I want to be the president of the Psycho Veil Cult

[psychoveil]

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MEETING TERU

[psychoveil]

[Shige, who's unflatteringly nicknamed "Mob", is a girl who's been trying to impress another girl she likes. Tsubomi... maybe she likes girls, maybe she just wants a friend.. but all she just wants is to ask her to walk home with her. She awkwardly rejects the telepathy club, and joins the body improvement club - she saw that Tsubomi was good at sports for a girl, and wanted to at least be on the same stage as she was!!

Onigawara needed the Body Improvement Club to fight the Vinegar Middle kids... so he wrote fake letters. One to the club, impersonating Vinegar Middle and announcing that they had her. One to Mob, telling her that there's a girl that wants to talk to her if it's okay bc she likes her, and one to the Vinegar Middle kids saying that Onigawara is challenging them. They find Mob, mistake Mob for Onigawara's girl, and use her as bait for Onigawara... which the Body Improvement Club comes to save.

It's a mess made by a bunch of idiots. A mess that comes to a total standstill when Teru uses his psychic powers to beat up all those idiot boys.

Standing as the dust clears, however, is the only girl on the scene - Mob, looking plain, boring, and angry at Teru in particular, with a floating green booger ghost next to her. "Hey, Shige, isn't that boy an esper too?"]

[terukinesis]

[ those muscle-bound idiots didn't go down after one psychic punch, which was a little impressive. but they went down easily enough after teru got slightly more serious. what a waste of time and effort. he had to go and cut his date short, too, which is irritating. can't his gang get their own shit together and stop relying on him all the time...

huh, there seems to be a single person still standing.

the wind blows and clears the dust and teru stares at... this, very ordinary-looking girl. is she tied up? and what is that floating next to her? he didn't even sense her at all. ]

Hey, are you lost? [ she can't be, right? she's right in the middle of this gang fight. where did she even come from? ]

[psychoveil]

You can't hurt people with your powers. That's wrong. [And like that, the ropes are untied with her psychic powers.] I can't believe you really use them to hurt people.

[terukinesis]

[ she's an esper.

AN ESPER. he takes a step back in shock. ] You're an esper? A natural? I... I thought I was the only one...

[ he can feel his whole worldview crack a little in a paradigm shift. he's no longer alone-- ]

... You're so... ordinary-looking. [ okay, he can't help but say it. couldn't his first other esper at least be a cute girl? ]

[psychoveil]

Am I supposed to look anything but ordinary? [She just frowns at him... yes, he could be considered handsome, but she's too busy thinking about how ugly his actions are.] I'm just a normal person.

[psychoveil]

[Well, after Teru showed up and helped her save Ritsu and things generally calmed down, Shige figures she should give Teru a more formal apology. She realizes that he might still be pretty lonely, after all that happened when they met and after the scary experience with Claw.

Vinegar Middle really does look like nothing happened... she isn't even sure how she got it all back together properly. Some of the girls from Vinegar start picking at her for standing outside the gate, but she just sort of stares nervously at them...]

[terukinesis]

[ helping Kageyama save her brother is the least he could do after the disastrous way they first met. he hadn't brought it up, just tried to play it cool and be friendly and as helpful as he could. yes, it's an opportunity to try to take down Claw. but he did honestly want to be useful and make it up to Kageyama even if it's a little bit.

but that's over with and Kageyama and her brother are safe and the Claw branch is destroyed and it's probably back to life as normal. Teru kind of wonders if he could find another excuse to see Kageyama again. they're in different schools and this time there's no conspiracy for them to fight against or anything...

wait a minute, is that her at the school gate?

he stares at her, then picks up the pace to meet her there. ]

Kageyama?

Hey. What are you doing here? [ not that he's complaining. ]

[psychoveil]

Oh, Hanazawa-kun.

[The stares from the other girls only intensify - it's not like Teru lost many of those girls' interest, even if the haystack had them dissuaded for a bit. And the pigtails are back, so Mob is back to looking rather plain...]

I didn't miss you, I'm glad.

[terukinesis]

[ what other girls??? he doesn't seem to notice anything except mob.

there was some school gossip about the hairstack and its abrupt disappearance, and teru's still slowly recovering from the humiliation and hit to his reputation, but he's trying to make real friends now. he hasn't really gone out with anyone like he used to, though, so girl friends are remaining friends. ]

Did you want to talk? Want to go out to a cafe or something? [ he knows plenty of spots. ]

[psychoveil]

[She'll nod.]

I didn't have club today, so I thought I should come see you.

[terukinesis]

[ so, study date time. at a public library, because hosting it at his place with a girl can... kind of send the wrong message...... actually he's not sure if shige would even pick up on the message, but they're working on that reading the atmosphere thing. it's a work in progress.

they're going over english or math or anything and teru's double-checking her work but in the meantime, while she's busy poring over a problem, how about. some small talk. ]

So, uh, Kageyama. Did you manage to make friends with Tsubomi-chan yet? [ just. wondering.

he'd googled the whole 'how to find out if your crush is gay' but it didn't help at all, so maybe he should just rip the band-aid and find out himself. ]

[psychoveil]

Oh... uhm. Not yet... I tried, but I froze up...

