I’m a Telepath, but It’s Tough Because the Cool Beautiful Girl Next to Me Is Having Pink Thoughts

In the afternoon class, my telepathy was working well. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say it was working poorly in the sense that it wasn’t working at all, but either way, it was convenient for me.

Thanks to that, we weren’t subjected to the obscene video displays like in the morning, and we were able to enjoy fulfilling learning. I was good at math, so it didn’t really matter to me… but I’ll keep that to myself.

Well, one thing led to another, and having finished my student duties, I was about to head home early. My only close friend, Chihiro, was in club activities, and I had no plans for after school, so I was making my way home with the speed of a race walker.

…But as I arrived at the station, a new problem arose.

“Ugh… here too?”

Standing in front of the ticket gate, I let out a small complaint.

“Ugh… work is such a pain.”

“I’m just so tired of everything…”

“I want to go home…”

“Wow, that girl is cute, I wanna do her.”

“That guy… drop dead!”

“Ew, don’t cut in line.”

My telepathy has returned. Voices are flooding in instantly. The flow is erratic; sometimes I can hear them, and sometimes I can’t, but why is it coming back here?

Train stations are basically filled with people’s negative emotions. Well, when I think about it, that’s only natural. There’s probably no one who commutes or goes to school feeling cheerful. It’s not that time of day now, but even so, I don’t often see people riding the train with a spring in their step on a weekday evening.

In addition, it seems that the more people there are, the more frustration builds up, and their inner voice becomes even more chaotic than usual. It’s inevitable since a wide variety of people are mixed together, but because all those voices flood in, it’s incredibly exhausting. That’s why I hate this constitution.

…What should I do? Even though it’s evening, it’s about to be rush hour. It might be relatively empty now, but it’s going to be packed from the next station on. And if that happens, their inner voice will get even louder. This could be really stressful.

But it’s ridiculous to wait for this telepathy to subside. I’ve had this ability for over a decade, but I’ve never been able to control it freely. There’s no telling when it will stop, and it feels like I’m being tossed around by this ability I hate, which I don’t like at all.

I don’t have any particular reason to rush back, but… well, I guess I’ll just head back normally.

I swipe my pass and go through the ticket gate. Immediately after, people are all mixed up, and I almost bump into a few of them. Each time, I’m cursed out in their minds, but I curse back in mine. Of course, they can’t hear me. This ability really isn’t fair.

—

“Ugh…”

How many times did I say that line today? Another new problem has fallen upon me. To cut to the chase, Tatsuki Rio was on the train.

She was leaning against the door, gazing out the window that was still stopped, with her usual expressionless face. And I was positioned in front of the seats nearby. Because there were quite a few people, I ended up being very close to her.

I knew we were on the same line and heading in the same direction, but somehow we’d never actually run into each other until now. Even if I saw her, I’d consciously get on a different car, so it’s only natural.

But this time, perhaps because I was distracted by the telepathy, I didn’t notice her presence until the very last moment. As a result, I ended up getting in the same car she was in.

Seriously. Today really isn’t my day.

Well, fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it’s so crowded that I can’t hear her inner thoughts very well. On the other hand, it’s so noisy, like being in the middle of a concert venue, that it’s not exactly relaxing either.

For now, I decided to ignore her. I don’t know where she’s getting off, but a few tens of minutes wasn’t too long.

I distracted myself, trying to drown out the surrounding inner chatter as the train swayed along.

Perhaps that’s why it took me a little while to notice the change. Specifically, I didn’t notice the telepathy, which could be described as someone’s scream.

Wondering what was happening, I looked around the car, which had somehow become packed. With everyone pushing and shoving, my field of vision wasn’t very wide. But even so, something that was clearly strange caught my eye.

Tatsuki Rio’s expression was different. It was still stiff as usual, but somehow even more tense than normal.

Watching closely, I quickly realized the cause.

A middle-aged man standing just behind her had his hand creeping along her back. In other words───

“H…elp…”

A faint SOS, almost like a sob inside her mind. There was no way anyone else could hear it, but my strange ability did.

“Hey, old man.”

In the next instant, I grabbed the man’s hand that was creeping behind Tatsuki and shouted with all the authority I could muster.