What-- But--!” He cuts himself off by clearing his throat, hanging his head and scratching the back of his neck. Teru frowns at the display. Just a moment ago he was laughing and singing happily like a maniac, as is his wont. “Okay. Uhm, right. T-Talk to you later, Kageyama-san, Teru-san.”

“Bye,” Teru mumbles quietly and waves a hand as her friend pivots and pulls her along.

But the damage has already been done. A strange silence appears as Kageyama leads them in the direction of Spirits and Such Consultation. There’s a grieving feeling in Teru’s stomach that she can’t help but feel is her own fault. 

What’s worse is that she’s not even sure how she could have stopped it.

Or maybe she does know a way.

It’s clear that Kageyama still feels negatively towards Asagiri and she’s possibly very troubled at seeing him. Teru curses herself for being so nonchalant about whatever had happened between them. She thought that since they’re two different types of friends from different corners of her life, that she shouldn’t worry about it.

But at this moment it’s obvious that Kageyama isn’t entirely fine with the two of them spending time together and getting close.

Even though now it’s absolutely too late to detach that connection without pain. 

Despite knowing that she’d effortlessly pick to keep Kageyama any day if she was required to choose, Teru doesn’t want to choose.

Asagiri makes school enjoyable. Even if they only see one another during recess, he’d given her something to look forward to beyond the weekend. Every day is an entirely new adventure when you have someone you can discuss everything with, and he’s a type of distraction she otherwise experiences so rarely.

But her inner turmoil is probably nothing in comparison to what Kageyama is feeling right now, or even what Asagiri is going through.

In her stress, Teru squeezes Kageyama’s fingers, making the girl falter and stall before taking her hand back with a gasp, “Sorry!” she exclaims as she stops their walking, to which Teru shakes her head sadly.

“No. I’m sorry, Kageyama-chan. You’re mad because I’m friends with Asagiri-kun, aren’t you?”

“I’m not mad.”

Teru raises an eyebrow and frowns. “No? Are you lying?”

“I-I’m not-- I don’t--” Kageyama stammers, looking almost skeptical herself, “I’m not mad. I think-- I think-- I’m, I think I’m… I think I’m… jealous.”

While she audibly exhales after delivering the sentence she struggled through, it’s now Teru’s turn to feel perplexed. “Jealous? Are you jealous of me?”

“Not of you. Of Asagiri-kun. I think.” This time Teru just bites her cheek in response. She has a bunch of questions, but the still functioning part of her brain is telling her to let Kageyama say all that she has for now. “He gets to see you everyday, and you became friends so quickly… I wish I was in the same school as you, too.” Her cheeks start coloring, and she fiddles with her hands.

Ah, so that’s what this is. Teru understands. 

Kageyama is just feeling lonely and wishes she had a friend like Teru at her school. 

Thank god-- Well, not thank god. That’s not good, but Teru thought for a minute that she actually did something wrong and that she upset the other girl. In the end, this is just another classic case of one of those pesky emotions that they both suck at dealing with. 

But thank god (a confident thank god) that they’re close enough to open up to one another about this sort of thing.

And not just because Teru hates the idea of making The Hair Massacre of the 2010s a trilogy series.

“But Kageyama-chan, even if I see him often, you’re still my best friend. There is without a doubt no changing that.”

“What differentiates a best friend from other types of friends?”

“Uh. Because they’re the best.”

“But, I mean… What does that change in practice? Does that mean you won’t give anyone else gifts?” she asks as she lightly strokes at her yellow hair clip. 

So she’s being greedy, Teru muses. “There’s no way you can be the only person I give gifts to.” And that kind of makes Kageyama look ashamed, staring down at the ground. That won’t do. 

Teru thinks earnestly. There’s no arguing that they’re best friends, but what makes them best friends (aside from all the things that they do and did together and how they feel about each other)? “Do you remember when we went up and looked down at the city?” At her rhetorical question, Kageyama glances up through her bangs hopefully, “I can’t think of anyone else I could have done that with. And even if there were, there’s no way I would have-- I--” Flustered, she finds herself staggering over her words and she instinctively scans around to make sure no one hears. Still, she urges herself to get it out, “--would have broken down, if, if it were anyone else. It’s because I feel the most comfortable with you, Kageyama-chan.”

Her sentence undeniably ends fainter than how it began, but Kageyama still hears. She gawks at her, not unlike how she did when Teru slept over, the expression she made after Teru complimented her. 

It just makes Teru’s ears burn, now.

And it’s not too bad, even if her stomach is squirming.

Dazzled, Kageyama asks, “You wouldn’t have displayed your emotions like that if it were anyone else?”

