Presence
"Just by being there can cause a rippling effect of events that can seem small despite an individual's existence, but are significant. Predetermined?"
"Inevitably, anything and everything will come to be."
---
My name is Saiki Kusuo. I'm a psychic... well... I used to be.
You see, my psychic powers are not as you imagined. Having to read the thoughts of everyone within 200 meters made living a normal life—and everything else—harder.
When I had the chance to supposedly remove my psychic powers, I got rid of them.
And I couldn't have been more wrong.
When I was just getting used to normal life, denying my powers' return, they slowly started coming back.
And then a world-ending scenario decided to show up.
I had one job: prevent a planet-destroying asteroid from crashing into Earth.
And I did.
Sort of.
Kind of.
Maybe a bit too well.
After regaining my psychic powers and trying to stop the asteroid, I guess I underestimated just how much power I would regain in such a short amount of time.
I thought resetting the world would be the end of my problems.
No more disasters.
No more chaos.
No more... clichés.
But the universe—or maybe some cosmic being with a horrible sense of humor—decided to reward my efforts by tearing open the multiverse itself.
You see, after preventing the asteroid (and yes, I'm doing another flashback), I ended up rewinding time three years back, since I underestimated my returning powers.
I sighed
Facing the mirror, the realization hit me.
Too tired to even be shocked, I muttered:
"I've really gone ahead and done it this time... My biggest accident so far."
Saiki collapsed onto his bed and passed out from exhaustion.
---
Going back home: moving a car to prevent an accident, Dad being locked out again, Mom and Dad having a pointless argument.
"I really did rewind time," I thought.
Usually, I would just return the world to normal, but seeing how unstable reality is now... I would still try.
But there seems to be a force blocking me from fixing the world.
"Good grief, this is such a pain. I need a coffee jelly break."
As the day continued, everything stayed the same—Teruhashi giving her so-called "blessing" attention to her pink-haired classmate, Saiki ignoring her, Nendou noticing Saiki from a huge crowd.
But instead of teleporting to the rooftop of a building... a familiar toilet stood before me.
"Coffee jelly at las—"
Before I could even finish my sentence—or step outside the bathroom door—unfamiliar voices came flooding into my head.
"Ah... a new world. They must have summoned me to deal with an ancient evil," one whispered, smirking to himself.
Kaido?!
Wait, no... something feels off.
This whole building feels off.
I'll have to find out myself—CLAIRVOYANCE!
Deadpan to multiple unfamiliar faces:
A cloaked guy mumbling to himself—probably another chuuni case worse than Kaido.
A guy calculating something in a notebook.
A mage with three girls.
Two guys with white hair.
One ugly demon.
A pervert—oh wait, that's just Toritsuka.
A guy in a suit.
Two people in tracksuits—with completely different art styles.
Nope. I'm not dealing with this.
Teleport—
(Wait. 2-minute cooldown.)
A sudden shiver ran down my spine.
"What is this dreadful feeling? And why is it familiar?" I thought to myself.
"Saikiii, where are you?" Teruhashi's voice approached the cafe.
"What am I doing? I just hallucinated him, and now I'm trying to find him?" she thought.
No, seriously. God is against me.
I need to lure her away somehow... but I also need to get past those peo—
SLAP
A cockroach landed on my face.
Pause.
Without a moment of hesitation, I crashed out of the bathroom.
"Here reveals thee, the summoner of I, SHADOW! What is it that thou seek?"
The cloaked guy pointed at me.
Peace.
I want peace.
Why do I always get cut off, just for something horrible to come pouring down?
"So you're the one... WHO TOOK MY FANTASY WORLD AWAY?!"
A guy in a tracksuit charged at me with a dagger.
He tripped.
Before Teruhashi could see what was inside the cafe, I used psychokinesis to flip the "CLOSED" sign on the door.
Now I'm surrounded by weirdos, edgy dramatic losers, and people who think shouting makes them stronger.
But thinking about it... that's what I've had to deal with all my life.
This isn't peace.
This is punishment.
And worst of all... I can't even hide.
I take back what I said about liking to deal with troublesome things.
---
Maybe when I restarted the world to avoid the asteroid, it caused a reality glitch—a tiny crack in time-space that expanded and started pulling other universes in.
And of course…
I became the anchor holding it together.
Against my will.
Good grief.
I really should've just let the asteroid hit.
---
End