[What? What's going on?! The voice just appeared in my head? This person didn't even open their mouth.]
'I'm directly using telepathy to transmit my words into your mind.'
Saiki used his telepathic ability to send his thoughts directly into Aiura Mikoto's mind.
'You don't need to give me a fortune-telling. Just pretend to go through the motions.'
Aiura Mikoto was utterly shocked. After a moment of stunned silence, she realized that the person in front of her, Saiki, was also a psychic. He was communicating with her through telepathy.
[This person is also a psychic? Wait, wait... His hair is pink. Could it be...?]
'I'm hiding my abilities, so please don't expose me.'
Saiki looked at Aiura Mikoto with utmost seriousness.
Due to the unique nature of Aiura Mikoto's abilities, Saiki's identity as a psychic was bound to be exposed. In this cramped fortune-telling shop, Saiki had no way to avoid it.
If there hadn't been so many people around, Saiki would have been able to detect Aiura Mikoto's identity earlier using his telepathy and come up with a plan. But with so many customers present, he couldn't use his telepathy to gather that information beforehand.
However, for now, it seemed that Aiura Mikoto wasn't some strange or dangerous person, so Saiki chose to communicate with her directly.
Moreover, Saiki had heard that these fortune-telling shops usually only operated during the summer break. Once the new semester officially began, they would have to leave the school, which would reduce some of the trouble.
'If there are any issues later, we'll discuss them privately.'
[Okay, okay...]
Aiura Mikoto responded in her mind, then proceeded to say some vague things.
"As for you, things will go smoothly from now on, and your relationships with those around you will improve. However, in terms of luck..."
"Alright, thank you very much."
Saiki immediately stood up and left his seat.
"Huh? Saiki's already done?"
Karuizawa Kei was surprised. Aiura Mikoto had said quite a bit to the others, but for Saiki, she had only given a few bland remarks.
"Yeah, let's go."
Saiki said to the others, then prepared to leave the fortune-telling shop.
Meanwhile, Aiura Mikoto stared intently at Saiki's retreating figure.
[Pink hair, and his last name seems to be Saiki? So his initials really are S.K... And his special talent... Could it be his psychic abilities?]
[Then... is this Saiki guy... my soulmate? He's not bad-looking!]
[Wait, wait, does he have telepathy? Then... did he hear all my thoughts just now!?]
...
'Yare yare, there's another psychic?'
Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression becoming serious. Today's events had gone beyond his expectations.
'To prevent any unexpected incidents, I'll have to talk to her tonight.'
Meanwhile, the other three were chatting beside Saiki.
"That fortune-teller was so accurate! Was she accurate for you guys too?"
"Yeah... she was really accurate..."
"At first, I didn't believe in fortune-telling, but I didn't expect her to be so spot-on."
Although they were discussing the matter, their thoughts were surprisingly unified.
[Is that fortune-teller's soulmate really Saiki?]
...
What was supposed to be a "two-person world" for Saiki and Karuizawa Kei had, through a series of coincidences, turned into a group of four. After finishing the fortune-telling, the four of them had a meal together before returning to their dorms. For each of them, the day had been full of unexpected events.
As the sky grew darker, Saiki used his teleportation ability to appear outside his dormitory building, where Aiura Mikoto had been waiting for some time.
"He really appeared out of thin air..."
Aiura Mikoto looked at Saiki in surprise. It seemed his psychic abilities went far beyond just telepathy.
"Who... who are you really?"
Aiura Mikoto asked curiously. After meeting Saiki, she had been deeply intrigued by his existence.
'I'm nobody special, just a regular high school student with psychic powers.'
Saiki didn't open his mouth, directly transmitting his words into Aiura Mikoto's mind.
"Teleportation, telepathy... Do you have any other psychic abilities?"
Before Aiura Mikoto could finish her sentence, Saiki pulled a metal spoon from his pocket—
In the next moment, the spoon began to writhe like a snake, even tying itself into a knot.
"The spoon tied itself into a knot! But the way it's twisting is so gross!"
Aiura Mikoto exclaimed in amazement.
'You must never reveal this to anyone.'
At that moment, Saiki instantly appeared in front of Aiura Mikoto, looking at her with a serious expression. The voice transmitted into her mind was equally stern.
"I... I understand."
Aiura Mikoto quickly nodded.
'Yare yare, I just want to live an ordinary life, so I don't want this to get out.'
Saiki took a few steps back and looked at Aiura Mikoto.
'You're only staying at the school for the summer, right? In any case, I hope you don't cause any trouble during the remaining days of the break.'
"Got it, got it!"
Aiura Mikoto smiled obediently and nodded repeatedly at Saiki.
'Then that's all. I'll be going now.'
After saying this, Saiki used his teleportation ability and left the area.
After he left, Aiura Mikoto's face broke into a meaningful smile.
"Ah, the soulmate I foresaw is definitely that Saiki guy, right? The fortune-telling shop is only open during the summer but if it's a shop selling merchandise, it can stay open permanently!"
Aiura Mikoto chuckled as she pulled out a contract from her bag. Due to the shop's popularity, her fortune-telling merchandise store would officially remain on campus after the summer break.
