Kusuo's first thought upon waking up in Kaidou's desk chair is Ah, did I teleport in my sleep again? as it so often is when he wakes up somewhere less than familiar (even though that hasn't been the case for years now).

When he does remember the real reason why he's in Kaidou's bedroom he thinks, Good grief, how long have I been asleep here?

Shun and his younger siblings have already left for the day and he can hear their mother cleaning furiously downstairs

. He knows that he needs to go back before she decides to come up here but he lingers listening to her and her neighbors going about their days. It's nostalgic in a way to be surrounded by so many people.

On the island all he hears are the small simple thoughts of the fish interspersed with those of the occasional brainier marine creature like an octopus or a dolphin.

Kusuo sees a plans for the future worksheet peeking out from among the papers piled on Kaidou's desk.

He leaps up and reads the careers that Kaidou filled in.

Paranormal Investigator

Movie Star

Manga-ka

Seeing such naive choices fills Kusuo with a jealousy potent enough to make him nauseous.

Even when he'd had similar assignments back when he thought that he could still choose his future Kusuo had simply listed out the most ordinary careers that he could think of.

Whatever innocence he might have had had been incredibly short-lived and naivety was a luxury that he'd never had.

If he filled out this worksheet from his current prospects, what would he even put on there?

Island-dwelling Hermit

Lab Rat

Common Enemy of Humanity

It seems like a question with only depressing answers, so he resolves to think no more about it and teleports back to his island.

He sits on the beach for a moment, watching the waves and cursing his vestigial human urges.

"Can I touch you?" Shun asks, when the esper next comes to visit.

I guess? Just don't touch my limiters. the esper says, Those are the things on my collar.

Shun scoops the cat who is the esper off of his desk in his arms. It's surprising somehow that despite all of the fear and intrigue that surrounds him he is just as light and soft as any other cat.

Put me down. the esper says, squirming half-heartedly.

"Please just a bit longer you're such a cute little kitty," Shun says, not putting the esper down.

Shun's door bursts open and Sora barges in.

I meant that you need to put me down so we don't get caught, the esper says, but it seems we're too late for that now.

"A-ha!" Sora says, with an excited point, "I knew you were hiding something."

"This cat you mean? I don't know how it got here. I'm just picking it up so I could take it outside." Shun desperately blabbers.

For someone who lies so much you're remarkably bad at it.

"Why'd you say that? I thought you didn't want to be discovered," Shun hisses at the esper.

She can't hear me if I don't want her to. A rare benefit of telepathy. the esper says. You on the other hand...

Sora is looking at Shun strangely. His cheeks start to burn with embarrassment as he realizes how silly he must look from her point of view, yelling at a cat for no apparent reason.

"It's really cute, can I pet it?" she asks.

She can't. Put me down.

Shun obliges and the esper scampers under his bed.

Sora tries to reach under it but the esper let's out a low threatening growl.

"I'm sorry. He's kind of skittish," Shun says.

"Mom isn't going to be very happy to learn that you've picked up a stray." Sora says with ominous glee.

Sora's right. She'll probably go on and on about how it's disease ridden and sheds everywhere and a distraction from his studies and make him get rid of it.

"However, it's a pretty cute kitty," Sora continues, "so I'll give you a chance to buy my silence."

"That's no fair", Shun squeaks. "If you like the cat, it be enough just to keep it?"

"The price of my silence is half of your allowance," Sora continues, ignoring Shun's question. "You'd just waste it on scammy junk anyway."

"I wouldn't. You're being totally unfair right now." Shun replies.

"That doesn't mean much," Sora says. "It's not like you go out and buy scammy junk knowing that it's scammy junk."

"For your information, I've been learning a lot of stuff about not getting scammed lately."

"Okay, fine, you might not have just spent it on scammy junk," Sora concedes. "but that's beside the point. Are you going to buy my silence or not?"

Shun lets out a long sigh and says, "If I have to, I guess."

He gets out his wallet and forks over the cash, thinking sadly of all the occult paraphernalia he'll no longer be able to buy with it. Effective or not, a lot of it is really cool-looking and fun to play around with.

After Sora's left the esper creeps out from under his bed.

