"Does it tickle here?" Kusuke Saiki poked him again.
Kusuo Saiki instinctively shrunk away, a completely unprepared move that caused something to fall to the ground.
What's going on? Kusuo Saiki gave Kusuke a questioning look.
"I didn't do anything. I don't have any tools in my hand. Oh dear, why would older brother play pranks now? Humans have a bodily instinct to fear tickling. Some body parts, when touched, will subconsciously move away. Your body, strengthened by superpowers, hasn't felt that before? Okay."
Kusuo Saiki still looked at Kusuke with suspicion.
He touched himself, but didn't feel anything.
"Touching yourself is expected, so it won't react!"
Kusuo Saiki didn't believe it at all.
"Big brother is ticklish too, if Kusuo wants to try..."
Kusuke Saiki leaned closer and closer, but Kusuo Saiki suddenly pushed his face away.
Another question: why are you giving me a thermometer? How could I get a fever with my body?
"Kusuo's heat resistance is very good. Even at 50 degrees, you wouldn't think you had a fever, right? I felt something was off when we touched in the classroom. An average person's body temperature is below 37 degrees. Your temperature seems to be over 1.2 degrees higher. It's about time, take it out and let me see."
Kusuke Saiki took the thermometer from Kusuo Saiki's mouth and looked at it toward the half-drawn curtains of the window.
"Hmm, 38.2 degrees, a small fever for normal people. How long has this been going on? Asking you is pointless; you didn't notice, right?"
No, why would I get a fever, and you don't even need a thermometer with that accuracy!
"No matter what you do, you shouldn't get sick. It's more likely that the body temperature is rising due to the superpower recovery. Kusuko has repeatedly erased your superpowers for long enough. The repeatedly erased superpowers may have stabilized due to inertia, and because the body's recovery instinct is growing. The conflict between the two causes a rise in body temperature, which is normal."
Sounds okay, can we end this? It's weird staying in this position.
"How could it be okay? The symptoms don't harm your body, but what about you? What is your choice now? Treating superpower loss is incurable. There is no specific medicine in the whole world. The best medicine is yourself. What is your state of mind right now?"
"Do you want your powers back, or are you secretly hoping that, ah – since they haven't returned, there's no helping it, and I don't want to..."
"How about this?"
Kusuke Saiki leaned his hand on the rough glass panel behind Kusuo Saiki, looking directly at Kusuo Saiki to find out the answer from his quiet younger brother's face.
Kusuo Saiki's eyes shifted down to avoid him, then looked up again directly: "...No matter what, the powers must come back. When they come, they must be able to cross between worlds."
"How much of that is against your heart and how much is true? Kusuo, when the message came that the warp transfer had been destroyed, you didn't know..."
Subtle footsteps suddenly came from outside the door. They both noticed them and stopped to look at the door.
There was a shadow under the door. Someone was standing in front of the door, and the lock made a sound. However, the door could not be opened, as it was already locked.
"Never mind, it's good that you're safe now. I have a superpower suppressor here, modified from the one I gave you earlier, with adjusted functions. The function of erasing superpowers is already on Kusuko's neck."
Are you very wary of him?
A shadow crossed Kusuke Saiki's face: "No matter how unconcerned you are, you should realize that its existence has had a very serious impact on you, and it's the main reason why your superpowers have been erased for a long time. No matter what the reason, hindering is hindering. You don't have telepathy now, so how do you know what he's really thinking? Without telepathy, you shouldn't be so defenseless against people's hearts."
That's a superpowered person, my split self. Don't compare him to normal people.
"Listen to your older brother sometimes. You're such a stubborn younger brother. Once you've decided on a direction, it's hard to change your mind, no matter what the facts are."
You know that, yet you still made a suggestion.
"Well then, since you're sure you want to regain your superpowers, put on the superpower suppressor just in case, okay?"
An accessory appeared in Kusuke Saiki's hand.
"This time's suppressor is different. Because it focuses on the debuff function, advances in technology mean that the needles aren't needed anymore."
Kusuo Saiki's comment on this was: shouldn't technological progress improve aesthetics first?
