Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan: Elite - Chapter 3: Kikyou Kushida, I've Heard All Your Thoughts

Even without looking directly at her, Saiki Kusuo already knew her identity before her light, feminine voice reached his ears.

Kikyou Kushida, Saiki Kusuo faintly remembered this name. During the self-introductions among classmates when he first came to the classroom, he had some impression of her.

With her cute, doll-like face framed by brown short hair and a voice as light as a feather, she seemed the type to easily blend in with others—

However, Saiki Kusuo had already used telepathy earlier and knew what kind of person Kikyou Kushida was.

【I want to be friends with everyone to maintain this good reputation~ This way, everyone’s attention will be on me — and I can use this network of relationships to gather more information!】

【I didn’t get a chance to talk to Saiki-san earlier, he seems like a very aloof type.】

【Let’s see if I can use this opportunity to get closer to him.】

Saiki Kusuo could hear Kikyou Kushida’s thoughts. Her inner thoughts were completely different from the image she presented, and probably only a few people could see her true nature.

Her encounter with him in the cafeteria was no coincidence; it was deliberately orchestrated by Kikyou Kushida.

‘Ah, I’ve been targeted by a troublesome person.’

‘Kikyou and I are the least compatible types. She loves social interactions and is the kind of person who easily attracts attention from others, which I don’t like.’

‘But for now, it seems more troublesome not to interact with her. I’ll just find a way to deal with her.’

Saiki Kusuo made such a judgment and nodded slightly to Kikyou Kushida while activating his ability.

The Favorability Display, a derivative of telepathy, measures others’ fondness or affection towards him or others in numerical values. It’s more controllable than ordinary telepathy.

‘Too high a favorability attracts more attention, too low might make others see me as a target for bullying, and being the center of attention isn’t good either. It’s best to keep the favorability around 50.’

Thinking this, Saiki Kusuo spoke slowly.

“What a coincidence, Kushida-san.”

Although Saiki Kusuo could use telepathy to transmit his thoughts directly to others, he naturally wouldn’t use it on ordinary people unaware of his psychic abilities. However, he was usually reticent and rarely spoke unless necessary.

【Favorability: 42】

‘A moderately low favorability, huh? But this score is within an acceptable range.’

Saiki Kusuo slightly turned his head, moving his gaze away from Kikyou Kushida.

He possessed x-ray vision. The longer he focused on a target, the deeper his insight. In just a few minutes, the Kikyou Kushida in his eyes had started to resemble a human anatomy diagram from a biology textbook.

“I didn’t expect Saiki-kun to like sweets so much! I like them too!”

Kikyou Kushida said with a smile, sitting next to Saiki Kusuo, appearing very close to him.

【Saiki Kusuo seems very difficult to get along with, use sweets as a topic to get closer to him.】

‘I have to admit, it’s impressive. Despite having less than fifty favorability, she can pretend to be very close.’

There was no change in Saiki Kusuo’s expression, and he adjusted the range of the Favorability Display to see Kikyou Kushida’s favorability towards others.

Without exception, her favorability towards everyone else fluctuated around forty.

‘There are quite a few oddballs in this class.’

“Let’s exchange contact information, shall we?”

“Okay.”

For Saiki Kusuo, who had telepathy, exchanging messages through a terminal was pointless, but refusing someone’s direct request in such a situation was impolite and would likely reduce favorability significantly.

“Kushida-san!”

Just then, another person approached.

That was a girl with peach-colored long hair, reaching down to her waist.

Her slightly chubby face was adorned with delicate features, especially her gem-like eyes, which looked extremely cute. Her slender legs were clad in black calf socks, with her fair thighs partly visible beneath her skirt’s hem.

Ichinose Honami, a member of Class B, was identified by Saiki Kusuo through telepathy.

“Ichinose-san!”

Kushida Kikyou greeted Ichinose Honami with a smile. She had initiated contact with Ichinose during the opening ceremony and had become ‘friends’.

“This is Saiki-san, a classmate of mine.”

“Hello Saiki-san, nice to meet you! Please take care of me!”

Ichinose Honami greeted Saiki Kusuo warmly.

“May I sit here?”

Although Ichinose asked this, she had already pulled out a chair and sat opposite Saiki Kusuo.

‘If I refuse directly in this situation, it would be quite awkward, but this is my precious dessert time. I’ll have to find a way to excuse myself.’

Saiki Kusuo thought to himself.

“Ichinose-san, how are you getting along with your classmates?”

“Pretty good…”

Kushida made a troubled expression intentionally.

“It’s just… there’s someone who doesn’t seem to want to interact with me.”

“Who?”

“Horikita-san. Ichinose, have you heard of her?”

Kushida began to complain to Ichinose Honami about this, though it seemed casual, Saiki Kusuo could clearly understand her true intentions.

【Horikita Suzune, we were in the same middle school, and she might know everything I did before — I absolutely can’t let someone who knows my true self stay in the school! If there’s a way, I must make her drop out.】

‘Ah, it seems the people in this school are stranger than I thought.’

Meanwhile, Saiki Kusuo pretended not to hear anything and quickly finished his desserts, thinking that as soon as he finished, he could legitimately leave the table.