I’m a Telepath, but It’s Tough Because the Cool Beautiful Girl Next to Me Is Having Pink Thoughts - Chapter 37

I couldn’t bring myself to fall asleep again.

It wasn’t just the dull headache that kept me from drifting off. Some part of me felt I deserved to keep suffering like this, and that thought only deepened my self-loathing. Pulling the blanket over my head, I stared blankly out the window.

The bright morning sky had vanished as if it had been a lie. Thick, heavy clouds spread endlessly, and the rain poured down in sheets as though to wash everything away.

…I should’ve lent her an umbrella.

Then again, after what I said earlier, she’d probably never borrow one from me anyway.

Maybe I should’ve waited a little longer before telling her the truth. After all, it wasn’t like the organization’s pursuers were already at my doorstep. It was possible there were more of them hiding nearby, but one or two days wouldn’t have made much difference… right?

Pathetic thoughts and ones that weren’t like me swirled in my head.

I’d said goodbye so many times before. I should’ve been used to it by now. So why was I still clinging to such weak and selfish feelings?

No, maybe it was because I was weak and worthless that I kept running from them in the first place.

The more I thought about it, the more I sank into self-hatred.

“…Well, I don’t think your choice was wrong.”

The landlady said gently.

I had called her earlier, and she’d come over. She’d already seen Tatsuki rushing off, and it seemed she had planned to visit me anyway, but that didn’t matter.

She’d heard a little from Tatsuki about why I was absent, but I explained it again myself. That I was sick, that my telepathy was spiraling out of control, and that someone was nearby from the organization.

My voice was clumsy and sluggish, probably because my body and mind were both worn down. But the landlady listened carefully, without a word of complaint.

“As for that person you suspect, my investigation didn’t turn up anything. Maybe I missed something, though.”

Her usual easygoing air was gone, and it was replaced by a rare and serious expression.

“Then we need to get out of here quickly.”

If even her skills couldn’t uncover the truth, that only meant the agent was skilled enough to slip through. All the more reason to move, and fast. I couldn’t afford to sit around in this pathetic state. I needed to prepare, to be ready.

Pushing down the voice inside me that screamed to stay, I told myself that was the only choice. It seemed that telepaths weren’t very good at recognizing their own feelings.

“Just a moment.”

She stopped me as I tried to sit up.

“In your condition? No way. If you leave like this, they’ll catch you the moment they find you.”

She was right. Of course, she was right. It wasn’t like I hadn’t realized it myself.

But how could I put it? I felt like I had to get out of this place immediately. If I didn’t, I was going to sink deeper and deeper into some bottomless swamp.

“You seem to be mentally exhausted right now. Telepathy must be tough, but you should lie down for a bit.”

I let myself sink back into the bed, just as she urged.

The landlady brushed my bangs aside and gently smoothed my hair back. I didn’t know why, but the touch filled me with a deep sense of comfort.

“I went through a phase like that, too. It’s part of being young.”

She often spoke that way, like a senior offering advice. Maybe she wanted me to feel less alone. I wasn’t sure. In truth, she wasn’t that much older than me. Probably not even ten years apart.

And yet, the difference between our lives was enormous. If I had been born into an ordinary life, like she had, maybe things would’ve been different.

So don’t come so close. Don’t try to understand me.

─But I’d already said that to her more than once before. This time, it would just be childish resentment. So I kept it to myself.

I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to take me.

Shutting out the noise of telepathy, I let my mind drift into nothingness.

—

I dreamed again.

This time, I couldn’t tell if it really was a dream. It felt as though the events were happening right before my eyes, like something from the past, or maybe something still waiting in the future.

In the dream, I wasn’t myself. I was no one.

From a god’s-eye view, I simply watched the scene unfold.

And there Tatsuki was.

She sat curled up with her knees to her chest, her expression dark and heavy as she stared into the black floor beneath her.

To think she would appear even in my dreams… the thought made me want to laugh bitterly, though I was still trapped inside the dream. And then, in the corner of my vision, something strange appeared.

A black hand.

It writhed like a tentacle, stretching out from the endless darkness behind her. More and more of them reached forward, wrapping themselves around her where she sat.

“Tatsuki!”

I called her name, but she didn’t even flinch.

No, maybe it was worse than that. My voice hadn’t come out at all.

I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond. Of course it wouldn’t… this was a dream from above, a vision where I had no power to act.

All I could do was stand there, helpless, and watch as the darkness swallowed her whole.

“───”

For a moment, I thought I heard something.

Her lips moved faintly, as if she had spoken.

But I couldn’t make out the words. The distance was too far, and reading her lips was impossible.

Meanwhile, the black hands closed in around her.

They covered almost her entire body, until only her eyes remained visible through the dark that engulfed her… at that moment.

“─────”

Her eyes snapped open. At the same moment, tears that had gathered slipped down her cheeks in a thin trail.

She seemed to say something again. But just like before, I couldn’t hear a single word.

Still, it felt somehow like a desperate cry for help.

And then, as if to replace the silence.

────Hiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn!!

A piercing, high-pitched sound, like a shriek of feedback, tore through my head. It echoed all around inside my skull, and my consciousness was ripped away from the dream in an instant.

—

I jolted upright.

At some point, the room’s lights had been turned off, and now only the faint glow of the moon streamed through the window, dimly illuminating the space.

The landlady was nowhere to be seen.

A glance at the clock on the wall told me that midnight had already passed. She had probably gone back to her own room.

My whole body was drenched, as if I had been caught in a downpour. Sweat clung to my skin, my forehead so wet that droplets were sliding down.

The dream, I still remember it.

No, I knew it wasn’t just a dream. My gut told me that much.

Something or another me was clawing desperately at the back of my heart, filling my mind with an uneasy and restless urgency.

“…Tatsuki.”

I whispered her name into the empty air.

Closing my eyes, covering my ears, I let myself sink into the chaotic storm of telepathic voices swirling around me.

“””───────”””

The sheer flood of information nearly drove me mad, but I didn’t stop pushing through the noise, parting the waves of thought. The deepest part of me refused to let go.

Scenes flashed before my eyes. Countless voices called out. I pressed on, guided only by instinct, wandering through the torrent for what felt like an eternity. And then,

“───Hel─p…”

All the blood drained from my face.

“Tatsuki!”

The word tore from my throat as I leapt off the bed.

My vision swayed, my balance faltered, but I forced my body forward as I was crawling toward the door.

The rain still hadn’t stopped. If anything, it was coming down harder than before.

Even so, I didn’t hesitate. I rushed out of my room.

I didn’t know how things had turned out this way. Maybe it was my fault. But it wasn’t out of guilt or because I felt I had to take responsibility.

I simply wanted to save her. She had cried for help, and that was enough.

Tatsuki had been kidnapped.