“I definitely would have been more ashamed, if I did.”

“You shouldn’t be ashamed of your emotions, Hanazawa-san.” She purses her lips momentarily. Teru imagines what she’s thinking with unimpressed, lidded eyes. “But I’m glad it was me.” Never mind-- she actually said it out loud. 

She swallows back a snort. “In that case, you’re not allowed to show that cool night sky projection trick to anyone else, okay?”

“Okay,” she eagerly complies.

Welp. That was easy.

Teru sighs heavily, releasing any lingering nerves with it as she wraps an arm around Kageyama’s shoulders and pulls her closer, resuming their walking. “Kageyama-chan, I literally took a savage beating that most people wouldn’t have survived for you. Why do you doubt my friendship?”

For a short beat she worries that saying that might have been a bit tactless, but Kageyama just smiles softly and doesn’t complain as Teru all but hangs off her. She answers, unfiltered, “I don’t doubt it. I just want more.”

Ignoring the strange flutter in her gut, Teru grins and tells her, “Well, figure out how much more you want and tell it to me straight when you’ve got an estimation.”

She didn’t necessarily mean it seriously, but Kageyama ponders it with two fingers on her chin, considering. “Okay. That’s a good idea.”

“You know I beat her up when we first met?”

Asagiri startles, nearly stumbling over as he slips on his indoor shoes. “Wh-Wha?”

Fair reaction. That isn’t an ordinary way to greet someone in the morning. “Before we became friends, I beat her up.”

Slowly, carefully, he lowers his foot down, steadying himself against the lockers as his eyes frantically shift across the few students in the area until they leave and they’re the only two in the aisle. His voice quivers as he asks, “You… You were possessed too?”

She shrugs, putting her hands in the pockets of her uniform. “Nope. Just me.”

Promptly halting his search, he locks eyes with Teru and his mouth stretches to the side in a judgmental scowl, brows furrowing. “What? Why?”

In return she merely shrugs again. “I don’t know. Why’d you bully her?”

This time his displeasure is self inflicted, face scrunching as he glares at his mismatched footwear, jaw tense. He doesn’t reply, and Teru clicks her tongue in agitation. This is not how this conversation was supposed to go.

Stepping forward, she punches him again in the shoulder, slightly harder than last time, just enough for it to sting an extra second longer. Teru ignores his miffed hiss and tries her warmest smile. “What you said to me yesterday, it’s true. Without Kageyama-chan I would be a friendless, weirdo loser. And I know without me you’d be one too. That’s why I had lunch with you that first time.”

The touched expression that had been progressively building on his face fades away to helplessness at her last statement. “You knew about me this entire time?”

“Oh, no. Not on that first day, at least. I’m talking about you eating by yourself near those punks.” She chuckles sweetly, “It was really pathetic, so I sat with you.”

“What the heck!” He shoves her back, but barely touches her. It’s playful and friendly and so reassuring that Teru nearly exhales all of the air from her lungs even though that was-- no joke-- the lightest push she’s ever been on the receiving end of. “You’re pathetic!”

“Yup!” she chirps, holding herself from twirling with glee or jumping or tap dancing or something. She settles on clasping a hand on his shoulder. “See you later!”

And with that she spins around and skips to her class happily, giggling at the way he cusses her out as she leaves.

Teru is on a roll with these profound confrontations! 

She’s killing it at being a friend!

With them having met on Thursday, Teru had foolishly thought that that was their weekly dose of spending time together, and that they would skip the weekend.

That is until Sunday evening, when Teru was lying in bed with the TV on, scrolling through social media on her phone because she didn’t have anything better to do, and the doorbell to her apartment had been rung.

As is customary, she sneaks to the front door, light and quiet with her powers prepared to be utilized in case they’re needed, and peeks through the peephole.

“Kageyama-chan,” she greets gladly as she swings the door open. “Here to score some last minute weekend quality time?”

“Hanazawa-san.” She’s as bright and brimming with life as possible, but there’s a hint of agitation in her that Teru doesn’t miss. “Good evening. Can I come in?”

“Of course!” Teru opens the door fully for her friend and watches as she shuffles in silently, taking off her shoes. There’s a strange tone to the air that Teru isn’t sure what to do about. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Let’s go to your bedroom.”

“Uh, alright.” But she’s already walking over there, leading the way.

When they enter the room, the same one Teru was in barely a minute ago, only the television having been muted, Kageyama turns to her with a determined, almost hearty expression. “I have a gift for you.”

Such a vague statement catches Teru’s interest, and she applies the curiosity she feels onto her grin, hands on her hips. “Oh?”

