Ch. 22 How it Should Have Happened Part 1

Am I dead? Saiki wondered aloud to no one in particular, glancing behind him to make absolutely sure he was alone. There was nothing behind him but clouds, and more nothing. He looked down at his body. There was a little blood seeping through his shirt at his shoulder, and his clothes were destroyed with dirt and grease, but he didn't seem dead. He didn't really feel dead either. Not that he was really sure what dead even felt like. No, he just had a splitting headache. If he was dead he probably wouldn't be feeling anything at all. Had he tried to teleport and ended up here? No that didn't make sense. What had he been doing before this? Fighting... fighting what. His brother? No, that didn't make sense either.

Ok, time to really think. Saiki rubbed his chin and closed his eyes. Teruhashi was involved... kidnapped. Yes, kidnapped by his brother to torture him. So he had been fighting his brother. No wait... he had been fighting his brother's machines. With the P.K trio? Right so why was he here now?

He glanced down at himself again. God he was really beaten up. The fight must have been some awful to have left him in this state. So it was obvious then.

He was unconscious from using too much of his strength. Good Grief.

Saiki was furious. Teruhashi still hadn't been saved and he didn't have time for whatever hell god had decided to put him through this time. Besides, he flexed a few muscles to make sure everything worked, he was capable of fighting, and winning against his brother. He just had to figure out a way to get back to the fight, and off of these clouds. He knelt down on one knee, feeling the soft fluffy white of the "ground" below him. He pushed on it gently, sinking his hand into the cotton candy like clouds. His arm sunk in right up to his elbow with no end in sight. He frowned and removed his arm, lifting his fist into the air. One solid punch would probably be enough to blast a hole in whatever-

"Wait, Kusuo, before you go," A voice pierced out of the nothingness and startled Saiki. He turned quickly, fist still raised and watched cautiously as an old man in red robes approached him. The old man carried a withered, wooden staff, and had a beard so long that it dragged against the clouds behind him as he walked. Saiki wasn't quite sure how he could walk properly with such a long beard, but the man didn't stumble, only smiled brightly and kindly as he approached the younger man. "Before you go, child, I need to apologize."

Who even are you? Saiki raised to his feet so he could fully to face the man.

The man's smile faltered slightly, and a sadness shined through his green eyes. "I am the reason you have been put into this mess."

No, that was my brother, Saiki glowered, suddenly threatened by the man, Unless you're working for him, and I've just fallen into another trap afterall?

"No, no, of course I don't work for your brother child!" The man reached forward and clapped Saiki's shoulders, "I am what is known in your world as God."

Saiki blinked at the man several times, saying nothing.

"Yes," God sighed, "I know it is hard to believe. But surely, someone with so much power must understand the possibility of my existence."

Saiki blinked some more.

This time God laughed, "Very well child, you may continue to be stunned and confused. Just let me continue my apology. You see," God flicked his staff and clouds shifted through the air to form an armchair for him to sit in. He lowered himself into the seat with a groan, "I meddled with your relationship with Kokomi."

That finally snapped Saiki from his daze, What? Why would you do that?

"Because child, Kokomi is undoubtedly my favorite fallen angel. It was a sin to allow her to be re-born on earth instead of the heavens, and I must admit," He smiled sheepishly at Saiki, "I am rather invested in her happiness."

Saiki rolled his eyes, So god really has been on her side all this time.

"For some things. Small things that I can change to make her life easier. I dare not change anything too grand, otherwise I could change the happy course her future is currently on."

Ok, Saiki frowned, So why and how did you meddle with our relationship? Is it even real?

God stroked his beard slowly, "Of course it's real child! Everything you feel for her is of your own free will, I cannot change that. As for the meddling. Well... I did not believe it would change too much. All I did was have her stumble upon you and that Volcano. The discovery of your powers led to your friendship and then your relationship much sooner than it would have naturally happened. Sparing you both years of suffering, for not being with each other."

So, we would have ended up together regardless?

