After dinner, under Saiki Kusuo's icy gaze, Peter Parker, having made plans with Saiki Kurumi to visit again soon, contentedly left the Saiki household.
"Honestly, don't just casually agree to let that troublesome guy come to our house. Mom, have you forgotten the information Kusuke gave us about the street flower?"
Saiki Kusuo protested to the overly enthusiastic Saiki Kurumi.
Accused, Saiki Kurumi looked aggrieved. "But Mom wants to see Kusuo live happily like a normal high school student. You've always had to work so hard to hide your psychic powers, Kusuo. Now that you've finally found someone like you, try opening up. You don't have to hide so diligently anymore, Kusuo."
[I want Kusuo to smile.]
[I want Kusuo to stop being so cold.]
[I want Kusuo to have friends of his own.]
Saiki Kurumi's inner hopes were conveyed to Saiki Kusuo without reservation.
(So, if it weren't for Mom, Kusuke and I would probably be in agonizing pain, and destroy the world.)
As for their father, this embarrassing figure wasn't even within the brothers' consideration.
(I feel a little sorry for that guy who doesn't have parental love.)
A smile, like a naive elementary school student showing off to his classmates, appeared on his otherwise expressionless face.
"Fine, fine. For Mom's sake, I'll turn a blind eye to that guy."
The next day, as Saiki Kusuo expected, he was once again cornered in the restroom by Andrew and his gang of bullies.
Seemingly still harboring resentment over Saiki Kusuo and Peter Parker escaping from him, Andrew didn't waste any words and directly grabbed Saiki Kusuo.
"Kid, you won't escape today."
(It seems this group won't let it go. The street flower seems to be dealing with an incident in another district and can't come to school for now. Good, that way no one will interrupt him solving this problem.)
Saiki Kusuo planned in his mind as Andrew, holding him, swung his fist.
With a thud, Saiki Kusuo was knocked to the ground.
Then, the group swarmed him, kicking and punching him.
Saiki Kusuo curled up in pain. Despite desperately protecting his vital organs, he was still beaten black and blue by these thugs, eventually losing consciousness.
Having vented his anger, Andrew took a wallet from Saiki Kusuo's pocket, counted the pathetically few bills inside, and looked disgusted.
"Tch, a poor bastard. What a waste of my time."
Flush.
The sound of a toilet flushing came from another stall. A freckled boy with messy, curly hair walked out. He inadvertently looked up and met Andrew's gaze.
The fierce look made the curly-haired boy shiver. He stammered, "S-sorry, I'll leave now," and fled from the restroom in a panic.
Even after returning to the classroom, he still looked terrified. His expression was so contorted that his deskmate became concerned.
"What's wrong, Ethan? You look like you've seen a ghost."
The curly-haired boy, called Ethan, nodded vigorously. "It's exactly like seeing a ghost! I just saw Andrew and those thugs in the restroom, huddled around a toilet, muttering to themselves."
His deskmate: "What?"
Ethan: "Not only that, I saw Andrew pick up a used piece of toilet paper and stuff it into his pocket. Oh, God, that image was absolutely disgusting."
His deskmate: "…Ethan, I don't think you saw a ghost."
Ethan: "Then what was it?"
His deskmate: "Maybe you were possessed by a ghost."
Ethan: "???"
After that, Andrew and his gang went to have a big meal, then used the "toilet paper" as payment and were arrested by the police and sent to the youth center for a few days.
Saiki Kusuo, the instigator of all this, didn't feel happy about solving the problem.
Because as soon as he got home, his older brother, Saiki Kusuke, sent him a video call.
"Good evening, Mom."
The handsome and intelligent young man, with an IQ of over 200, politely greeted his mother and, as always, ignored his father, who had greeted him.
"Good evening, Kusuke," Saiki Kurumi responded warmly.
After the greeting, Saiki Kusuke turned his gaze to Saiki Kusuo.
"Good evening, Kusuo. How's life in New York? Are you getting used to it?"
"Thanks to you, every day is a living hell." Saiki Kusuo, who wasn't good at dealing with Saiki Kusuke, sighed.
"Hmm, what's with that expression? Could it be that on the first day of school, that street flower discovered your psychic powers and has been clinging to you? And because you look so easy to bully, some bullies targeted you, and you barely managed to resolve the situation, making you feel exhausted both physically and mentally?"
Saiki Kusuo: "…"
(Kusuke, did you get a hold of the script? And that counter word, "flower," is broken. What exactly do you think the street flower is?)
"Okay, jokes aside. I'm specifically looking for Kusuo today. Let's have a competition, Kusuo."
(Your train of thought jumps around too much.)
"So, let's play rock-paper-scissors."
(Don't make decisions on your own.)
"Rock-paper-scissors!"
With that, the brothers simultaneously extended their hands.
Saiki Kusuke played scissors, and Saiki Kusuo played rock.
"I lost again? How frustrating. 0 wins, 4532 losses."
(If you're so frustrated, then don't show that perverted, satisfied expression.)