I tried to warn you, the esper says.

"You're not going to leave me forever, are you?" Shun asks. That would really suck as well as meaning that he gave up half his allowance for nothing.

Of course not. She thinks I'm just an ordinary cat.

Shun breathes out a sigh of relief, before a thought occurs to him.

"Why didn't you just teleport away?" Shun asks.

Teleportation has a three-minute cool down, the esper replies, like he's stating an obvious fact. Besides it wasn't so bad in the end, was it?

"It was!" Shun objects, "I had to fork over half my allowance so my sister didn't snitch on me. Why didn't you help me deal with her?"

De-escalating sibling conflicts is not a topic I'm qualified to give advice on. Quite the opposite really. the esper pauses for a moment before adding, I am sorry that you got exhorted on my account though.

"And I'm sorry I didn't put you down when you first asked," Shun says, realizing that he should probably apologize for that. "Let's move on, okay?"

The room is large and filled with dozens of turbines steadily churning with an unseen force. Kusuo sits at that room's center eating a bag of m&ms and reading a book while telekinetically generating enough electricity to power a small nation.

Or at least he would be if these turbines were hooked up to anything.

The Black Swan Project has been spending the last few months running proof of concept tests for telekinesis-based energy generation while they search for a chance to try powering an area with it for real. The process for this has only gotten more complicated as the test runs have gone on, not because the results were unpromising but rather that they are so promising that every major player in the electricity industry has teamed-up to smother the project in red tape after recognizing it as a threat to the field as they know and dominate it.

This is much better than Kusuo ever imagined his life as a debatably human test subject to be.

He's only been opened up so the scientists can look around in him a few times and, given that he has to be sedated to the point of unconsciousness before anyone can break his skin and any given sedative only seems to work on him once, there's a hard limit on how many more times that can happen. Most of the scientists treat him well, even if their kindness is one born of fear.

He should be, if not happy, then at least satisfied with his situation given how much it is exceeding his expectations. However, only six months into his new life, Kusuo's relief is already fading into unbearable brain-melting boredom.

It doesn't help that for all the Black Swan Project's research on him, they've made remarkably little progress in understanding how his powers work. Apparently he's such a freak of nature that any and all attempts to reconcile them with known science run up against an unyielding resistance.

The only thing they've managed to figure out that's been in any way helpful to him is that if he wears germanium jewelry his telepathy stops working. The reasons for this are unknown and the practical applications of this knowledge are few and far between, but Kusuo has taken to wearing a germanium ring when he wants some relative peace and quiet. It's much easier to enjoy a nice book when he doesn't have to hear the thoughts of every other person in the building.

He reaches the end of his book, closes it and uses apport to swap it out for another.

Some of the scientists have brought books to read when they aren't working and as the reason for their current employment Kusuo feels no guilt about borrowing them. He gives them back when he's finished, of course, and would give them back sooner if he was requested to, but he's such a fast reader that most of the time the scientists don't even have a chance to notice that their books are gone.

Kusuo looks at the book in his hands. It's one he read already. Well then, he'll just swap it out again-

-dang it, he's already read this one too.

A voice from in front of him says, "hello there, Kusuo."

Kusuo snaps his gaze upwards to see Kusuke standing in front of him.

Go away, I'm busy, Kusuo says.

"Really? You appear quite idle, listless even," Kusuke says, tilting his head with a distinctly un-Kusuke-like concern, "though I suppose that I can't discount the possibility that you're using your powers for something not immediately obvious such as rotating all the turbines in here perhaps as some experimental attempt at energy generation."

You're not Kusuke, Kusuo says, because now that he's paying closer attention it's clear as day his visitor isn't. He certainly seems to have "borrowed" his outfit from Kusuke's wardrobe but he's had to roll up the sleeves and pant legs due to being significantly shorter (despite his valiant attempts to make up for the difference with platform shoes) and his eyes are the deep purple of a ripe plum while Kusuke's are a glacial green. What's more, the grin currently spreading across his visitor's face is a far cry from the mask-like, serene smile Kusuke always wears.

"That's right! I'm not. And do you remember who I am?" Not-Kusuke says, leaning forward eagerly, a hand pressed to his chest.