"Oh yes Child, the two of you have been destined for each other for centuries. You always find your way back to one another." God sighed sadly, "The other deities and angels like to watch the relationship unfold, but this time you were taking so long to find each other properly. We had no idea the difference it would make."

Saiki's head was starting to hurt. For centuries? What does that even mean...

God smiled at the boy, "It means the two of you are soul mates. You're the night to her day, the water to her fish, the air to her sky."

Why am I all the bad ones in this scenario, Saiki rolled his eyes. Also, why should I believe that soulmates are real? And if we always found each other does that mean, He glanced down at his hands, Have I, or other versions of me always had these powers?

"Unfortunately you ask me too many questions child," God sighed and sat back in his chair, "I cannot answer many of these things the way in which you want me to. Even knowing I exist, when you wake up you may try and convince yourself that this was all a dream and that I don't exist after all, and of course this is your own free will to do so. It is the same with the question of soulmates, if you want to believe that soulmates exist then believe they exist, no matter what an old man amongst the clouds tells you. For really, love is different to every heart that gets the honor to feel it."

Saiki blinked twice, So you can't really tell me anything?

God sighed, "Go on child, ask me one question and I will do my best to give you what you seek."

Just one question. That hardly seemed fair. Here Saiki stood, a teenage psychic in front of god himself, and he was only allowed to ask one question when he had so many. Where did his powers come from? Was Teruhashi really an angel? Was there a way to rid himself of his powerful curse? Was there something extraordinary about his parents that caused the likes of Kusuke and Kusuo, two brothers more advanced than any other human on earth right now? But he supposed there was one other thing that was really bothering him now that he thought about it.

You said that you changed our fates, and therefore what my life was supposed to be like. Saiki tilted his head slightly, What was it supposed to be like?

God glanced up at Saiki, meeting his eye, and smiled, "Well, hold tight. I'll show you." And then he tapped his staff three times, and Saiki fell through the clouds.

"Yo, Saiki wake up," Someone was shaking him, "It's the first day of classes, you gotta wake up."

Kaido? Blearily, Saiki opened his eyes to see Kaido staring down at him. What time is it?

"7 a.m buddy," Kaido clapped his hands together, "I let you sleep in. Now come on, you don't even have your glasses on."

What!? Saiki panicked and sat up immediately, covering his eyes with his hands so Kaido wouldn't turn to stone. Where are my glasses Kaido?

"Woah, chill man," Kaido handed the green lenses to his friend, "Why are you freaking out?"

Look me in the eye and find out, Saiki grumbled pushing his glasses onto his face. He took a good look around. Clearly he was in a dorm room. Apparently, his dorm room. Or, his and Kaido's?

"Yes Saiki. After you were finally able to stop the volcano from erupting and allow time to move forward, you had to pick a college to go to. You picked an average grade, middle class school not far from home, and Kaido did as well, not wanting to go to the higher end schools his mother expected of him, and struggle for the rest of his life. He is currently majoring in Theatre and Film courses and you applied to major in Literature." God's voice rang out through his head, and Saiki pinched the bridge of his nose.

Alright, sure why not. Rooming with Kaido did not sound fun to him. Alternative universe him really should of thought about how much extra work he was going to have to put in everyday just to not reveal his secret to Kaido. How had that ever sounded like a good idea to anyone?

Saiki got out of his little twin bed anyway, and got dressed quickly. Kaido had already dashed from the room saying something about meeting him for breakfast in the mess hall, so it gave him a chance to breathe and get his head on straight. Just so I know, is this little excursion you're showing me putting Teruhashi in danger, or is time paused or something?

God laughed loudly in his mind, "You think I would allow Kokomi to be in danger for this?"

Right, just making sure, Saiki sighed and slipped out of his dorm room. It looked like he was just gonna be going along for the ride. When he finally found his way to the mess hall, flashed his student card to get in, and got in line for food, Saiki was already tired of this place. He still couldn't figure out why he wouldn't have just lived at home if the school was so close.

"Blame your parent's child," God's voice rang out again, "Your mother in particular wanted you to at least try to have the college experience."

Of course, Saiki sighed, already imagining it in his head. That sounds exactly like something she would do.

