hazel the mouse

They've been piling up, so time to give them their own masterlist, including a short excerpt from each post so I won't forget what they're about 😂

BONUS:

Saiki, looking smug AF after he literally, for no reason whatsoever, went and gave Teruhashi an indirect kiss. Saiki, looking smug AF again because Teruhashi went back to her usual self.

Then, Saiki. Smiling because Teruhashi genuinely wished he'd have been there at the mixer with her. Then, Saiki smiling again because even with a meteor coming her way, Teruhashi still isn't giving up on making him say offu.

Teruhashi wanted to go and drink a shake with him. So Saiki being Saiki, he makes sure she won't get to ask him out.

Except he just... turns invisible and goes with her anyway?

He doesn't have a shake of his own because of his clownery, so he just... goes and drinks from Teruhashi's straw?

Like if Teruhashi would've gotten to invite him, she would have bought Saiki his own shake. But no, here goes Saiki making things worse for himself and giving Teruhashi more than she would've even bargained for.

Then, when Teruhashi stands-up, he follows her and stands so close to her for absolutely no reason whatsoever, that Teruhashi almost accidentally touches him?

Plus, what's up with his thoughts?

Does he even realize how ridiculous he sounds here? He's the one who's getting involved with her right now. He could've just saved himself the trouble, bought himself a shake and drank it at home. Teruhashi didn't even get to invite him, he invited himself.

THEN, to top all this off, he looks all smug when Teruhashi notices she's missing some of her shake??

Sir?? What do you even have to be smug about? She just wanted to drink a shake with you and you not only did that, you also gave her an Indirect Kiss™?

Sensei just confirmed in his Twitter that he was the one who personally added the short extra scenes to the last episode of Reawakened. Which means it was he himself who made it even more SaiTeru than it already was in the manga!

In the manga, we see Teruhashi’s first speech bubble alongside everyone else’s. 

But in the expanded Anime scene, Sensei shows Saiki reacting to the mere mention of Teruhashi’s name.

Which only highlights the fact that having Saiki focus on Teruhashi’s thoughts was 100% deliberate! aka god himself sails this ship

Chapter 5 - "I don't understand such sentiments at all..."

Chapter 280 - "Looking at her now, I think I finally get it..."

So I’ve come to the conclusion that to finally exorcise all of my SaiTeru thoughts, I need to ramble about just what makes them so good together (in my eyes).

This entire post is just my very own personal perspective, of course; so you can pretty much mentally attach an IMHO to everything.

I’ll be using panels from the manga to illustrate my thoughts as well as I can. So if you’re interested in these two, by all means, get ready for an image-heavy post! And link-heavy, too, because I’ll be trying to not repeat too much of the stuff I’ve already mentioned in my SaiTeru posts lol

So, remember when I said I had a lot of thoughts about SaiTeru? So much so, that I had to split them up in themed posts? I ran out of steam half-way through, but there are still a couple of things I haven’t gotten off my chest.

This is one of those things.

I need to preface this by saying that I think the notion of Saiki having no interest whatsoever in love isn't exactly accurate. In fact, as early as Chapters 1 and 5, Saiki explains that romance was actually “snatched” away from him by his powers; particularly, by his X-Ray Vision. He even says that the reason he “won’t fall in love with anyone in [his] timeline” is because he cannot develop feelings for a human body’s insides.

But that doesn’t mean Saiki isn’t actually interested in love; I believe he simply has come to see it as something beyond him and, as such, as something not worth wasting time over. He even admits at one point that maybe love "could be fun" if only he could actually look at people (and not read their thoughts).

Saiki’s curiosity about love is particularly evident in Chapter 232, where he spends a good chunk of the chapter trying to understand Chiyo’s thoughts to save her friendship & budding romance with Kaidou, ultimately admitting that he doesn’t understand romance nor a woman’s heart.

The thing is, Saiki has already told us a couple of times that he doesn’t understand romance. The big difference between Chapter 232 and say, Chapter 5, is that by Chapter 232, Saiki is actively trying to understand it rather than simply dismissing it altogether.

Which means Saiki is curious about love. He just can’t fall for someone physically because his X-Ray Vision keeps him from feeling any kind of physical attraction.

So essentially, Saiki would have to fall for someone because of who they are and for what they bring to his life.

And this is when things get interesting, because what does Saiki like (aside from sweets)?

A sense of achievement. Excitement. Purpose.

Things that cannot be affected by his psychic powers.

Mysteries. Something that can provide him with “surprises and excitement.”

In other words, what Saiki actually likes is a challenge. And while all of his friends provide him with challenges in different ways, there is only one person who consistently manages to win against Saiki.

His most troublesome and dangerous foe. One Kokomi Teruhashi.

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!

I mean, times Saiki tries to make Teruhashi give up on him [before The Mixer]:

The Mixer:

Times Saiki tries to make Teruhashi give up on him [after The Mixer]:

And he wasn't even actually trying to make her give up on him. He just wanted to go back to her normal-self.

So unless I missed something, after Teruhashi "moves his heart", he really makes no effort whatsoever to make her stop liking him .

In Chapter 181, Saiki comes up with the strategy of making Rifuta think that he's dating Aiura so Rifuta will give up on him. He says he isn't doing it for Rifuta's sake, but it's obvious that Saiki being Saiki, he is trying to spare her an out-right rejection.

Lo' and behold, it works. So when Teruhashi appears, Saiki is hesitant but willing to try the same plan with her.

Of course, nothing happens because Rifuta loves Teruhashi and doesn't want her to be sad, so she shoves Saiki and Aiura in a locker so Teruhashi won't see them.

Fast-forward to Chapter 214. Aiura comes to see if Saiki wants to go to the dessert buffet, so this time Teruhashi does see them together and does get the wrong impression.

You'd think Saiki would see this as his chance to enact his original plan and get Teruhashi to give up on him, right?

Except that now, he absolutely does not want Teruhashi to get the wrong impression.

He goes as far as to teleport away from the scene and promises Aiura he'll go to the dessert buffet with her if she can get away from Teruhashi without making things worse.

So I thought, okay something definitely changed between Chapters 181 and Chapter 214.

And then I realized... the mixer chapter just happens to be Chapter 182.