Kusuo doesn't think he does, until a memory burrows up from the depths of his mind where it had long laid buried.

Asumi, he says, what are you doing here?

"You helped me get through what would otherwise definitely have been one of the worst periods of my life. Even when you left me in the end that was because of how you protected me, wasn't it?" Asumi says, smiling warmly at Kusuo. "In short you saved me, and I'd like to return the favor."

Kusuo snorts, I don't need saving. Didn't you hear? It was my choice to come here and let them put me to whatever use they thought best.

"If you truly want to stay here, I will respect that. However, given my knowledge of the situation, I find it hard to believe that your hand wasn't at least somewhat forced."

That doesn't matter. Kusuo says. Whether he wanted to or not, he's already committed to doing this and it would be wrong to back out now. However, he does feel bad about rejecting Asumi's offer after his one-time almost-friend went to all the trouble of coming here, so he extends a hand and says, here, I'll take you home.

"With all due respect I'd prefer that you didn't." Asumi says, "I'm not interested in returning home at this point of time. I'm trying to run away, you see. Coming to save you was but a momentary detour. My parents' relationship has been especially rocky as of late and I'm rather tired of being used as a bargaining chip in their disputes. I'm sure you understand given the circumstances that lead you to end up here."

Kusuo does not bring up the gulf of difference between an acrimonious marriage and World War III.

Instead he asks, Where are you going to go?

"I don't have a particular destination in mind but I have a list of haikyo locations I'd like to visit. Mostly various abandoned amusement parks since I've been researching those as of late. It's quite fascinating how the attractions are allowed to remain standing for so long after the park's closure, even as the ravages of time transform them into grand, rotting monuments to failure because those in charge don't want to go to the trouble of tearing them down, perhaps in the futile hope that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the spark will someday return and the park can go back to how it was its heyday, as brief and distant that was." Asumi says and adds blithely, "They remind me of my parents' marriage."

Sneaking into abandoned amusement park sounds dangerous, Kusuo says, because it is.

Asumi could have a rotting structure collapse onto him, or cut himself on something rusty, or fall through a rotted board and get stuck there because no one is around to get him out, or fall victim to one of the multitude of other awful fates that can so easily befall an ordinary person alone in a derelict place where no one expects them to be.

And that's not Kusuo's only concern.

Besides isn't that trespassing? he adds, somewhat hypocritically.

"Don't worry," Asumi says blithely, "I'm endeavoring to take all the proper precautions which reduces the risks involved greatly."

I see, Kusuo says his concerns not at all allayed, What are you doing for money?

"I took my father's stashed gambling winnings and I've been making various sacrifices to stretch them as far as possible. Therefore, I hope you forgive me for coming see you in such a disheveled state."

Asumi hasn't showered since before he left home three days ago. That explains his oily look and the smell that followed him in.

It's fine. I'm not letting you leave without taking a shower though.

"Is it that bad?"

Kusuo nods. You did bike a lot. Take some of my clothes too. They'll fit you better than my brother's.

As Asumi cleans himself in Kusuo's little-used shower Kusuo considers what to do next. Obviously taking Asumi back home would be the most responsible course of action even though it goes against Asumi's wishes. What Asumi is planning sounds dangerous and probably illegal. It would be irresponsible to leave him to it and even more irresponsible to support him in this endeavor.

On the other hand, even if Kusuo takes him back that doesn't mean he won't just try to do this again later. Sure, his parents will probably try harder to keep him from doing it again but Asumi's always been too stubborn for his own good so he might well manage to anyway.

If Kusuo's with him then at least he'll be able make sure Touma doesn't get hurt or found running afoul of the law.

It'd certainly be a better use of his then what he's doing now, wasting his time demonstrating endless proofs of a concept that he's already proved more than adequately.

By the time Asumi's emerged from the shower, dressed in a spare outfit of Kusuo's, Kusuo has reached a decision.

I'm coming with you, he says.

Asumi's eyes light up and his thoughts start racing even faster.

"That's wonderful to hear, Kusuo!" he says aloud clasping his hands around Kusuo's own, "I will endeavor to ensure that this experience is exceedingly enjoyable for the both of us!"

