Chapter 8:

The Hidden Thoughts

Mind Reader's


The moment when she left was something that pained me to do. She was always nice to me, she was by my side when I needed her help and to top it off, she was the one who I trusted the most and told what had happened to me.

"Was that really the right thing to do?"

I let out a sigh and shook my head "It was... I would simply be betraying her feelings by agreeing to a relationship that wasn't even serious between the two of us..."

I pulled out my phone and looked at the time for a bit, upon noticing that it was still a bit early, I simply decided to wait on the bench and take in the silence around me. 

As I did so, out of nowhere, the sound of static washed over me and a sudden voice started speaking "I really don't understand him at all..."

I lifted my head and glanced around the area so that I could identify whoever the voice was, but there was no one around me.

"Who is this voice? I recognize it a bit..."

"Ever since that day, he's only been looking at Hatomi-san without batting an eye to me... What a fool"

Even though the voice sounded far away, I could still clearly tell what they were saying.

"I don't even know what he sees in her... She's just a quiet and dull girl who has nothing going. I, on the other hand have a lot of other things that could make any guy fall for me, so why isn't he looking at me or trying to help me?"

Slowly but surely, the voice of whoever was speaking was getting closer and closer and as they did so, I started to notice a clear difference in the tone and sound.

"It's Sumiko... And is she talking about me?"

The only reason I could surmise such a thing was the fact that only recently I had been focusing more on Hatomi for the reason that we both shared the condition of Sub-powers and to top it off, she was someone who could understand me and say whatever's on her mind without a care in the world.

She wasn't like everyone else who would think about something deep in their unconscious.

"He should only have eyes for me... He shouldn't make a fool of himself by chasing her"

Just when I was about to get off from the bench I was on, sure enough, she made her way through the park and both our eyes met and didn't waver at all.

"Good afternoon, Natsuo"

"G-Good afternoon, Sumiko-san"

"What are you doing here alone?"

"I just wanted a bit of fresh air and since the park was a bit close, I decided to stop by" "What about yourself?"

"I was just making my way back home after doing a bit of shopping"

"I see..."

Just when I was about to say that I had something to do, she spoke up "Care to accompany me for a bit?"

"W-Well..." 

I knew what was going to happen if I agreed in accompanying her. I would start hearing her deep thoughts once more. Thoughts that I wouldn't want to hear, but there was no way I could escape just like that.

"Sure..."

"Perfect, let us be going then"

She beamed me a smile and as we started walking down the pavement of the park, I couldn't help but hear her inner voice once more.

"I wonder if he got dumped again... What a loser"

"Stop..."

"Maybe I'll mess with him for a bit so that he can run back to me like the good slave he is"

"I'm not your slave... I'm human"

"Natsuo?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Care to come at my place for a bit?"

"Umm..." Normally, I would have agreed in a heartbeat, but after experiencing everything that I did and hearing her thoughts, I didn't want to be bothered by being near her anymore.

"Natsuo"

"H-Hatomi?"

"I'm sorry that I connected without asking you, but I was curious as to what happened, but I can see that you're stuck in something else"

"For now, draw out the conversation a bit more and I'll bump into you out of pure coincidence"

I was surprised to hear her say those words to me, but at the same time, I was grateful that she had connected to me without a care in the world "I'll do that. I'll get you something from the convenience store for doing this or me"

"I'll hold you to that promise"

"I need to do some things, so I really don't know..."

"Well, just think about it" "He's trying to play hard to catch. What the hell is with that attitude of his?"

I let out a sigh and continued on walking with her. As we did so, her voice once more resounded "Why isn't he asking me to carry my bag? He should be a gentleman"

I knew for a fact that the old Natsuo would have asked in a heartbeat, but the one in the moment wasn't one that would go so low as to be stepped on by Sumiko herself any more.

"By the way, I've noticed that you've started talking to Hatomi-san from our class. I was surprised to see that" "Let's see if she rejected him"

"Yeah... You could say that the both of us are similar quite a bit. That's why I thought that I could talk to her and see how she acts"

"Us? Similar? Are you sure about it?"

"Shut it. We are similar"

"If you say so"

"I see... I thought for sure that you were interested in her romantically" "If you are... I'll make that change so that you won't stop serving me"

"Not really... I just see her as someone I can relate to at the moment"

"But that doesn't mean that you wouldn't be interested in being with her, right?"

"Right now, no. We just share similarities. Nothing more, nothing less"

"I see..." "I guess I can wait and see what happens..."

Hearing those thoughts, I let out a sigh and simply continued on walking with her. As we were nearing the housing district, I noticed a lone figure making they're way towards us.

"Act like you didn't expect to see me there and simply follow my lead after that, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it"

Just when we had walked a bit more, sure enough, it was none other then Hatomi who bowed at the both of us "Hello there, Ichikawa-san, Natsuo"

"Hello there, Fujimura-san"

"H-Hey"

Hatomi glanced over at me and then back at Sumiko "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not really. He was just accompanying me back to my place"

"I see... Then do you mind if I ask him to come with me?"

"H-Huh?"

"I need his help with some of my shopping and went over to his place to ask him if he could accompany me, but he was nowhere to be seen"

"I see..." Sumiko sneaked a glance over at me and then clicked her tongue "I guess they're a bit closer then I had expected..." "I-I don't mind... But"

She glanced over at me and I could more or less tell what she was trying to make me do. She wanted me to reject Hatomi and simply accompany her home.

But... "I'm sorry, Sumiko-san, but I'll go ahead and accompany Hatomi"

"That's fine. See you tomorrow"

"Take care"

Hatomi bowed at Sumiko and she started heading off down the street, as she did so, her voice resounded one last time "What a pain... I lost one of my faithful servants to the likes of her"

I let out a sigh and glanced over at Hatomi "Thanks for helping me back there"

"There's no need for thanks, I just helped you out a bit" "Besides, it wasn't for free"

She beamed me a smile as she said those words. Seeing her acting more like a girl her age, I couldn't help but chuckle and simply nod.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go and get what you need and what you want for your payment"

"Don't think that I'm getting something cheap, got it?"

"Just make it within my budget..."

"We'll see about that"

She giggled and the both of us made our way towards the convenience store all the while I explained to her everything that had happened with Sumiko from the very beginning.

-june-
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