「 KUSUO 」

Look at them having a trip at Oshimai ♡(∩o∩)♡

In season 3, they visits Teruhashi’s place then she served them a tea..(Teruhashi has no idea about that cup) sighh…

…aww look at that (灬♥ω♥灬)

Sorry for the bad quality! Scanned this from Extra Story of Psychics (Saiki’s first light novel) because I can’t remember having ever seen this one before 😂

Honestly? If you ask me, this right here is another clear indicator of all the SaiTeru development and of where Saiki stands in regards to Teruhashi by the end of the manga.

After all, this is the final group illustration and it pays a lot of attention to detail. It really does its best to capture everyone’s characters and dynamic.

For example, here you have Nendou’s mom looking at Kouta with a smile on her face, possibly hinting that she may give him another chance in the future. And at the same time, you have Nendou’s Ghost Dad with his eyes fixed on her.

Meanwhile, Saiki’s Grandpa is glaring daggers at Kuniharu because how dare he stand between his daughter and his grandson, that should be his place!

And here you have Rifuta blushing up a storm because she’s standing right behind Makoto. All while Hairo’s enthusiasm is causing Suzumiya to be almost hidden from the picture. Luckily Satou remains unaffected by her bad luck. Then, of course, Takahashi greedily eyeing Saiko’s money because some things never change.

No matter where you look, the cover is full of awesome, meaningful details.

And then you have Saiki and Teruhashi, front and center. And it’s obvious that something has changed.

Teruhashi is grabbing his shoulder and leaning on him in a way she’s never done in the manga. What’s more, Saiki is perfectly fine letting this happen and looks content reaching out to the audience. This is pretty big, because while Teruhashi looks a little nervous, it still establishes that SaiTeru have become pretty close. 

But if you ask me, it also hints that they’ll become even closer. Because look at Chiyo. Chiyo, who would’ve normally been trying to stand close to Kaidou, looks thrilled to be where she is. Staring at Teruhashi comfortably leaning on Saiki’s shoulder with a happy, approving smile on her face. The kind of face that says, You did it, Kokomi!

-death do us part.

Honorable mentions:

Honestly? If you ask me, this right here is another clear indicator of all the SaiTeru development and of where Saiki stands in regards to Teruhashi by the end of the manga.

After all, this is the final group illustration and it pays a lot of attention to detail. It really does its best to capture everyone’s characters and dynamic.

For example, here you have Nendou’s mom looking at Kouta with a smile on her face, possibly hinting that she may give him another chance in the future. And at the same time, you have Nendou’s Ghost Dad with his eyes fixed on her.

Meanwhile, Saiki’s Grandpa is glaring daggers at Kuniharu because how dare he stand between his daughter and his grandson, that should be his place!

And here you have Rifuta blushing up a storm because she’s standing right behind Makoto. All while Hairo’s enthusiasm is causing Suzumiya to be almost hidden from the picture. Luckily Satou remains unaffected by her bad luck. Then, of course, Takahashi greedily eyeing Saiko’s money because some things never change.

No matter where you look, the cover is full of awesome, meaningful details.

And then you have Saiki and Teruhashi, front and center. And it’s obvious that something has changed.

Teruhashi is grabbing his shoulder and leaning on him in a way she’s never done in the manga. What’s more, Saiki is perfectly fine letting this happen and looks content reaching out to the audience. This is pretty big, because while Teruhashi looks a little nervous, it still establishes that SaiTeru have become pretty close. 

But if you ask me, it also hints that they’ll become even closer. Because look at Chiyo. Chiyo, who would’ve normally been trying to stand close to Kaidou, looks thrilled to be where she is. Staring at Teruhashi comfortably leaning on Saiki’s shoulder with a happy, approving smile on her face. The kind of face that says, You did it, Kokomi!

Okay so honestly, I’ve been confused about what, exactly, triggered Saiki’s ‘Offu’ in Chapter 214. I’ve always been on the camp that argued that the offu was genuine, but I did understand why some people found it ambiguous.

But after writing that post about Chapter 182, I suddenly realized that if I keep that chapter in mind, then the reason for the offu becomes pretty blatant. I think that:

In Chapter 184, Saiki realizes that Teruhashi likes him as he is.

In Chapter 214, Saiki realizes that he likes Teruhashi as she is, too.

I mean, Chapter 182 is big on two fronts:

first, Saiki realizes at last that Teruhashi genuinely likes him for him, as he is;

second, this touches his heart and makes him give up on his plan to make her like someone else, thus basically implying that he’s okay with being liked by her.

Fast-forward to Chapter 214, coincidentally the first chapter completely focused on SaiTeru since Chapter 182. Teruhashi spends most of the chapter trying to change herself for Saiki, thinking he likes Gyaru girls.

So, Saiki asks Aiura for help. What exactly did he ask Aiura to do, is honestly anyone’s guess. But if you ask me, I think he probably just asked Aiura to read Teruhashi her fortune and to tell her to give up on the object of her affections (him).

I feel this way because Saiki says later that he failed in “making Teruhashi give up on him”, and these parts of Aiura’s fortune are the ones that actually fit with his intentions:

Given how much Aiura insists on Teruhashi forgetting about him, it feels to me that that’s the part Saiki wanted her to tell Teruhashi.

Which would mean the whole thing about Saiki liking people who stay true to themselves was very much outside of Saiki’s calculations, and a genuine reading from Aiura.

Now, let’s take a look at Saiki:

Look at his reaction! His plan to have Teruhashi give up on him failed, and yet he looks fairly pleased with himself. So, it basically confirms that Saiki is now pretty okay with Teruhashi liking him. This is the first important tie to Chapter 182, because it directly follows the development that took place in that chapter. 

Moreover, given how pleased he looks, it’s safe to assume that just the fact of having Teruhashi going back to normal was enough for him.

But the thing is—Saiki is a world-class tsundere who is great at reading other people’s emotions but terrible at accepting his own.

Which means it’s fairly likely he didn’t realize this himself until Teruhashi spelled it out for him.

And that’s what gets Saiki, IMO. At this moment, he honestly realizes that Teruhashi is right.

Which means he honest to God likes her as she is.

And that’s the true reason of why he went out of his way to ask for Aiura’s help just so Teruhashi would go back to normal.

It’s not that it’d have been annoying if Teruhashi showed up wearing even more make-up: it’s that he would honestly just rather Teruhashi be herself, because he’s grown to like her as she is.

Which means that, well—maybe Teruhashi’s right and it is a matter of time, after all. Offu.

tl;dr His offu and the outcome of this chapter can easily be the natural counterpart to Chapter 184, where Saiki is now aware that he’s grown to like Teruhashi as she is, just like she’s grown to like him as he is, too. After all, we even get confirmation that Saiki doesn’t seem to mind being the object of Teruhashi’s affections any more—something that was also hinted at in Chapter 184, where he outright tells the guys he won’t let them have her.