Thanks, Kusuo says, as a brighter feeling than anything he's felt in months bubbles up inside him, I will too.

	Kusuo's first thought upon waking up in Kaidou's desk chair is Ah, did I teleport in my sleep again? as it so often is when he wakes up somewhere less than familiar (even though that hasn't been the case for years now). When he does remember the real reason why he's in Kaidou's bedroom he thinks, Good grief, how long have I been asleep here? Shun and his younger siblings have already left for the day and he can hear their mother cleaning furiously downstairs . He knows that he needs to go back before she decides to come up here but he lingers listening to her and her neighbors going about their days. It's nostalgic in a way to be surrounded by so many people. On the island all he hears are the small simple thoughts of the fish interspersed with those of the occasional brainier marine creature like an octopus or a dolphin. Kusuo sees a plans for the future worksheet peeking out from among the papers piled on Kaidou's desk. He leaps up and reads the careers that Kaidou filled in. Paranormal Investigator Movie Star Manga-ka Seeing such naive choices fills Kusuo with a jealousy potent enough to make him nauseous. Even when he'd had similar assignments back when he thought that he could still choose his future Kusuo had simply listed out the most ordinary careers that he could think of. Whatever innocence he might have had had been incredibly short-lived and naivety was a luxury that he'd never had. If he filled out this worksheet from his current prospects, what would he even put on there? Island-dwelling Hermit Lab Rat Common Enemy of Humanity It seems like a question with only depressing answers, so he resolves to think no more about it and teleports back to his island. He sits on the beach for a moment, watching the waves and cursing his vestigial human urges. * "Can I touch you?" Shun asks, when the esper next comes to visit. I guess? Just don't touch my limiters. the esper says, Those are the things on my collar. Shun scoops the cat who is the esper off of his desk in his arms. It's surprising somehow that despite all of the fear and intrigue that surrounds him he is just as light and soft as any other cat. Put me down. the esper says, squirming half-heartedly. "Please just a bit longer you're such a cute little kitty," Shun says, not putting the esper down. Shun's door bursts open and Sora barges in. I meant that you need to put me down so we don't get caught, the esper says, but it seems we're too late for that now. "A-ha!" Sora says, with an excited point, "I knew you were hiding something." "This cat you mean? I don't know how it got here. I'm just picking it up so I could take it outside." Shun desperately blabbers. For someone who lies so much you're remarkably bad at it. "Why'd you say that? I thought you didn't want to be discovered," Shun hisses at the esper. She can't hear me if I don't want her to. A rare benefit of telepathy. the esper says. You on the other hand... Sora is looking at Shun strangely. His cheeks start to burn with embarrassment as he realizes how silly he must look from her point of view, yelling at a cat for no apparent reason. "It's really cute, can I pet it?" she asks. She can't. Put me down. Shun obliges and the esper scampers under his bed. Sora tries to reach under it but the esper let's out a low threatening growl. "I'm sorry. He's kind of skittish," Shun says. "Mom isn't going to be very happy to learn that you've picked up a stray." Sora says with ominous glee. Sora's right. She'll probably go on and on about how it's disease ridden and sheds everywhere and a distraction from his studies and make him get rid of it. "However, it's a pretty cute kitty," Sora continues, "so I'll give you a chance to buy my silence." "That's no fair", Shun squeaks. "If you like the cat, it be enough just to keep it?" "The price of my silence is half of your allowance," Sora continues, ignoring Shun's question. "You'd just waste it on scammy junk anyway." "I wouldn't. You're being totally unfair right now." Shun replies. "That doesn't mean much," Sora says. "It's not like you go out and buy scammy junk knowing that it's scammy junk." "For your information, I've been learning a lot of stuff about not getting scammed lately." "Okay, fine, you might not have just spent it on scammy junk," Sora concedes. "but that's beside the point. Are you going to buy my silence or not?" Shun lets out a long sigh and says, "If I have to, I guess." He gets out his wallet and forks over the cash, thinking sadly of all the occult paraphernalia he'll no longer be able to buy with it. Effective or not, a lot of it is really cool-looking and fun to play around with. After Sora's left the esper creeps out from under his bed. I tried to warn you, the esper says. "You're not going to leave me forever, are you?" Shun asks. That would really suck as well as meaning that he gave up half his allowance for nothing. Of course not. She thinks I'm just an ordinary cat. Shun