Kusuke Saiki helped him put on the new suppressor. It was a ring made of iron chains. Each link of the iron chain was about as wide as a little finger, and the shape was plain, looking like something worn by a prisoner.
"How could it be similar? This iron chain is much thinner than the ones in prison. Grandma even said it's a trendy fashion item."
Did you show it to Grandma? Don't show it to Grandma.
"She said it would definitely suit Kusuo!"
You even told Grandma who it was for!
"Haha, well, Grandma will push you to get married, so it's best not to let her misunderstand."
No girlfriend would wear this! Only a female slave would wear it.
"Oh my, oh my, were you found out?"
Found out what?
"Actually, I also have a matching telepathy blocker!" Kusuke Saiki raised his wrist, showing a yellow wrist guard with a certain thickness.
What do you mean, matching? If it's matching, why didn't you make the superpower suppressor in this style too?
"Don't be impatient. There's an extra inner buckle in the middle of the collar. Hmm, just take the chain from this wrist guard and do this, like this..."
Kusuke Saiki pressed a button. A long chain actually fell out of the wrist guard. One end of the chain successfully buckled into the middle section of the collar, and the two items combined into something like a dog leash.
-- "Clang clang!"
Stop playing that kind of game and take it off! Remove that section and never use it again!
"Click." The sound of the door unlocking.
Someone came in?!
Kusuo Saiki and Kusuke Saiki looked at the door in surprise.
A figure casually walked in with a briefcase in hand. At the same time the door opened, a piece of metal fell to the ground with a delay.
It was the part of the lock that had been broken, the cut so clean it looked like a factory slice.
The person was even humming a song, eyes closed like a conductor, waving a hand in the air. He flicked a pen from his hand to turn on the light, then nimbly stepped forward to catch the pen as it bounced back.
"Hum, hum hum~ Hmm?"
After catching the pen, the person turned around and saw the scene.
Kusuo Saiki was sitting on the desk. The frosted glass panel blocked most of the view below his chest, and it could only be seen that his collar was slightly messy. He was wearing an iron chain around his neck, the other end of which was in the hands of a blond person.
The blond person was obviously taller, and seemed very excited to be holding the chain. The clothes of the two people showed a difference in status as student and teacher. With such movements, plus the environment before the lights were turned on...
Chrollo froze for two seconds, then the pen in his hand flew out, accurately hitting the light switch. The bright light immediately disappeared. He spun around on one foot and retreated out of the room, closing the door.
All in one go.
But he stood by the door.
He couldn't help it. He had broken the door, so it would open if he let go.
After waiting for a while, the shadow under the door didn't leave. Kusuke Saiki suggested, "Kusuo, why don't you say 'um' and 'ah' a couple of times?"
Do you want to die?
"Haha, just a suggestion. No need to follow it! Don't move, I'll help you unhook the chain."
The chain was easy to remove and put away. After taking it off, Kusuo Saiki wanted to get off the table, but Kusuke suddenly said, "Ah!"
What's wrong, why the sudden surprise?
"You can't get down because there are tacks on the floor."
Kusuo Saiki looked down and saw that what he had just knocked off were tacks. Now they were evenly spread across the floor, all with the heads down and the points up.
What kind of skill is needed to make them all fall just right?
"It's not good to step on tacks. Come on, let older brother give you a hug. Are we going to do a difficult move – one hand supporting the table, a two-and-a-half turn somersault, and landing on the other side? Just a reminder that the table isn't that sturdy, especially the partition – you can't lean on it; it'll collapse."
Kusuo Saiki, who was about to lean on the partition and jump to the other side, fell silent.
Kusuke clapped his hands, waiting for Kusuo Saiki in the only empty space.
Why won't you step on the tacks?
"Are you wondering why I'm okay stepping on tacks? I'm wearing air-powered metal sports shoes, part of the robotic suit that Grandpa used to wear. The tacks can't hurt me. Come, let me feel that long-lost..."
Kusuke Saiki suddenly stopped talking because Kusuo Saiki was sitting on the edge of the seat with his arms outstretched.
That's what he said, but it's rare to see his proud younger brother be proactive... Kusuke Saiki covered his mouth in emotion.