[terukinesis]

[ ... pretty damn gay so far. ]

Is she always with friends, or something?

[psychoveil]

[She nods.]

It's... I don't mind them, they're okay. She's just really cute, and it makes me nervous. I remember when she got bored of me when we were little and then I feel like I haven't figured out anything else to talk about.

[terukinesis]

Well, what does she like? You don't have to listen in on her conversations or anything, but she probably talks about things like shows or movies with her friends in class, right?

You can learn a little about what her interests are.

After Mogami

[psychoveil]

[Things go mostly back to normal! Most people have no idea what happened, the only tangible sign really being Reigen's achy back and Dimple hovering around Shige more than before.

But Teru, since he spends the most time one-on-one with her, will easily see the differences. There's a slight bit of confidence and comfort when talking to people that are speaking kindly to her, which is the easiest to see. But even so, when first addressed, she tenses. When a frown is directed her way, regardless of what the frown means, she visibly blanches. The two times she saw thugs beating up someone, an eerie, distant look crossed her face and wouldn't fade for the rest of the day, resulting in no work at all being done no matter how hard she attempted to focus.

Physical contact and unintentional flirtiness completely stopped, too, almost as if Shige was too worried about saying something that might elicit a bad response. The jumpiness and wariness is subtle, but not as much to anyone familiar with the way she was before.

The first strange reaction comes from when she sees a stray cat on the other side of the street, and her expression twists as if she had just watched it get splattered across the pavement.]

[terukinesis]

[ something happened with that job. he doesn't know what, and he'd been wondering if it would be better if he asks or if shige would tell him on her own, if it's something that's really bothers her. but as time passes and the symptoms continue, he's pretty sure he'll be bringing it up sooner or later.

she likes cats, so why would she react to one like this? he glances at the stray, which is a little dirty and scruffy but looks otherwise harmless. maybe she'd been scratched... obviously not, obviously she's having a worse reaction to that, he wonders if she'd even flinch if a cat clawed her up.

he leans down a little and tries to coax the stray over, offering a hand and making a clicking noise to get its attention. maybe it's friendly. maybe shige will cheer up a little if she could pet it. he just hates to see her down. ]

[psychoveil]

[It's very friendly! It walks right over, meowing incessantly and rubbing on Teru, begging for food. Which makes Shige's reaction a bit odd when she suddenly bursts into a sob, immediately trying to dry her face.] P...poor thing, it's hungry... [She rummages through her bag for food, but she is pretty dramatically overreacting...]

[terukinesis]

[ oh wow she's crying. he's... definitely never seen her cry before. and he's definitely panicking a little, he know she's strong both emotionally and in overwhelming power, why is she crying over a cat?? ]

H-hey, Kageyama, you all right?

It's not going to starve. I'll go buy food and make sure of it. [ but he knows she's not upset over just that. ]

[psychoveil]

[She finds some pork from her lunch, tearing it into small pieces and laying it out for the cat... she'll kneel and pet it, still crying.] I... I'm just... it's just... [It's so soft, and cute, and so happy to get some food. When it's done gobbling up the pork, it lets her pick it up and hug it, purring happily in her ear.] I don't want it to get hurt... [Teru might find, if he reaches out to comfort her, a surprisingly thick barrier surrounding her.]

[terukinesis]

[ so, he has a cat now.

what is he doing, he has no idea, he's never had a cat. he's probably never actually had a pet, he likes to hang around with people rather than animals. but shige likes the cat, so he finds himself vaccinating it and buying cat things and taking minori home. and then going online shopping and getting more cat things JUST IN CASE and reading up on cat ownership things and...

he finds himself inviting shige over to his place, now complete with cat trees and 12 cat toys and boxes of treats in the kitchenette, because he's a loser who wants to be prepared to be a good owner. ]

... Do you think I have enough things for her? [ minori is... probably ignoring the cat beds and sleeping in a box, very unimpressed. ]

[psychoveil]

Oh wow! [At least Shige is impressed! She has a bag, too, full of cat treats and a catnip plant she grew herself. She goes to Minori, picking her up despite a grumpy grunt and hugging her.] This place looks like it'd be so much fun if you were a cat.

[terukinesis]

Good. I'll take your word for it.

[ ... he's picturing shige as a cat. oh no, it's cute.

and so is shige, with all those cat treats. minori cuddles up to shige--it sure seems like she likes her more than she likes teru, who she probably just tolerates.

... he's not getting slightly jealous of a cat, or is he. ]

I'm not missing anything, am I?

[psychoveil]

It looks like everything's here! Even a litterbox. [She'll snuggle the cat, before setting her down.] I promise I'll come clean this as often as possible, so that you're not stuck with it every time. That wouldn't be very fair!

[terukinesis]

No, it's fine. It's just... [ cat shit. he doesn't want her to bother?! ] You know, I've heard there's a kind of automated litter box that would actually clean itself. Maybe I could save up for it.