21 Chapter Twenty-Two: Teruhashi’s Biggest Trial

SO AFTER THE WHOLE FORTUNE-TELLER DEBACLE, AKRARI and Saiki had been grouped together with Nendo and Kaido. Nendo had suggested getting some ramen from a pretty good restaurant that he heard about. Now, they could have said no and gone to the cafe like they wanted to. Though Akari and Saiki were dragged along with them for some reason. The only way that I can describe it is plot. They need to go for the plot!

Kaido whined, "When will we get there?"

"Good grief." Saiki grunted, "Are we stuck with them again?"

Akari glided alongside him, 'Yeah, why are we going with them?' Because of the plot, we already stated this Akari! Pay attention!

"What's this?" An angelic voice called nearby, "Saiki! What are you doing?" It was Teruhashi with her blinding glow and wide blueberry eyes! 

Kaido and Nendo were in shock as they spotted the pretty girl, "Teruhashi?" 

"What are you all doing together?" She asked, mainly focusing on Saiki. Oh, how this day just got so much better. Note; that's sarcasm, obviously.

"He said that he would take us to a good ramen shop." Kaido said pointing to Nendo who was standing as straight as a plank.

Nendo nodded his head stiffly, "Yes! We're going to eat there." The presence of the pretty girl was causing both of them to become extremely nervous.

"Ramen? Is it okay if I go with you?" Teruhashi asked, "Sorry! Am I being too blunt?"

Kaido panicked, "No, not at all."

"Welcome!" Nendo exclaimed.

Saiki was less than pleased, "Seriously?"

So Saiki and Akari had no say in the fact that Teruhashi was now joining their lunch. Nendo and Kaido had wholeheartedly agreed with the pretty girl joining them. After all, who would say no to such a smile and pleasant voice. So the newly formed quartet were following Nendo as they headed to the restaurant. Though they were gaining a lot of attention from passersby. Of course, this was because of their newest addiction, Teruhashi. 

"Look!" Someone exclaimed.

Another gushed, "She's so pretty."

"I was careless." Saiki grunted unhappily. "Dealing with Teruhashi requires the most vigilance. Nendo usually stares blankly and grunts. But now…"

Akari shifted uncomfortably, 'I hate that all these people are looking over here.' They weren't looking at her, obviously. No one can see her, thankfully. All of them probably didn't even see her, especially with such a shining person as Teruhashi with them. Akari was going to be overpowered by her for sure. After all, you can't see a shadow with a blinding light nearby. Though even with the idea of dozens upon dozens of eyes pointed in her direction made her feel nervous. She hates this. 

Saiki of course noticed and was more than annoyed that she felt like this. The last thing he wanted for his friend was to feel uncomfortable. She is the one person that he wouldn't want to annoy or run off unlike how he tries (unsuccessfully) with everyone else. So if Teruhashi was causing this, he'd have to do something to make it stop. Just another reason to find Teruhashi annoying.

Meanwhile, Nendo was acting not himself, and it was weird! "It is surprising to know that you enjoy ramen, Teruhashi." 

It freaked Saiki and Akari out, "Who are you?" Saiki asked. 

'And Kaido's being strange too.' Akari pointed out.

Teruhashi turned her gaze to the other boy, "Kaido?"

The boy jumped at the beauty's attention on him now, "What?"

She pointed to his arm, "Why do you have those bandages?"

"This is for my powers." He explained with pink cheeks.

The blue-haired beauty tilted her head in confusion, "Powers? Sorry, I'm not sure I understand."

He suddenly started to laugh nervously, "I don't know why I have them!" Now he was tearing off his bandages like they were unimportant. Suddenly he was cured of his eight-grade minded fantasy!

"It looks like he's over his problems." Saiki just about marveled, "It may be kind of gross, but this is a normal reaction. For Teruhashi as well. Why would I gasp?"

'She wants you to do what? Gasp?' Akari was so confused by Teruhashi. In the beginning of seeing the beauty when she started at P.K. she too had been blinded by her aura. Akari really thought that Teruhashi was the perfect pretty girl. Though things changed when Saiki came and revealed just how two-faced and manipulative Teruhashi could be. Akari doesn't like Teruhashi all that much but it's not like she was going to do anything about it. All she can do is avoid her as much as she can. That's not working all too well right now though. She just let out a long sigh through her nose, 'If you just give her what she wants she'll stop fixating on you. The only reason she's infatuated is because you're acting differently than everyone normally does.'

Her logic is obviously correct, but why would Saiki do that? From the stink eye that he was pointing at Akari now definitely gave off that he was not going to do that. He would certainly not stoop down to that level and actually gasp at Teruhashi's beauty. 

"What is it pal?" Nendo asked at the far off look on Teruhahsi's face.

Saiki sighed in dismay after hearing the girl's thoughts, "She just made me her target. I don't want her to follow me, but I also don't want to gasp." He placed a hand on his chin in thought, "All right, I've thought of a good plan."

'Hopefully one that works.' Akari blinked, since she knows that his plans rarely work out.

The group finally made it to the shop that Nendo heard about. He still had that freaky look on his face as he focused on Teruhashi, "We made it. This is the place."

"Stop that look," Saiki said.