breathes out a sigh of relief, before a thought occurs to him. "Why didn't you just teleport away?" Shun asks. Teleportation has a three-minute cool down, the esper replies, like he's stating an obvious fact. Besides it wasn't so bad in the end, was it? "It was!" Shun objects, "I had to fork over half my allowance so my sister didn't snitch on me. Why didn't you help me deal with her?" De-escalating sibling conflicts is not a topic I'm qualified to give advice on. Quite the opposite really. the esper pauses for a moment before adding, I am sorry that you got exhorted on my account though. "And I'm sorry I didn't put you down when you first asked," Shun says, realizing that he should probably apologize for that. "Let's move on, okay?" * The room is large and filled with dozens of turbines steadily churning with an unseen force. Kusuo sits at that room's center eating a bag of m&ms and reading a book while telekinetically generating enough electricity to power a small nation. Or at least he would be if these turbines were hooked up to anything. The Black Swan Project has been spending the last few months running proof of concept tests for telekinesis-based energy generation while they search for a chance to try powering an area with it for real. The process for this has only gotten more complicated as the test runs have gone on, not because the results were unpromising but rather that they are so promising that every major player in the electricity industry has teamed-up to smother the project in red tape after recognizing it as a threat to the field as they know and dominate it. This is much better than Kusuo ever imagined his life as a debatably human test subject to be. He's only been opened up so the scientists can look around in him a few times and, given that he has to be sedated to the point of unconsciousness before anyone can break his skin and any given sedative only seems to work on him once, there's a hard limit on how many more times that can happen. Most of the scientists treat him well, even if their kindness is one born of fear. He should be, if not happy, then at least satisfied with his situation given how much it is exceeding his expectations. However, only six months into his new life, Kusuo's relief is already fading into unbearable brain-melting boredom. It doesn't help that for all the Black Swan Project's research on him, they've made remarkably little progress in understanding how his powers work. Apparently he's such a freak of nature that any and all attempts to reconcile them with known science run up against an unyielding resistance. The only thing they've managed to figure out that's been in any way helpful to him is that if he wears germanium jewelry his telepathy stops working. The reasons for this are unknown and the practical applications of this knowledge are few and far between, but Kusuo has taken to wearing a germanium ring when he wants some relative peace and quiet. It's much easier to enjoy a nice book when he doesn't have to hear the thoughts of every other person in the building. He reaches the end of his book, closes it and uses apport to swap it out for another. Some of the scientists have brought books to read when they aren't working and as the reason for their current employment Kusuo feels no guilt about borrowing them. He gives them back when he's finished, of course, and would give them back sooner if he was requested to, but he's such a fast reader that most of the time the scientists don't even have a chance to notice that their books are gone. Kusuo looks at the book in his hands. It's one he read already. Well then, he'll just swap it out again- -dang it, he's already read this one too. A voice from in front of him says, "hello there, Kusuo." Kusuo snaps his gaze upwards to see Kusuke standing in front of him. Go away, I'm busy, Kusuo says. "Really? You appear quite idle, listless even," Kusuke says, tilting his head with a distinctly un-Kusuke-like concern, "though I suppose that I can't discount the possibility that you're using your powers for something not immediately obvious such as rotating all the turbines in here perhaps as some experimental attempt at energy generation." You're not Kusuke, Kusuo says, because now that he's paying closer attention it's clear as day his visitor isn't. He certainly seems to have "borrowed" his outfit from Kusuke's wardrobe but he's had to roll up the sleeves and pant legs due to being significantly shorter (despite his valiant attempts to make up for the difference with platform shoes) and his eyes are the deep purple of a ripe plum while Kusuke's are a glacial green. What's more, the grin currently spreading across his visitor's face is a far cry from the mask-like, serene smile Kusuke always wears. "That's right! I'm not. And do you remember who I am?" Not-Kusuke says, leaning forward eagerly, a hand pressed to his chest. Kusuo doesn't think he does, until a memory burrows up from the depths of his mind where it had long laid buried. Asumi, he says, what are you doing