It's worth mentioning that the seemingly cheerful Saiki Kusuke was a complete masochist. He loved challenging his younger brother to competitions, and although he never won, he enjoyed it immensely. He was the person Saiki Kusuo least wanted to interact with.
After the childish competition, Saiki Kusuke finally remembered the real reason for the call.
"By the way, Kusuo. I have some bad news."
(Of course, you never have good news when you contact me.)
"It's about an arsonist. Apparently, he's committed crimes in several places and hasn't been caught yet."
(So, has that arsonist fled to Queens?)
"Bingo, you got it. For Mom's safety, I'll leave that guy to you, Kusuo."
(If you know the arsonist's whereabouts, just deal with him. I don't believe there are any blind spots in Queens that you can't monitor.)
"No way! Dealing with a mere arsonist myself would be beneath me. Besides, I'm a busy man. I don't have time to deal with such trash."
Saiki Kusuke spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. After chatting a bit more, a beautiful and sexy woman appeared beside Saiki Kusuke.
"Doctor, it's time."
"Alright, I have to go to work now. When I'm done, I'll challenge you again, Kusuo."
(I hope you stay busy forever and don't have time to bother me.)
Preoccupied with the arsonist and unable to sleep well, Saiki Kusuo woke up the next day with a splitting headache.
For the teenager who, in his over ten years of life, had only ever suffered from hay fever, this was not a good sign.
Because a sudden headache often meant something bad was about to happen.
Saiki Kusuo had the power of precognition, but this ability was uncontrollable and only showed him bad things. When this psychic power activated, he would get a headache.
Sure enough, as he rubbed his throbbing temples, a horrific scene appeared in his mind.
A raging fire engulfed an entire building, and people trapped by the flames screamed in agony. Although it was only a fleeting image, Saiki Kusuo understood that it was an accident with a significant number of casualties.
Was the perpetrator the arsonist Kusuke had mentioned? Then, before the fire started, he had to find this guy.
Saiki Kusuo teleported to an office building. It was peak commuting time, and the various emotions conveyed by the people swarming towards the building made him quite uncomfortable.
(It's too noisy. There are too many people. Using telepathy won't get me any useful information. And the precognitive image didn't show anything about the arsonist. I have no choice but to contact the street flower first. He's familiar with this area, so he can help me search.)
Saiki Kusuo established a mental link with Peter Parker. Peter Parker, who had been sleeping in, suddenly woke up from his dream.
"What? A fire! An arsonist!"
It was as if a voice was constantly reminding him in his mind. He immediately grabbed his suit from the closet.
Saiki Kusuo then went to the top floor of the office building. This area was sparsely populated, making it suitable for him to use his abilities.
There were too many people to communicate with individually. To avoid mistakes, he took off his limiters, then broadcast his thoughts to everyone in the entire office building.
(This building will soon be on fire. Please evacuate immediately.)
By directly imprinting the thought into their minds, he created the awareness that a fire would occur, thus preventing the disaster. Even if they realized something was amiss afterward, they wouldn't suspect him.
Of course, if there was a risk of things escalating, Saiki Kusuo wouldn't hesitate to use his psychic powers to brainwash these people, nipping the problem in the bud.
The people who received the message began to evacuate quickly. Peter Parker, having changed into his suit, swung around the building.
He was searching for the arsonist's trail, and it was clear that he and Saiki Kusuo had the same idea: to directly eliminate the root of the problem.
"But where exactly is this guy, and is there really going to be a fire?"
(Don't question my abilities. Just find the criminal.)
Saiki Kusuo used his clairvoyance to monitor Peter Parker's every move while simultaneously using telepathy to search for the criminal's trail within the office building.
The large-scale evacuation made it easier for him to use his powers, but even so, he still couldn't find the criminal's location.
(Could it be that the criminal isn't here? If that's the case, then he should have prepared the arson tools in this building. If I can find these tools, I can use psychometry to access the residual thoughts of the criminal on the tools, see the criminal's appearance, and make the search much easier.)
(So, X-ray vision.)
Thus, Saiki Kusuo found the bombs the criminal had left on each floor.
(He put bombs on every floor. Is this guy an employee of the office building?)
Taking off the transparent gloves he was wearing, Saiki Kusuo touched the dangerous objects, which he had already disabled.
An image appeared in his mind: a middle-aged man in a security guard uniform, taking advantage of his patrol to install the homemade bombs in the corners of the office building.
(I have to say, the safety awareness of the people in this office building is worrying.)
Having obtained the criminal's appearance, the subsequent search was much easier.
When he saw that the criminal was observing the office building's situation not far from Peter Parker, Saiki Kusuo didn't hesitate to establish a mental link between the two.
[What's going on? Why are the people in the building coming out? Did they discover something?]
[Impossible! My plan is so perfect! I even went undercover in this building for two whole months to avoid being discovered, and that damn bald middle-aged man deducted half of my salary.]
Peter Parker: "…"
"The word 'undercover' isn't used like that, buddy!"
With a whoosh, spider-silk stuck to the unassuming criminal. Under the criminal's shocked gaze, Peter Parker wrapped him up with spider-silk.