"I am so hungry." Teruhashi cheered with a smile. Though that smile quickly dropped as soon as she laid eyes on the actual restaurant. "Oh, my." It was run down, looking completely abandoned. How is this even a restaurant!? Doesn't this city have a health inspector, this shop should have been shut down years ago!

Nendo tried to reassure them, "It's really delicious here. My friend's relative said that it was delicious, so don't worry." Yeah, that's not that convincing.

"I knew it. Teruhashi will refuse to go in and will leave instead." Saiki said after he heard her thoughts about never going into a place like that. "As a result, they will get annoyed and will stop gasping at her. Teruhashi's pride will be damaged, and she'll stop coming around me. That is the plan."

'Pretty good plan,' Akari shrugged. Oh, let's see just how good this plan is.

Teruhashi cleared her throat, "I have to…"

"You must be joking!" Kaido cute her off unintentionally, "Teruhashi is not taking a step into that place! It's Teruhashi!"

She tried to speak again, "No, something…"

He spoke over her again and turned to her, "You won't eat at a filthy place like this one, right? Right, Teruhashi."

With a blank stare, Teruhashi blandly replied, "No. It's fine."

Kaido gasped, "Are you sure?"

"Kaido. You ruined my plan." Saiki nearly whined, "But it is impressive how she can still act like a perfect beauty under these conditions." Akari scoffed lightly at his words, which earned her a glance.

"Nendo," Akari's chilling voice said for the first time, "if you think I'm going to eat there, you're crazy. I'm leaving."

"Ah!" Teruhashi jumped at the sudden voice. She turned to find that it was that girl who's always hanging around Saiki at school. The inky black hair and cat-like yellow eyes were pretty recognizable, so why didn't she notice her before? Had she been there the entire time? Teruhashi composed herself and smiled prettily, "I didn't notice you there, you're Wakamatsu Akira."

The shadow-manipulator just blinked slowly at her, "It's Watanabe Akari…" She gets that most people forget her name along with her face, but the way Teruhashi said the incorrect name. Akari felt like it was intentional from her tone of voice. Though she couldn't be completely sure.

"I didn't know that there was anyone else here." Teruhashi said with a pleasant smile, though there was a bit of a strain behind her expression. Obviously, she wasn't exactly happy to see her here. Though what was she going to do? She has to keep up her perfect pretty girl persona! So Teruhashi has to keep herself from being unperturbed by Akari. Didn't stop her thoughts though, since she thought no one could hear them… 'What's she doing here? I didn't even notice her!' Teruhashi thought in surprise, 'Is she the reason why Saiki won't gasp at my beauty? No, that doesn't make sense, everyone gasps no matter if they're in a relationship!!'

Relationship? Him and Akari weren't in a relationship! Though she is right about Akari being why Saiki wouldn't gasp, at least one reason. After all, why gasp at Teruhashi, when he has Akari who he deems far more interesting and appealing than her. WHOA where did that come from Saiki?!

"Not surprising." Akari grunted, pulling Saiki from his thoughts, before turning to Saiki, "Can we go to the cafe?"

It took a moment for Saiki to collect his thoughts before he nodded his head, 'yeah.' He was going to ignore any implications of what his thoughts might mean. Hey, hey, hey, you might just want to gloss over it Mr. Psychic, but we'll always remember this!! 

She turned back to the other three, "thanks Nendo for the invite, but we'll see you at school."

Teruhashi was miffed with this turn of events, 'I'm a much better choice, why is Saiki choosing to go with her than stay with me?!' What a bit-

So while Teruhashi's thoughts ran rampant about her failed attempt to get Saiki's attention, and Kaido told off Nendo for running their friends away, Saiki and Akari were headed off on their own. Saiki was quite annoyed with Teruhashi now more than before. Since she had thought she was better than Akari. In his opinion that was completely false since he enjoyed Akari's presence much more than hers. Saiki glanced at Akari out of the corner of his eyes as they walked down the sidewalk. It was going to be a bit of a walk to head back to their usual spot, but it would be worth it in the end. So for now, they would walk in silence. Well, almost silence.

"You seem a bit annoyed." Saiki commented. He had noticed it earlier but didn't bring it up then. He wanted to wait until they were alone.

"Annoyed?" Akari asked, "by what?" 

Saiki just sighed, "I have a feeling that it has to do with Teruhashi and her perfect pretty girl act."

It took a little bit of power to stop her eyes from rolling. Yea, it was that. "Obviously, no one can be perfect." Akari huffed her eyes, "Either way, being perfect doesn't mean agreeing to everything that people want you to or trying to bend to everyone's view of perfection. People have different views on everything, especially on what they consider perfect. So if one person finds her perfect, another might not. Not only that but she's trying too hard to be perfect. If she really were the perfect girl, she wouldn't have to try, it would be natural."

Saiki blinked at her. That had to be one of the longest times he's heard her speak. He's known her for years and never heard her rant like this. She isn't the type to ramble or rant. If she's annoyed or angry, it's silent and deadly, really. Both of them aren't the best at expressing their emotions, so when they bubble over, it's a bit intense. This was only a small example of that.

Akari took a moment to calm herself down, "I just find it a bit annoying, okay?"

"I understand." He was going to put Teruhashi to the back of his mind. After all, he was going to enjoy his lunch with Akari right now as they headed into their favorite cafe.