I’m a Telepath, but It’s Tough Because the Cool Beautiful Girl Next to Me Is Having Pink Thoughts - Chapter 34

After that, my memory just cuts out, as if it’s been erased. Did I collapse somewhere? Did I go back to everyone? Did I even make it to the afternoon classes? Which train did I ride home on?

I can’t recall any of it. The whole stretch of time is missing.

All I know is that when I came to, I was already standing at my front door, unlocking it.

My head felt unbearably heavy, as if it were being shaken around inside. I collapsed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

When I finally woke up again, the sun had already circled the sky once. A brand-new day was shining through the window. It was clear, cloudless, almost too bright to be real. The kind of weather where I half expect to hear little birds chirping if I listen closely.

But instead of feeling better, my body only felt worse.

“39.9 degrees… huh.”

I repeated the number that appeared on the thermometer and let out a long sigh.

The moment I got up, my skull throbbed with a dull pain like it was about to split open. And now this. A fever so high I wondered if I should call an ambulance. Every breath I exhaled felt scorching hot, like I was breathing in the air of a sauna.

Was I sick with something terrible? At first, I thought so. But no, that wasn’t the cause. There was another reason, and it was obvious.

“───── ▚█▚█▟█▜█.”

A flood of warped, garbled sounds crashed through my head. It was like my brain was being overrun by static. Like worms squirming their way in and taking control.

At first, it seemed like meaningless noise. But when I listened carefully, I realized each sound actually held meaning. They were real words, just all jumbled together and layered on top of each other until they were impossible to sort out.

Yes. This was telepathy.

This ability of mine swings wildly depending on my condition.

Sometimes I can’t hear a single thought. Other times I can. Sometimes I only pick up nearby voices, and other times I can hear the emotions of people thousands of miles away.

And right now, my telepathy was working at its best. Which meant absolute hell for me.

I’ve been through this before, but rarely ever this bad. It felt like my brain might actually burn out and kill me.

…Though honestly, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing at this point.

I still hadn’t told my landlady about my condition. Or about yesterday… more specifically, about Kisara Meri.

From the way she acted. She’s suspicious, unpredictable, almost theatrical, and I couldn’t help but think she might be the same kind of person as me.

Honestly, it felt less like a guess and more like a certainty.

The papers my landlady gave me had said things like “Some have abilities. Infiltration is possible.”

Looking back with that in mind, all those comments Meri made could very well have come from her being an ability user herself, the ones that felt like she’d been watching us the whole time.

If a power like reading minds exists, as ridiculous as it sounds, then it wouldn’t be strange if things like X-ray vision or clairvoyance existed too.

On top of that, she made no effort to hide her hostility.

I still don’t know if she’s connected to those people or not. But if she is or even just a little, then I need to cut ties immediately and get out of this city.

There’s no telling how many other ability users she has on her side. Better to overdo caution than risk staying put.

…But living like that and always running is exhausting.

I’ve already burned through every contact and every lead just to end up in this city. To keep running, it feels honestly impossible. Sometimes I wonder if it would just be easier to give up completely.

But that would mean betraying everything and everyone. That’s not a choice I can make so easily.

I roll over, my head heavy, and catch sight of the clock. The first period had already started.

I hadn’t even called in absent from school.

Was Tatsuki worried about me right now?

Fragments of yesterday drift back through the haze. I can’t remember what she said to me, but her face, especially those eyes, was like a worried little puppy. As it burned itself into my memory.

Thinking back, my impression of her had been a complete one-eighty.

At first, she struck me as cold, sharp-eyed, almost intimidating… and yet, she was nothing but pink daydreams and a hopeless closet pervert inside her head.

That was my first impression.

But now, what I feel for her can’t be brushed off with something as simple as the word like.

…I don’t even know when it started.

Was it that night we spent under the same roof?

The night her poker face slipped and she showed me a smile so innocent it caught me off guard?

Or was it the day I saw her moved to tears by the play as her face lit with quiet emotion?

Maybe it was the moment she herself turned those feelings toward me?

… I don’t know.

All I know is that I can’t hide these feelings anymore.

…But I’ve long understood that they’ll never come true.

As long as I am who I am, there’s no future where she and I can be together.

This isn’t a romantic comedy. I know that better than anyone.

And I’ve already moved past the stage of despairing over it or wallowing in grief. I overcame that long ago.

So now, all I should do is focus on resting and on planning my next escape.

…But even so.

Even now, a part of my mind keeps drifting to her with my thoughts scrambled by telepathy’s noise. To her face. And to the words of farewell I’ll one day have to give her.

—

I was dreaming.

No, maybe it was real. I couldn’t tell. But no, this had to be a dream.

In the kitchen, the one I’ve never once used, Tatsuki was standing there, moving briskly as she prepared some kind of meal.

It was a sight that could never happen in reality.

“Tatsuki.”

When I called her name, she turned toward me as if to say What is it? Her expression was a mix of surprise and shyness.

She looked so real.

I pushed myself up from the futon, my body weak and unsteady.

Her mouth opened in alarm, her face full of worry, and for some reason, that only made her seem even more precious to me.

Ah… if only, at least in this dream…

“I like you.”

Her eyes went wide. Then, as if she had swallowed those words whole, heat bloomed across her cheeks until her face was flushed red.

Her lips moved and formed words, but the ringing in my ears drowned everything out.

…Still, this was one incredibly well-made dream.

It was almost too real.

My vision dimmed as drowsiness dragged me down again, and my consciousness slipped away into the deep.