I’m a Telepath, but It’s Tough Because the Cool Beautiful Girl Next to Me Is Having Pink Thoughts - Chapter 39

For me, Itsumi Rei was nothing more and nothing less than “the boy who sat next to me.”

He wasn’t particularly bright or gloomy. He didn’t always hang out with a group, but he wasn’t a loner either. My first impression of him was of an unfathomable person.

Even after we ended up as seatmates, we hardly spoke. Outside of class, pair work or the occasional school-related message, we almost never had a conversation.

At that time, I was weighed down by the stress of sudden changes in my environment and the strain of dealing with people. I often found myself lost in thought. Classmates would approach me often enough back then.

…But one day, almost all of them stopped talking to me.

I later heard through the grapevine that it was because my face “never changed expressions,” so people thought I secretly hated being approached.

It was true, I had been expressionless since I was a child. Someone once joked that maybe the muscles in my face had died. I knew, deep down, that there was some truth in that. Still, to think others mistook it as dislike. It stung, and it made me sad.

Yet, at the same time, the awkward human interactions I struggled with began to fade. Thanks to that, I was able to live in peace for a while.

As for Rei-kun, I often noticed him making these gestures, as if he were trying to block out some kind of noise only he could hear. I worried that maybe he wasn’t feeling well, but we weren’t close enough for me to casually ask. And since he usually seemed fine, I never used it as a reason to talk to him.

Things changed about a month or two ago.

It was the start of the rainy season, around the time our class bonds were beginning to settle in. My own life was calm enough… Though one lingering issue remained, I couldn’t get along with boys.

Having gone to all-girls’ schools in both elementary and middle school, being around boys was basically a new experience for me. I got nervous for no reason. In turn, the boys would get jittery and awkward around me, and that only made it harder to talk to them.

I had read countless novels and stories about boys and girls interacting, but when faced with the real thing, none of that knowledge helped me at all. I was left clinging to those books to console my timid self.

Then one day.

I encountered a groper.

It was the first time in my life that I had felt such fear, and having an unknown man touch me like that.

No, help me.

Even those words wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t move. I could only stare stiffly at the person beside me, unable to make them understand how terrified I was.

I was frozen, drowning in the thought that something terrible was about to happen, when…

Rei-kun appeared.

He stepped forward, cutting off the groper from me, and demanded answers. His voice thundered with anger, accusing and condemning. I can’t recall exactly what he said. I was too dazed and too overwhelmed, but I remember clearly how the man’s face turned pale before my eyes.

The groper got away, but I had been saved. The relief washed over me so strongly that, to my shame, I broke down crying.

Rei-kun looked bewildered by the sudden turn of events, but even so, he stayed by my side. He didn’t leave until I had calmed down.

The words he spoke that night, the way he worried for me, the comfort he gave me… I can’t describe how much strength it gave me.

Afterward, though, I still don’t know exactly how things ended up that way. I stayed at his house and spent the night there.

At the time, my heart wasn’t racing as wildly as it does now.

And yet, as I found myself leaning on his kindness and letting my emotions run wild like an untamed beast, I couldn’t help but feel a trace of self-loathing.

The moment I realized I truly liked him was when he told me the reason he had stepped in to save me from that groper.

“Because you looked so scared.”

No one had ever said something like that to me before. My face had always been unreadable. I had long believed no one could ever understand my feelings just by looking at me.

But he did. He saw through me. He recognized my fear, and he acted.

…Then, maybe he hadn’t noticed it only from my expression. His slightly troubled face back then told me as much. But even so, the fact that he understood my feelings at all was enough to make my heart race.

It was then that I realized that this was my first love.

After that, I tried to be more forward. I even consulted Kisara, who was always around me, though she clearly saw him as an enemy. Still, I wanted him to notice me, to look my way.

That time of my life was brighter than anything before. For once, my emotions ran high, and I let myself enjoy it.

…But all of that came to an end today.

“I hate you.”

Those heavy words still echo in my ears.

Maybe it was a lie. But at that moment, I knew that I would never see his smile again.

And maybe, maybe he would never stand before me again at all.

───And yet, the truth was undeniable. He was there. Itsumi Rei stood right before my eyes.

“…I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Tatsuki.”

With a sound like glass shattering and an explosion erupting all at once, he emerged from the rising cloud of dust and debris. Water dripped from his soaked body, his face twisted in pain. He looked as if he might collapse at any moment, swaying on unsteady legs, but his eyes never wavered. They were fixed straight on me.

“…Rei, kun.”

I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. All I knew was that it was dangerous and life-threatening. And then, just when the confusion peaked, he appeared. All I could do was call his name.

“…Rei. Yeah, well… I guess so.”

He gave a helpless shrug, as if trying to brush it off, then staggered closer, step by shaky step.

But behind him, a shadow wavered───.

“…! Look out───”

I tried to cry out, to warn him. But before I could finish, the figure behind him convulsed violently, then collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.

“…!?”

The man who had been reaching toward me froze, shock flashing across his face. He turned toward Rei, bracing himself. I must have worn the same stunned expression.

“…With sloppy security like this, of course it was bound to fail.”

Rei-kun’s brow relaxed, and he gave a sharp, almost mocking smile.

“──────!!”

“─────!”

“──────!”

“───!!”

The men in white coats, along with the armed guards surrounding them, hurled furious shouts at him, their voices dripping with rage.

An unfamiliar male voice, angry, shouting, and threatening. All I could do was cower in fear.

However, Rei-kun, the person they were shouting at, looked entirely different. Though his body seemed worn down and in pain, his expression was strangely calm, and it was almost carefree.

“Ahh~, well. I can’t really understand what you guys are saying anymore.”

He pressed his left hand against his right arm and closed his eyes.

Anymore? Did that mean he could once understand them? The thought flickered through my mind, but I didn’t have the time or courage to dwell on it.

“But if you want my answer to what you’re saying… It’s this.”

He inhaled slowly. The corner of his mouth lifted into a sharp grin.

Then.

“I’m no longer the telepath you knew. I’m not Identification Number 530 anymore.”

A low, mocking laugh slipped from his lips as his eyes snapped open.

But the eyes I saw were not the endless black I was used to. No, his gaze burned with an unnatural brilliance, shimmering like a kaleidoscope of colors, far beyond anything human.

And in that very instant.

The warehouse was consumed by an explosive flash of radiance, lit only by the pale moonlight until then. In the next heartbeat, my vision was drowned in pure white.