To Teru’s delight, from out her large cardigan pocket Kageyama pulls out a display card of hair clips. Not just any hair clips. Thick and plasticky-- but most importantly-- colorful hair clips with glitter. They sparkle!  

Teru gasps with the sheer joy of simply seeing them, hopping to her tippy toes with her fingers intertwined in front of her chest. “Kageyama-chan! They’re so pretty! Thank you.” But more than anything, Teru is surprised she came all this way to give them to her. It’s clear that she bought them from a store, meanwhile Teru had gifted her one of her old ones-- She’s deciding not to feel guilty about it. This was clearly a personal choice on Kageyama’s part. But she’s a little puzzled as to why Kageyama didn’t just wait until the next time they saw each other to give her these.

Or maybe she has other stuff planned on top of this. Who knows.

“Yesterday I saw them at the store and I wanted to get them for you,” Kageyama explains as she opens the thin, clear wrapping and pulls out the sheet. As she talks, her cheeks steadily redden. It’s an effect Teru feels she’s been noticing a lot lately. “They’re all good. But this is the one that convinced me to buy them.”

She pulls off the baby blue snap clip and holds it up, as if comparing it to the blonde in front of her. “It matches you.”

Teru’s smile wobbles, butterflies in her stomach.

She enjoys all colors, but the mere implication that Kageyama watches and thinks about her so much that she can determine a specific shade is enough to make Teru feel shy. What did she do to deserve such a cool friend? She won’t waste her time thinking about it.

Even though Teru didn’t ask any follow-up questions, Kageyama explains her choice without waiting for feedback. “It’s like a cloudless summer sky while you’re sitting on the porch, sweating and drinking tap water with your friends, debating whether you should go to the nearest minimarket to buy ice cream,” she says, which might actually be the longest sentence Teru has heard from her, “That’s what your aura feels like.”

That description was so immersive that Teru feels like she’s in that fake memory-- or maybe the way her ears and the back of her eyes burn has nothing to do with it. That explicit exploration of something she’s so used to-- her own powers-- is so special and personal that there’s no way Teru could have shopped for it in the hair accessory revolving display rack. 

At this point, she’s used to her aura so much that it’s practically tasteless, like her own saliva or scent. 

But the visual, physical presentation of it that she can easily comprehend-- and even wear-- is more meaningful than anything anyone has probably ever given her.

She still hasn’t replied, so she forces her mouth to form words, “…I didn’t know it was nostalgic.” After all, nostalgia is certainly not something that Teru often encounters in her daily life, so saying it’s a little odd that that’s how her aura feels would be an understatement. 

But, she supposes, that’s how Kageyama perceives it. There’s a great chance that it’s not an objective evaluation. Teru doubts the past espers she fought were reminded of sluggish summer days while she was pounding them to the ground. 

This isn’t just a gift to Teru. It’s Kageyama’s gift to Teru.

And doesn’t that just make it all the more special?

“It’s nice,” Kageyama delicately states as an answer to Teru’s comment. She reaches out with the clip and Teru steps forward, tipping her head so that Kageyama can sufficiently position it onto her.

Apparently, she didn’t expect to be in charge of the task, as she flounders around briefly before settling on tossing the rest of the display card to Teru’s bed. She gingerly comes near and Teru watches intently as she tenderly tucks a blonde lock behind her ear, gentle fingertips forming a lingering trail of warmth that leaves Teru breathless.

The clip drags lightly against her temple as it slides into place before she hears it snap securely on. As Kageyama switches her gaze to her, Teru realizes how close their faces are to one another. Close enough to lean over and bump noses, if Teru wanted to.

“I figured it out,” Kageyama suddenly blurts. 

Teru doesn’t break eye contact, even as her brain lags behind, stuck on soft, caressing fingers. “Figured out what?”

“What you told me to. What I want from our relationship.”

“O-Oh.” She straightens up slowly, trying to blink out of her daze and not entirely succeeding. She idly tugs at a strand on the other side of where her new accessory now sits, “What did you find, then?”

“What I want… I want you to… I want--” she stutters, briefly refraining from looking at Teru directly before she stops to inhale resolutely and looks back, standing tall with strained confidence. “I want you to not date anyone,” she asserts before tacking on, “Until we’re thirty-five.”

Teru narrows her eyes, easily remembering the particular number. “So that we can get married to each other?”

She gulps. “Y-Yes.”

“Oh. Okay…” Teru mumbles distractedly as she twirls the hair wrapped around her finger.

Kageyama is seriously worried that she’s going to be single until then? Even if Teru was already with someone by that time, that doesn’t mean that they can’t still be best friends… It’s not like Teru is going to abandon her completely for some guy. 

