I’m a Telepath, but It’s Tough Because the Cool Beautiful Girl Next to Me Is Having Pink Thoughts - Chapter 30

After a break of three or four days, school life had returned.

Even though it was only a short gap, it felt like I hadn’t been to school in ages. Maybe it was different for people in club activities, but for someone like me who only comes to school for classes, it felt that way.

Apparently, if too much time passes, I can forget what it feels like to be back. Maybe that’s just me.

Today, my telepathy wasn’t working, maybe because of that or maybe because I’d been lazy, my brain woke up slower than usual.

A world without stray thoughts feels quiet. Especially for someone like me, who no one talks to, life feels even emptier. It’s not that it’s bad. I kind of like it.

Lately, misunderstandings about Tatsuki have kept things a bit more interesting, at least.

Standing in front of the classroom door, I thought about that. If my telepathy worked right now, noisy thoughts would be flying around like crazy.

I slid the door open… and then,

“Good morning, Itsumi.”

“Um, good… morning…?”

Someone greeted me out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was Chihiro, but the voice was different, so my reply sounded awkward.

“What’s with that face? You look like you’ve seen something rare.”

The guy laughed at my probably dumb expression and walked into a group of boys.

His name… what was it? Tanaka? Suzuki? I can hardly remember the names of people I don’t pay attention to.

So when someone like that suddenly talks to me, I’m caught off guard.

I probably didn’t even know him. I recognized his face, and I think I saw him talking about me with other boys before… but I never interacted with him directly.

What could have made him suddenly talk to me—

“Ah, I-Itsumi-kun…? Good morning.”

“Itsumi-san, good morning!”

“O-oh… hey, Itsumi.”

“…Huh?”

One after another, our classmates greeted me. They all looked a little awkward, but tried to act like it was normal.

What’s going on here?

It’s times like these that being without telepathy is annoying. Why does something weird like this only happen when it’s not working?

“Whoa, you’ve got a pretty dumb look on your face.”

I froze as that irritatingly familiar voice spoke behind me. I reluctantly turned to look.

“Are you confused because our classmates you’ve never talked to suddenly greeted you?”

“…Anyone could tell that if they were watching.”

Kisara said this like a detective revealing the solution to a mystery with her hands behind her back. She smiled calmly and stared at me. Without telepathy, she’s… really creepy.

“Well, yeah. But it’s not that surprising. Someone from the same class is just greeting you.”

“Yeah, I guess…”

Sure, that’s true… but reality feels different. Just because someone is in the same space doesn’t mean we interact. And when someone I thought I’d never interact with suddenly talks to me… It’s confusing.

I wanted to argue that, but looking at Kisara’s calm smile made me suspicious. She probably knows something. I didn’t want to get played with, so I stayed quiet.

“But, well. Just because you suddenly got popular doesn’t mean you should get full of yourself.”

“Of course not.”

“Ah, of course not. You’re only borrowing Rio-chan’s fame, after all.”

Her words made me frown. That name had come out of nowhere.

“Why did you just bring up Tatsuki… san?”

“Eh? Are you serious?”

Kisara reacted dramatically. Even without telepathy, I could feel her teasing attitude loud and clear.

“…”

“W-whoa, you really are serious…? …So, you get it, right? You’re close friends with Rio-chan.”

…I didn’t deny it. But knowing that was basically taken for granted by the class made me feel weird.

“And Rio-chan is popular, right? But she’s like a flower on a high peak, basically out of reach for everyone. So, since you’re somehow close to her… people who can’t reach her try to get on your good side first.”

…What the? That’s some kind of gross, adult-like strategy. Even if they tried to cozy up to me, there’s no way Tatsuki would fall for it… No, maybe there is a tiny chance, but still… Why go through such a roundabout way?

“You look like you don’t understand. Well, anyway, that’s probably the main reason you’re getting all this attention right now.”

“…, Wait, are you saying you’re like that too?”

“Huh? Well, I can’t say it’s completely unrelated, but that’s not my goal… oh, I haven’t even gotten to the main point yet.”

I could only stay silent… but after a moment, I muttered something just to fill the gap. That made Kisara raise her voice like she’d suddenly remembered something.

“I’m Rio-chan’s friend, you know. So I want to meet her friends’ friends too.”

She narrowed her eyes dramatically and stepped closer. I tried to back away… but then,

“Yo! Rio-chan, good morning.”

“…Morning.”

Kisara stepped aside just a little, and Tatsuki stood there exactly as she said. She responded quietly to her greeting.

“Ah, um… Itsumi-san. Good morning.”

“Um, ah, yeah.”

When I turned around, my eyes met Tatsuki’s, and we exchanged greetings. Her energy was completely different from Kisara’s. Our classmates would probably get suspicious again… but that wasn’t what I needed to worry about right now.

“…By the way, Rio-chan. I was thinking of having lunch with Itsumi-kun today. How about it?”

“!? Wha… what are you saying— “Eh, really!?””

I tried to cut in immediately, but Tatsuki’s calm response completely drowned me out.

“Yeah, I thought it’d be nice to talk properly sometime.”

“I-I think that’s fine too. I… agree.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Seeing Tatsuki’s reaction, I couldn’t argue. Without asking me, it was decided as if it were completely natural that we would have lunch together.

(…What the heck is going on?)

I whispered to Kisara, careful that Tatsuki wouldn’t hear.

(Well, it’s fine, isn’t it? As long as I get to see her smile. I’ll even call Chihiro-kun later. It should be okay as long as it’s not hostile, right?)

“Anyway, let’s leave that aside. How about we go pick some flowers?”

“Eh?”

With a mischievous grin, she whispered that, and she ended up trailing after Tatsuki as usual.

…Somehow, I had a feeling this was going to be troublesome.