here? "You helped me get through what would otherwise definitely have been one of the worst periods of my life. Even when you left me in the end that was because of how you protected me, wasn't it?" Asumi says, smiling warmly at Kusuo. "In short you saved me, and I'd like to return the favor." Kusuo snorts, I don't need saving. Didn't you hear? It was my choice to come here and let them put me to whatever use they thought best. "If you truly want to stay here, I will respect that. However, given my knowledge of the situation, I find it hard to believe that your hand wasn't at least somewhat forced." That doesn't matter. Kusuo says. Whether he wanted to or not, he's already committed to doing this and it would be wrong to back out now. However, he does feel bad about rejecting Asumi's offer after his one-time almost-friend went to all the trouble of coming here, so he extends a hand and says, here, I'll take you home. "With all due respect I'd prefer that you didn't." Asumi says, "I'm not interested in returning home at this point of time. I'm trying to run away, you see. Coming to save you was but a momentary detour. My parents' relationship has been especially rocky as of late and I'm rather tired of being used as a bargaining chip in their disputes. I'm sure you understand given the circumstances that lead you to end up here." Kusuo does not bring up the gulf of difference between an acrimonious marriage and World War III. Instead he asks, Where are you going to go? "I don't have a particular destination in mind but I have a list of haikyo locations I'd like to visit. Mostly various abandoned amusement parks since I've been researching those as of late. It's quite fascinating how the attractions are allowed to remain standing for so long after the park's closure, even as the ravages of time transform them into grand, rotting monuments to failure because those in charge don't want to go to the trouble of tearing them down, perhaps in the futile hope that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the spark will someday return and the park can go back to how it was its heyday, as brief and distant that was." Asumi says and adds blithely, "They remind me of my parents' marriage." Sneaking into abandoned amusement park sounds dangerous, Kusuo says, because it is. Asumi could have a rotting structure collapse onto him, or cut himself on something rusty, or fall through a rotted board and get stuck there because no one is around to get him out, or fall victim to one of the multitude of other awful fates that can so easily befall an ordinary person alone in a derelict place where no one expects them to be. And that's not Kusuo's only concern. Besides isn't that trespassing? he adds, somewhat hypocritically. "Don't worry," Asumi says blithely, "I'm endeavoring to take all the proper precautions which reduces the risks involved greatly." I see, Kusuo says his concerns not at all allayed, What are you doing for money? "I took my father's stashed gambling winnings and I've been making various sacrifices to stretch them as far as possible. Therefore, I hope you forgive me for coming see you in such a disheveled state." Asumi hasn't showered since before he left home three days ago. That explains his oily look and the smell that followed him in. It's fine. I'm not letting you leave without taking a shower though. "Is it that bad?" Kusuo nods. You did bike a lot. Take some of my clothes too. They'll fit you better than my brother's. As Asumi cleans himself in Kusuo's little-used shower Kusuo considers what to do next. Obviously taking Asumi back home would be the most responsible course of action even though it goes against Asumi's wishes. What Asumi is planning sounds dangerous and probably illegal. It would be irresponsible to leave him to it and even more irresponsible to support him in this endeavor. On the other hand, even if Kusuo takes him back that doesn't mean he won't just try to do this again later. Sure, his parents will probably try harder to keep him from doing it again but Asumi's always been too stubborn for his own good so he might well manage to anyway. If Kusuo's with him then at least he'll be able make sure Touma doesn't get hurt or found running afoul of the law. It'd certainly be a better use of his then what he's doing now, wasting his time demonstrating endless proofs of a concept that he's already proved more than adequately. By the time Asumi's emerged from the shower, dressed in a spare outfit of Kusuo's, Kusuo has reached a decision. I'm coming with you, he says. Asumi's eyes light up and his thoughts start racing even faster. "That's wonderful to hear, Kusuo!" he says aloud clasping his hands around Kusuo's own, "I will endeavor to ensure that this experience is exceedingly enjoyable for the both of us!" Thanks, Kusuo says, as a brighter feeling than anything he's felt in months bubbles up inside him, I will too.
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not an island

chapter 9

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