Capítulo 1

As a psychic, Kusuo Saiki was gifted cursed with many supernatural powers. Said powers allowed him to, amongst other things and in no particular order, read minds, see the future, see the past, see far away, teleport, levitate, et caetera, et caetera.

However, almighty as these powers may sound, they did not allow him to foresee the dreadful landscape that currently laid before his eyes.

Good grief. What is happening here?

Indeed, as soon as Kusuo stepped through the entrance of PK Academy on this cursed Monday morning, he could not help but notice that most of the student body seemed to have unanimously elected overnight to add green-tinted glasses identical to his own to their already very green school uniform. But Kusuo had not received any notice about any such uniform change.

Which meant that something else must be afoot.

“Oh, Saiki!” his classmate Kaidou called as he ran up to him, newly purchased green glasses sliding down his nose. “So you watched it too, right? Tohru Mugami’s new hit drama, The Green Lens !”

If Kusuo had been a regular high schooler, he probably would have felt the need to ask a few follow-up questions to this statement, such as “what the hell are you talking about?”, or “do I look like a drama fanboy to you?”, or “for the love of God, if you are going to wear glasses, at least get some with anti-slip nose pads, will you?”.

However, as it turned out, Kusuo was a psychic, so a simple peek inside Kaidou’s mind was usually enough to find the answer to his questions without going through the hassle of conversation.

The Green Lens was, as Kaidou pointed out earlier, a new television show starring the popular actor Tohru Mugami, or, as he is better known to Kusuo and probably to you as well, esteemed reader, the class’s self-proclaimed perfect pretty girl Kokomi Teruhashi’s elder brother, Makoto Teruhashi.

Through Kusuo’s unswitchoffable telepathy, Kaidou’s mind unsolicitedly supplied a full trailer for this new drama, conveniently complete with both synopsis and illustrating footage.

In a world where transparent glasses turn people mad…

“Kyaaah! The whole accounting department has turned mad!” screamed an office lady as she ran away from a horde of bespectacled men in suits moving like zombies.

One man is spared from the madness...

“Hey, I’m wearing these green-tinted glasses and I’m not affected by this weird disease turning people with glasses mad,” Tohru Mugami’s character mused as he stroked his chin, his expression hidden behind glasses flashing green. “Could it be because of…”

The Green Lens! Now on Channel Psy!

...

...

Good grief. No pun intended, but who green-lit this show?

“Episode one aired last Friday and it was such an instant hit that everyone immediately got on the green glasses hype train!” Kaidou continued excitedly as he pushed his forever-slipping glasses up his nose again. “I tried to get a pair that had anti-slip nose pads, but they had run out of the model already by the time I got to the shop…”

I see. So that's what happened.

“But I’m so happy that you’re a Mugami fan too, Saiki! You don’t have to hide it, you wearing this particular shade of green lenses says it all!”

...?

What did he mean? He had always worn the exact same pair of green glasses. Ever since that day six years ago when he had rightfully accidentally turned his own father into stone, he had been wearing his loyal specs in order to protect other living life forms from his medusa stare. But Kaidou seemed to have magically forgotten about that obvious feature of his character design… Did this mean that the brainwashing power of televised drama was even stronger than his true-to-God mind control abilities? Good grief.

…

Wait.

Back up.

What did he call him again?

“I love Tohru Mugami too! He’s so cool!” Kaidou continued enthusiastically, unaware of Kusuo’s increasingly horrified face. “If you like this drama, then I also recommend his detective show… Wait, where are you going?!”

I’m sorry, Kaidou, but I will not stand there and be insulted like so , Kusuo thought with mild anger as he stomped his way back to the school gate, inadvertently creating a gust of wind as he sharply took a corner, making a random teacher’s toupee fly away. Who are you calling a Mugami fan?!

This couldn’t do. Did donning green-tinted glasses now convey the same message as wearing one of the cringy actor's memorabilia? If such was the case, then he had to get rid of them ASAP. Immediately. Right the hell now.

Kusuo stopped his angry walk at an unpopulated street corner to think. He had about twenty minutes ahead of him before class started, which should be enough time to fix this issue if he used his powers intelligently.

The obvious solution here would be to get different glasses. Yes, this was the most reasonable way out of this painful misunderstanding. He could always use one of his dad’s spares - whilst of a dreadfully boring design, they were glasses that Kusuo would much rather wear than be assimilated to Tohru Mugami’s fanbase.

Let’s take a quick peek at home to see where he keeps them. Clairvoyance!

“Oh, my darling, you look so dashing with those new green glasses!” His mom cooed, looking up at her husband with sparkles in her eyes as he was obnoxiously Vogue modelling around the living room, showcasing a pair of brand new green-tinted glasses identical to Kusuo’s.

“Oh, my sweet love, I’m so happy you like them!” his dad cooed back in an irritating voice, looking mighty smug as he pushed his new acquisition up his nose. “I’ve been told at the store that they made me look like Kento Yamazaki, so I bought their whole stock of nose-padded green glasses and trashed all of my old boring pairs. Here comes the new me!”

“This is amazing, my darling, but didn’t that very sudden glasses modelling session make you awfully late for work?”

“OH SHI-”

Okay, Kusuo had seen enough. As per usual, his dad had been of no help at all.

Good grief. Let’s just teleport to the nearest shop likely to sell appropriately bland glasses.

-

As Kusuo set foot inside the opticians store, his eyes were immediately assaulted by green. Green everywhere.

“Hello, sir! How can I help you today?” a pleasant woman greeted him, face smiling behind her green specs.

“I would like to purchase glasses of any tint color but green,” Kusuo replied, already suspecting the futility of his request as he took in the store's green-lenses-only collection on display.

“I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t stock these anymore," the lady predictably supplied. "But may I recommend some of our top sellers? We have a wide range of emerald, chartreuse, lime and shamrock tinted glasses if you would like to have a look at them!”

“These are all shades of green! Surely you must have something else?”

“I guess we’ve still got leftover stock for these if you would like to have a browse,” she said, pointing at an unceremonious pile of strangely shaped glasses. A closer look at said pile showed that it contained a mix of Groucho glasses and a few of these curious striped specs that unsavory people liked to wear at nightclubs. Not that Kusuo has ever been in a nightclub. He’s just happened to see them used as a similar prop on The Green Len … Nevermind, he saw them at night clubs. Don’t jump to conclusions.

Considering his desperate situation, Kusuo could have seriously considered picking one of these comically inappropriate glasses had they been fit for purpose, but without any attached lenses to block his stony gaze, they would be entirely useless.

Kusuo checked the time. He only had ten minutes left to find what he was looking for if he wanted to get to school in time for his first class, which he did. An exact total of zero pairs of glasses sold in this shop met his criteria, but he was too short on time to try a different store... Which only left him with one last option. It was far from ideal, and it came with its own set of demerits, but this was an emergency.

“Good grief. I guess I have no choice" Kusuo thought out loud, making a face. " I would like to look at your contact lenses options, please.”

The sales lady looked at him with pity. “Contacts are, like, so two weeks ago, but sure, let me get that for you.”

Kusuo frowned. Did her attitude to customers always do such a 180 whenever she was asked for a non store-recommended product? And how did contacts become so out of fashion overnight?

Whatever. His priority here was to acquire an eye barrier that would seal his powers without associating his good name with the likes of Bro Teruhashi.

Contacts will have to do.