"I'll have more time to observe Saiki! Oh, and earlier, I couldn't see anyone's aura, but after Saiki left, I could see them again. Could it be that his aura was overshadowing everyone else's?"
...
As the summer break slipped away, the day of the new semester's official start quickly approached.
On the last day of summer break, the members of Class B had planned to go to the pool together. However, this was all part of the the idiot trio and The Professor's scheme to secretly film the girls changing clothes.
Although Saiki wasn't one to meddle in others' affairs, he couldn't just let something like this slide.
So, on that day, he used his psychic powers to destroy the miniature cameras they had bought and made them trip and fall face-first ten times in a row as punishment.
Of course, they had no idea that all of this was Saiki's doing.
On the first day of the new semester, everyone gathered in the classroom, and the the idiot trio had band-aids plastered on their faces.
"In the end, the plan completely failed..."
"That fortune-teller was right... My luck has been really bad lately."
"I didn't expect to even trip while walking... My luck is just terrible."
The three of them clung to each other like conjoined twins, venting their frustrations.
'This isn't a matter of luck.'
Saiki looked at them expressionlessly.
Although there had been some minor incidents, Saiki's summer break had been relatively peaceful—which was exactly what he wanted.
Soon, the first class of the semester officially began. However, when Chabashira Sae entered the classroom, she didn't start teaching right away. Instead, she said:
"Starting today, classes will resume. However, for the first month of the second semester, from September to early October, we will have additional physical education classes to prepare for the Sports Festival. I'll hand out the new schedule, so make sure to keep it safe. Also, materials related to the Sports Festival will be distributed along with the schedule. Please pass them back."
As soon as the words "Sports Festival" were mentioned, most of the students let out groans of despair. Although some students were looking forward to the event, since it was primarily sports-based, many couldn't help but feel annoyed.
Among the few who actually liked the Sports Festival was Sudou Ken.
"Yes!"
Sudou Ken even stood up and cheered.
At that moment, however, Saiki's face showed no trace of a smile.
The Sports Festival was a disaster for Saiki.
Even with his limiters on, he still couldn't perfectly control his physical strength.
If he wasn't careful and ended up breaking a world record, it could lead to a lot of unnecessary trouble.
He might even cause some terrible accidents...
'Yare yare, I don't necessarily have to participate in the Sports Festival, right? I'll just find an excuse to skip it.'
"Additionally, the school's homepage has detailed information about the event, just like the materials. If you need it, please check the website."
Chabashira Sae said slowly.
"Sensei, is this also one of the special exams?"
Hirata Yosuke, the class representative, immediately raised his hand to ask.
"How you interpret it is up to you, but it will indeed have a significant impact on the class."
Chabashira Sae said slowly,
"Some of you may have already noticed from the materials. This year's Sports Festival will divide all grades into two teams. Class B has been randomly assigned to the Red Team, and Class A will also be fighting for the Red Team—meaning that during the Sports Festival, Class A will be your allies."
'Divided into two teams? That should make it easier to slack off, but it seems like we'll also have to interact with students from other grades.'
Saiki thought to himself as he carefully read the rules of the Sports Festival.
The rules this time were quite complicated, and unlike previous exams, it wasn't guaranteed that they would earn class points. In fact, they might even lose class points.
However, if someone managed to place third in an event, they could choose to receive personal points or bonus points for the next written exam.
On the other hand, the last-place finisher would face penalties.
"Next is something very important. There's a thing called the participation form here. The participation form lists all the details of the events—you'll need to decide the order in which you'll participate in each event and write it on this form. Then, as your homeroom teacher, I'll submit it. No middle school uses this format, so I hope you're careful not to make any mistakes."
Chabashira Sae said as she placed a form on the podium.
"We decide ourselves?"
The students in the room were all puzzled.
"Everything is up to you. All the events held on the day of the Sports Festival, even who will run in which heat, must be decided by you through discussion. After the deadline, no substitutions will be allowed for any reason this is an important rule of the Sports Festival. The submission period is from one week before the Sports Festival until 5 PM the day before. If you miss the deadline, participants will be randomly assigned, so please be careful. All students must participate, as self-management is an essential skill for life. Even if you have a fever on the day of an important meeting, you can't just take a day off. You understand, right?"
'Damn it!!'
Saiki almost shouted in his mind. This rule completely eliminated the possibility of him skipping the Sports Festival by feigning illness.
Even if he genuinely couldn't participate due to an unavoidable illness, it would be treated as an absence, and the entire team would lose points. He might even end up being blamed by the rest of the class.
'Damn it, this school... really knows how to cause trouble!'
Saiki quickly changed his approach and began thinking about how to get through the Sports Festival.
If he couldn't avoid it, then he'd just have to find a way to slack off.
'Since the class gets to decide who participates in which events, I'll find a way to join a team event. That way, even if I slack off, it'll be hard to notice. Or I can just pretend to have terrible physical fitness to avoid being chosen for important individual events.'
Saiki's mind raced as he came up with a feasible plan.
"For the next class, everyone will head to the gym to meet students from other grades."
Chabashira Sae said slowly,
"The remaining twenty minutes are for self-study."
'Yare yare, this Sports Festival is the real challenge for me.'
Saiki's eyebrows twitched slightly.