"Excuse me, sorry, just trying to get to the notice board, pardon me," A familiar voice wafted through the others and hit Saiki's ears. He smiled at the sound, turning slightly to see Teruhashi trying to push her way through the line. She was carrying a lot of flyers under one of her arms, with a stapler clutched in her other hand. Her blue hair was cut short, stopping just before hitting her shoulders and she was wearing jeans and a pink blouse, very different from the usual school uniform he had seen almost every day, for close to six years. She looked frustrated as well, biting her lip and furrowing her brow as the line pushed back against her trying to get through. "No, seriously I'm just hanging up flyers for my professor, I am not trying to cut."

A girl behind Saiki snorted, "Listen here first year, you might be pretty, but the world isn't gonna always bow down and do what you say. Especially when food, and poor hungry college students are involved."

Teruhashi took a step back, a little stunned. Her lip wobbled and tears threatened to poor out over her cheeks, when, seeing her distress, several guys stepped out of the line to let her through. Saiki could already hear their thoughts, "What a pretty girl." "She's so insanely gorgeous!" "Why didn't we notice her a second ago?" "Oh wow!" Teruhashi immediately brightened when she was able to get to the bulletin board, "Thank you all so much, I really appreciate it."

The girl behind Saiki rolled her eyes and looked down at her phone, but Saiki knew she was jealous of the attention the blue haired angel was getting. Most girls are.

Teruhashi quickly stapled a flyer for Education Majors on the bulletin board and then stepped away from the line, and out of people's way. That was when her blue eyes turned to him, and of course, lit up like a Christmas tree. "Saiki! Hey, you chose this college too?"

It was close to home, Saiki automatically replied, though he had wanted to say he could read her mind and knew she chose this college specifically because she knew he had chosen it as well.

She beamed at him, "Which dorm are you in? I'm in the all girls dorm at the edge of campus. The building is called Harrison."

I'm in a co-ed dorm. I don't know the name of the building, Kaido chose it.

"Oh, Kaido is here too? That's awesome! You'll have to let him know that Chiyo chose a college that's actually only 20 minutes away from here, they could hang out if he wanted," She chuckled and then shuffled her feet a bit. She was nervous. Saiki wasn't used to that anymore.

He glanced down at the flyers in her hands, You're studying to be a teacher?

Teruhashi followed his gaze and then nodded, "Yeah, I guess. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life at all, but a calm, down to earth teaching job sounds really wonderful doesn't it?" "Especially with all those adoring kids that will think I'm the perfect, prettiest teacher."

Saiki smiled warmly at her, Yeah, that actually sounds perfect for you.

Her cheeks reddened at his smile. Saiki guessed this Teruhashi probably wasn't used to that. He could hear her heart racing just a little faster in her chest. "Uhm, do you wanna get a coffee or something over the weekend to catch up? My treat." Was this it? She just asked him out in the mess hall? Teruhashi blushed a brighter red when he didn't answer, "As friends, of course."

Suddenly Saiki was bombarded with angry thoughts. All of the guys around him suddenly jealous and seething at the attention he was getting from their new found goddess. "What a nerd, he's not good enough for a girl like that." "Pink hair? Please, that's not masculine at all." "If he hurts her feelings I will deck him in the-"

Sure, He agreed, though he didn't really want to. But it was just like Teruhashi to almost accidentally start a fight in the cafeteria over some coffee. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and held it out to her, watching in amusement as she fumbled with her own, almost dropping her flyers, before handing it to him to exchange their numbers. When he gave her back her phone she held it close to her chest, both arms pushing it against her skin as she held her flyers tightly in an embarrassed hug.

"Thanks, I'll text you ok," He nodded and Teruhashi smiled before heading out of the building, several pairs of eyes following her as she left.

Ok, Saiki glanced up at the ceiling, So she asked me out for coffee in college and that's how it happened? You could have just told me that.

"That's not all that happened. We need to skip forward two years before anything really happens."