But maybe Kageyama just thinks that she’s more husband material than anyone else. She is pretty good at cooking… And she is cute.

Abruptly, the implications of what Kageyama had requested dawn on her, and Teru pauses her twiddling. “Wait-- No dating until I’m thirty-five?! Kageyama-chan! What am I supposed to do until then?!” While Teru doesn’t actively date anymore, she was planning on coming back to it soon, presumably after high school or maybe even later this year. Up until recently, she’s been using romance as another form of control over her popularity, but there are a lot of aspects to a relationship that she’s sure she can enjoy wholeheartedly if she gives it an honest shot. The idea of publicly clinging onto someone who savors her attention, of kissing, spending special time together-- it’s all something she looks forward to.

“Dating is so fun! And what about during summer vacation? I’ll be bored otherwise. I’m a growing woman, I can’t not date for twenty years!”

“Then just date me!”

And just like that, all of Teru’s racing thoughts stop. 

The world stops revolving around them. Time stops. It all stops, except for the single awareness in Teru’s head of exactly what this is, and exactly what Kageyama means. What Teru has been missing from this entire encounter-- from their entire dynamic in the past few weeks, frankly. 

There’s no skirting around it.

That, and the only other thing still going is Kageyama, standing in the middle of Teru’s room with her arms firmly pressed to her sides, taking Teru head on. “You can date me! If you’re okay with marriage, then you should be okay with dating, right? You said I was your type…”

It takes a good second for Teru to focus back to reality, pick up her jaw from the floor and lower the finger that was frozen in her hair.

In the meantime, Kageyama has started fidgeting in place, shifting from one leg to another even if it’s clear she’s trying to stand still as best as she can.

Only she can make Teru speechless like this. 

But that’s not the outrageous part of this entire situation.

Kageyama wants to date her. Not because she’s lonely or desperate or insecure. Kageyama wants to date her because she likes Teru. It has to be.

She likes Teru and she wants to see her every day and she thinks her aura feels like lazy summer with friends and she wants to date and get married.

…her?

Teru?

Sure they’re the same, and they’re best friends… but why Teru?

She likes Teru? Why?

Teru looks at Kageyama and thinks: Eh, who cares why.

Now the only thing she has to consider is if she wants to date Kageyama back.

“Okay.”

“Wh-- Wait, really?!” 

Teru shrugs, smiling lopsidedly. “Yeah, sure. Why not?” And then she adds-- because it’s true-- “I like you.”

It’s true that she is Teru’s type. And she is special (to Teru. Because of their friendship and all that). And she is amazing. Why would Teru want to date anyone else when she can date Kageyama Shigeo? When Kageyama likes her and wants to date her?

Teru beams involuntarily, her eyes squinting with the intensity of it and letting out an involuntary giggle. 

Kageyama, who destroyed a sizable chunk of the city to give her crush flowers and joined a fitness club to impress the person she likes, is now directing that kind of devotion onto Teru, of all people. This is the best gift Teru has been giving-- One she can feel proud of, because Kageyama likes her for her. Because Teru earned it, even if she’s not entirely sure how.

She sniggers, and then chuckles, and laughs even louder, not concerned about anyone hearing. The disoriented, red face of what she supposes is her now girlfriend is as hilarious as it is plainly adorable, and Teru is going to one-hundred percent take advantage of the fact that she can now act as she pleases in front of it.

“Kageyama-chan!” She cheers merrily as she bounces forward, wrapping her arms around the other girl and relishing in the wheeze Kageyama lets out before holding Teru close in return, shoving her face onto the blonde’s shoulder. 

Instead of leaving it there, Teru picks her up and spins her around, still holding her tight and cackling at the other’s bewildered cry, “We’re going to be the greatest pair of girlfriends the world has ever seen! Everyone will bow down to our combined power!”

“Y-Yes,” Kageyama utters, hands clutching at Teru’s back and face still buried in her shirt. Not wanting to cause any accidents after such an emotional moment, Teru sets her down, breathing heavily. Rather than letting go, Kageyama continues to hug her.

Teru feels her own smile trembling and she curls around the other girl in return, letting the comfortable silence settle. 

Her heart’s beating rapidly, and she doesn’t think it has to do with their spinning.

Kageyama is soft from her hold to the hair tickling Teru’s cheek, and to her aura. It smells like sweet, bloomed gardens and crawling over dirt to find the best secluded hiding spot among the bushes.

They stand like that in their flourishing alcove until, somewhere up there, starts twinkle with the start of nighttime.