Information Overload

As I started waking up, I couldn't help but notice that the curtains to my room were open. Slowly but surely, I started opening my eyes and upon doing so, I couldn't help but notice that Hatomi was nowhere to be seen.

"Did she leave?"

"Good morning, Natsuo" "I didn't leave, I'm downstairs"

"Do you really need to talk to me via telepathy?"

"Yes, I do. Once you come downstairs, I'll deactivate it. How does that sound?"

"Fine..." I let out a sigh and proceeded to make my way downstairs, as I started making my way down the steps, I couldn't help but smell something nice coming form the kitchen.

Upon reaching the first floor and making my way towards the kitchen, I was met with a sight I had never expected to see.

"Good morning, Natsuo"

"G-Good morning..."

She glanced over at me and stared into my eyes for a good 10 seconds or so "Why are you blushing?"

"Well... It's not everyday you see a girl your age having an apron and cooking"

She stopped what she was doing and proceeded to look at herself "Is it really that weird for a girl to be wearing an apron?"

"No... It's more on the scale of 'This is something that will never happen' type"

"I see..." She glanced over at me with the same deadpan expression and out of nowhere, started smiling at me "Do I look cute?"

Hearing her say those words, I couldn't help but look away "A-A little bit..."

"I see..." I could feel her gaze on me, but after a few seconds passed, I could hear her continue on with the cooking "You can go ahead and take a shower. Breakfast will be ready by then"

"Thank you"

With those parting words, I made my way back towards my room, grabbed my uniform and towel and headed off towards the bathroom.

Once I had finished taking my shower, I made my way back downstairs and sure enough, the breakfast was ready for the both of us.

I proceeded to take a seat and looked at everything that she had made. At first, I couldn't believe that she had used what we had in the fridge and the second thing was that I didn't understand why she had done so.

"Thank you for the food"

"Thank you for the food"

We both gave thanks and proceeded to eat. As I took the first few bites of everything that she had made, I couldn't help but be surprised at just how delicious everything was.

"It's delicious..."

"I'm glad that it's to your liking" 

"Do you like to cook?"

"Yes, it's one of the things that keeps my mind at ease" "Do you not cook for yourself?"

"I do it from time to time. I'm really not a cooking type of guy. I'm more of a cleaning person"

"I see"

A moment of silence befell the both of us for a while. Once we finished eating, I picked up the dishes and started washing them one by one, as I did so, I glanced over at Hatomi and noticed that she was all ready to go.

"Did you call you're parents yesterday to let them know that you weren't coming home?"

"I did. They didn't mind it"

"I see..."

"Besides, I don't live too far from here"

"... You don't?"

"No, I'll show you"

Once we were all ready to head on out, I locked the door and as we started walking towards our school, after a walking pass a few houses, she stopped in place and looked over at one of the houses "This is where I live"

"You lived so close and yet you stayed the night?!"

She looked at me as if I had said something strange in her mind "I've always wanted to spend the night at someone else's place and I thought that it was a good chance to experience it"

"She's never been in at someone else's place?"

"No, you could call me a loner"

"You don't have any shame... Do you?"

"About what?"

"Infiltrating my mind without me even noticing"

"I guess I don't, besides... It's nice being able to talk to someone like this"

Hearing those words, I couldn't help but feel myself blushing. I quickly shook of the feeling and just when I had done so, a voice called out to me "Good morning, Natsuo!"

"Hmm?"

The both of us looked over and sure enough, it was none other then Chitose. Since the both of us lived near, we would sometimes go to school together, but before I could say a word, she stopped in place and looked over at Hatomi.

"Umm..."

"Y-You're Fujimura-san... Right?"

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you Katabuchi-san"

"L-Likewise..." She stared at Hatomi for a bit and then glanced over at me "I didn't know that the both of you knew each other..."

"We just met yesterday. Natsuo was kind enough to let me stay at his place"

"H-Hey!"

"Is something wrong?"

She glanced over at me with that same deadpan expression that I couldn't help but wonder if she was just messing with me or if she was being serious. I let out a sigh and nodded "Yeah... I did"

"I see..." Chitose seemed a bit bothered by those words and before I could even say anything towards her, she beamed us a smile and started walking away "I'll see you in class, Natsuo, Fujimura-san!"

"Chitose!"

She ignored my words and as her image was disappearing, the static played out once more and a single sentence made it's way through "He's being taken away from me again"

As I got used to the thoughts being thrown into my consciousness as I made my way back home yesterday, I had grown used to it and no more headaches ever arose, but with Chitose, something had made me grab my head to deal with the throbbing headache.

Hatomi seemed to have noticed and gently placed her hand on my back "What did you hear?"

"Her thoughts... But... Something else is making me have this headache..."

"What did you feel?"

She gently supported me and as I tried to relax myself, I could finally tell her what I felt "It was a wave. A wave of emotions. They were too strong"

"Hmm... That means that you don't just only hear other's deep thought's but on top of that, the emotions they're feeling in that moment get transmitted to you... That's the same as me"

 "I see..." Once the headache subsided, the both of us continued making our way to school and all the while we did so, she made sure to take care of me which was nice on her part.

"Thank you for worrying about me, Hatomi. By the way... That breakfast was delicious"

She stopped in place for a bit and glanced over at me. She was most likely surprised at the fact that I was communicating with her via telepathy. Something that I didn't want to go through using all the time.

"I'm just doing whatever I can to support you... And I'm glad that my food was good"

I let out a chuckle and after a while, the both of us arrived at school without any problems at all. Since we still had time, the both of us headed towards the roof and as we stood there simply looking out the fencing, she called out to me with an unexpected question.

"Can you try and see if you can hear everyone's thoughts from this school?"

"Huh? Is that even possible?"

"Maybe. Maybe not, but it's always a good thing to be wary of just in case"

"..."

"If you don't want to-"

"I'll do it" Before she could say another word, I stood my ground and proceeded to take a few deep breaths. Since I really didn't know how this 'power' worked, I simply had to rely on concentrating and focusing on the targets that I was asked to see the thoughts from.

I stayed there motionless for a few minutes and once I was ready, I concentrated even more and before I knew it, the static played even louder and voices flooded my mind.

"Keisuke's going to get it!" "Why does Emica have to be such an easy girl? That's disgusting" "I hate this school. I just want to get the hell out of here" "Look at that loser. Let's get him before class starts"

Compared to when I was making my way back to school the other day, it was way worse. Their emotions were flooding me and to top it all off, it wasn't just a few voices at a time. I was hearing everyone's thoughts.

I stumbled a bit and tried to cancel it, but to no avail "Hato...mi" The last thing I could see in that moment was Hatomi running over to me to catch me as I fell to the ground.

In that moment, I understood what had happened. My brain hadn't been able to capture all the information being thrown at it. Instead, it overloaded and made me pass out.

I could only wonder how I was even dead at that point. I couldn't feel my body anymore but I knew that I was still alive since I could still feel my heart beating at it's normal pace.

"I wonder... If she's been through this same thing... Alone. Practicing and seeing the limit of her Sub-powers... If she has... I'll be there for her to support her just like she's been doing it for me"