The world began to spin, Saiki saw quick glimpses of college life unfolding before him, before they were lost in the swirl of colors surrounding him. Classes full of students, evenings with Kaido playing cards in their dorm, coffee with Teruhashi (quite regularly it seemed) and late nights at the library. Then it finally stopped, and he was sitting on his bed in his dorm room. His eyes were already trained on Kaido who was pacing back and forth through the tiny room. The air was tense.

"So our entire friendship has been a lie?"

What, Saiki blinked in confusion. No, why would I lie about our friendship?

"I dunno Saiki, why would you lie about your powers?" Kaido's voice rose and he glanced over at his friend. Their eyes met just long enough for Saiki to see the fear in them.

Oh. Saiki was stunned, He found out and now he's scared of me.

"Yes," God's voice boomed out as Kaido began pacing the room again, "He walked in on you levitating a book of poems above your head. You were studying for a midterm, and you were feeling exhausted. Kaido started to piece together all of the weird things that happened around you during the 8 years he had been your friend. Sadly because Kaido Shun is a fearful man, some of the things you did were frightening to him."

"I..." Kadio finally stopped pacing and sighed, running a hand through his overly messy hair, "I think I'm gonna sleep at Chiyo's tonight. We can talk about this later." He wouldn't even look Saiki in the eye, he just grabbed his dorm key, and the overnight bag he kept packed for weekends spent at his girlfriends (yes they were finally dating) and left. His thoughts confirmed that he had no intention of returning for awhile.

Saiki felt oddly depressed. Had he ever actually considered Kaido that much of a friend? Apparently at this point in his life he did, because here he was. Moping in his dorm room. All of Kaido's belongings around him were making him more sad, and weirdly ashamed at himself for being dishonest for so long. He needed to get out, do something to distract himself. And what was more college like, than drinking at a bar to forget your troubles?

Really... a bar? Though his thoughts were passive and not interested at all, Saiki was still just along for the ride in this alternate version of himself. And so he found himself grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

The bar closest to campus was always crowded, especially on Friday nights. But that was ok, Saiki wasn't here to socialize, and if there were more people around then the chances of someone singling him out was much, much smaller. But, just in case, he chose a seat right at the bar, closest to the washrooms. There he ordered three rounds of a coffee based liqueur, and slumped over, with his forehead pressed against the cool wood of the counter.

"Wow... it looks like you really had a tough night huh?" Teruhashi hopped up onto the stool next to him and smiled at the bartender, "Can I get two of whatever he's having?"

"Oh wow," The bartender cheeks flushed a bright pink,"O-of course miss. Here, on the house." He placed down a full bottle of coffee liqueur, as well as a bottle of his finest vodka, "Also on the house of course."

Teruhashi smiled, but wrinkled her nose, "I'm not much of a vodka person myself, so I can't possibly accept that. Maybe some gin?"

"Yes!" "I can't believe how pretty she is!" "Right away," The bartender replaced the bottle of vodka with a very expensive looking aged gin from his top shelf. "I hope you enjoy."

"Oh," Teruhashi giggled sweetly, tucking a loose hair back behind her ear, "We will, won't we Saiki?"

Saiki turned his head so his cheek pressed against the wood and looked up at his new drinking friend. Still sporting the short blue bob, but now dressed in a black skirt that barely reached her thighs and a lacy white tank top that clearly showed the very top of a periwinkle blue bra below, Teruhashi looked as stunning as ever. If maybe a little risque... He glanced over to the booths, not surprised to see the angry faces of several guys who had clearly targeted her to court tonight. Was that why Teruhashi was here? Actively seeking out a little college fun herself?

Saiki turned his gaze back to his friend, still not lifting his head from the counter. She smiled sweetly at him and nudged the coffee liqueur his way, "Drinking is always more fun with a friend." She looked so supportive and kind, but Saiki could hear that her thoughts were a little less innocent. "Finally, a chance to be alone with Saiki. I'm looking my absolute cutest tonight, and I'm feeling confident. Maybe this will be the night that we-"

His eyes lowered, slowly grazing up the skin of her bare legs as he took the drink and refilled his glass. Yes... maybe it will.