Emotional my foot, hurry up and hug me.
"Because you've changed because of other people in places that older brother can't see. Thinking of it carefully, it's really annoying," Kusuke Saiki honestly said.
Who changed?
"Oh, oh, you're just not honest with your older brother, huh?" Kusuke Saiki studied the movements that Kusuo Saiki was offering, and once again lamented his inexperienced younger brother. It was impossible to hug from the front in this position. He picked up Kusuo Saiki in a princess carry and took a few steps.
Suddenly, the robotic shoes under his feet made a "beep-beep-" sound. They both noticed it and looked down. Were the shoes giving a warning? Kusuke Saiki turned to face the office door and took a step. He actually charged out!
The shoes kicked the door, and the door was successfully kicked off. Chrollo, who had been studying how to fix the door at the door, was slightly affected.
"Scared me. Are you two done?" Chrollo asked with a smile.
"Haha, someone interrupted, so we had to end it hastily. Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Hi, I applied to be a high school teacher on Sunday, but after applying for three, I found that others had already applied. So I came to take a field trip to see the person who plays multiple roles."
"For me, these are all normal part-time jobs. I am the all-subject teacher of Class 3, Grade 1. If you want to apply, check other classes."
"No, I have already applied for and passed as a physical education teacher. This is a Nen school. No one is here to learn the culture."
"Oh? That's amazing. Our Kusuo hates physical education class the most. He plans to take the whole year off from physical education class, right? And he has a fever."
"Fever? Going to the infirmary?"
Kusuo Saiki: Why are you two dragging me into your argument?
Kusuo Saiki slowly jumped down from Kusuke's arms. "No fever, everything is normal."
But a hand came over to stick on his forehead.
"There is a fever, it should be 38.2 degrees, you should go to the infirmary."
What are you two human thermometers up to? Mercury thermometers can retire now.
Kusuo Saiki stepped back. "No, it's just 38 degrees."
"Yes, going to the infirmary won't help except for being seen by the monkey, I don't recommend it either." Kusuke Saiki squatted down to adjust his shoes, suddenly found that his brother's shoelaces were also loose, and helped him tie them. "The door is broken, but it is a big problem, I just contacted the repairman to come over, physical education teacher stay here, Kusuo we go back to the classroom, you did not hear the new rules of the arena, right? Okay, the other foot over."
Kusuo Saiki obediently switched sides and let Kusuke Saiki tie it.
"The relationship is very good, can you know the name of this Saiki student's all-subject teacher? There will be a chance to meet later, let's get to know each other." The other party's words and deeds are not simple, but Chrollo can't remember where there is such a number.
"Me? Calling teacher Saiki is good to call me teacher Saiki as well, can't you see it?" Kusuke Saiki stood up after tying his shoelaces, slightly taller than Chrollo, so his sight was from high to low, exposing his contempt for Chrollo, "We share half of our names, and have had an incredibly intimate and trusting relationship with each other since a long time ago."
Kusuo Saiki:?
Kusuke Saiki pushed Kusuo Saiki's shoulders and turned around, pushing his back forward: "Um, mortals, please don't even think about getting close to our superpowered people, he will think you are annoying."
What are you saying, Kusuke, even directly telling us the superpowered people?
Kusuke Saiki quickly walked side by side with Kusuo Saiki and whispered: "What's wrong, don't you get annoyed? The sudden destruction of the door lock interrupted a very important superpower recovery check."
That's pretty annoying, so you're checking superpowers?
"But who was that just now?"
Don't you recognize it? Have not you seen Hunter x Hunter?
"There are too many words in the manga to read, if you use the features to identify, it won't be that The Phantom Troupe leader whose face changes eighteen times?"
Don't you know?
"As a monkey, he has a certain appearance and acting skills, this kind of people's vocal and appearance are definitely inconsistent, Kusuo you have to be careful."
Well, no matter how inconsistent that person, besides stealing things can not think of other bad things, a lot better than your occasional choice of human plan ideas.
"Oh, right, is The Phantom Troupe a thieves group?"
Yes, uh?
Kusuo Saiki suddenly stopped, in order to collect the information, Chrollo may have opened Kusuke's computer.