#saikikku

[saikikku]

A Guide to Writing Saiki Kusuo in a Relationship as an Aro/Ace Coded Character

First, yes! It's possible!

Starting Point

Saiki's canonical defining trait is that he wants to be left alone; not because he hates people, but because connection and emotional exposure cost him something. Deep down, he's afraid of hurting people.

He is already aro/ace-coded: he is not interested in romance or sex, he finds the concept of love confusing rather than compelling, and his deepest attachments are expressed through protective, self-sacrificial action rather than words or touch.

The Spectrum Matters Here

Aromantic and asexual are their own thing but they are also umbrella terms. Consider where your Saiki sits before you write a single scene. You don't need to label it in the fic, but you should know.

A fully aro Saiki in a QPR (queerplatonic relationship) reads very differently from a demi Saiki who develops something romantic/sexual after bonding with someone.

There's so much more than this, here's some resources:

See Identities on the Aromantic Spectrum

See Identities on the Asexual Spectrum

If you want to keep him close to canon, I go into more detail of where he seems to fall in this post: Is Saiki really aroace?

It just explains that he's asexual, possibly aegoromantic, potentially demiromantic.

The Relationship Exists on His Terms

Saiki doesn't pursue. He tolerates, then allows, then quietly chooses. A relationship with him looks less like courtship and more like someone being gradually un-excluded from his personal space. He will not confess. He will not ask, but he stops pretending he doesn't care.

He'd stopped trying to lose them after the third time. Whether that counted as choosing them, he hadn't decided.

Love Through Action, not Words

Saiki's affection is expressed in what he does, never what he says. He memorizes schedules so he can intercept problems before they happen. He uses his powers on someone's behalf and tells them it was a coincidence. He shows up. These are his "I care about you."

Choosing to sit near someone even when he could sit alone.

Deflecting a bad situation before his partner notices.

Remembering small details (he'd learn everything without saying a word) and quietly adjusting the world around them.

Physical Intimacy

Asexual doesn't mean touch-averse, though Saiki specifically has reasons to be (his superstrength and psychometry).

This is where a lot of in-fighting happens (please don't invalidate anyone's experience), specifically the favorability.

There are asexuals that don't experience attraction, but feel fine performing the act, or don't care either way, or feel completely repulsed. Same with aromantics.

Write with his physical comfort in mind. He'd likely never kiss on the lips as a greeting. And there are ways around that. Kissing anywhere but the lips can also be very intimate. It doesn't even have to be a kiss; it can be touching foreheads or just hugging.

What He Gets from the Relationship

He needs to realize he doesn't have to be alone. A relationship isn't about romance or passion for him; it's about having someone who knows him, doesn't demand he perform "normalcy".

Avoid:

Having him suddenly "realize" he loves them in a rush of feeling

A partner "fixing" his disinterest in romance

Writing his aro/ace traits as coldness or damage

Grand confessions or jealousy

Sex/romance as a catalyst for his character growth

Sexual descriptions in HIS pov

Treating a QPR as lesser than a "real" relationship

Try:

Slow, quiet moments of acknowledgment

His partner learning to read his non-verbal language

Actual communication replacing assumed romance

His internal monologue being introspective, not tortured

The relationship having its own shape, not fitting a template

Describe him being flustered for being accepted the way he is

When something surprises him, he files it, examines it from a distance, and usually concludes it is "not worth addressing." His internal monologue around the relationship should feel the same.

Feelings, in the conventional sense, seemed like a tremendous waste of energy. Whatever this is, the specific irritation of missing their voice at lunch, as opposed to the general irritation of everything.

His voice is not cold. It is precise. There is a difference. He notices things with care; he simply doesn't emote about them.

Types of Attraction

Explore the other attractions. Saiki actually shows aesthetic attraction canonically. He has (nonsexually) said things like Teruhashi is pretty, Rifuta is cute, and commented on some men being handsome. He, for his own reasons, like average looking people.

*I want to add here that a squish is exactly what Saiki wants from Satou. He doesn't have a romantic crush on him or is sexually attracted to his average looks. He has the platonic equivalent of a romantic crush [squish] on Satou. He wants a deep friendship with him.

What makes a QPR distinct (if you go this route, aro/ace)

A queerplatonic relationship sits outside the romantic/friendship binary. It has the commitment of a romantic partnership without necessarily including romantic attraction, platonic. For Saiki, he might, after enough time, be unable to imagine his life without a specific person in it even if he doesn't want them that way.

QPRs often require more explicit conversation than romantic relationships because there's no script. His partner can't assume that a relationship means X. They have to talk terms. The negotiation looks different for each relationship. Cohabitating and not being alone could be the goal. Or going on "dates" without making it into something; best friends go out together, it's like that.

The partner's characterization is just as important as Saiki's. They need to:

Not need him to perform romance in order to feel loved

Understand that his care is real even when it's quiet

Have their own needs and communicate them; he can listen, even if he doesn't always respond as expected

Not "fix" him, but grow alongside him

The best personalities for this kind of fic are ones who are themselves a little unusual; someone who finds conventional romance overhyped, who values stability and presence over declaration, or who simply fell into caring about him before they understood how he works.

If you don't want to go the QPR route, my recommendation is the demi route because it works really well for slow-burn stories. The gray route can be interesting depending on what the condition is. But please understand, QPRs are just as interactively rich; just look at his friendship with Aiura, it's beautiful. Also, you guys are sleeping on Mera; Saiki has a good relationship with her because they are somewhat the same and she doesn't want anything from him.

And let's not forget, there's nothing wrong with exploring friendship.

Example Fics:

Ichigo Ichie (QPR) x fem OC

-> AO3 -> Wattpad

After college, an aro/ace Saiki unexpectedly finds out he's a father and has to decide what he wants to do with that information. It's not as crazy as it sounds.

Your Psychic Prince (ASpec variety) x genderneutral Reader

-> AO3 -> Wattpad

This is a variety of oneshots. He is a bit different in each one, but it's not outright stated what he is.

Color in the Noise (No Romance/ technically a squish) x genderneutral reader

-> AO3 -> Wattpad

Saiki takes interest in the mind of someone with synesthesia.

Crush Culture is Ψ Overrated (Aro/Ace, no relationship)

-> AO3

Saiki's complicated thoughts on romance and attraction and how the girls view him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopefully this was helpful. Anything I should add?

Edited to include types of attraction and example fics.

[saikikku]

Getting Caught Staring at a Pink-Haired Psychic

A short drabble

Making a fool of yourself because Saiki Kusuo is cute.

[embarrassment/ light humor]

You had been staring.

You knew it. He knew it. The entire cafeteria, mercifully, did not know it, but Saiki Kusuo was not the cafeteria. Saiki Kusuo was a telepath who had just turned his head and locked eyes with you mid-stare like some kind of cosmic punishment.

You looked away. Looked back. He was still watching you with that flat, unreadable expression.

Just say something, your brain suggested helpfully, and then immediately supplied nothing.

"Nice weather," you said.

It was overcast.

Saiki held your gaze for one long, excruciating second before turning back to his lunch.

...They're going to think about that for the rest of the week, he noted, not without sympathy.

He was right. You did.

You thought about it on Monday, wincing into your pillow at 11pm.

You thought about it on Tuesday, when you walked into your classroom and saw the back of his pink hair and immediately turned around and walked back out for no reason, colliding directly with Hairo in the doorway.

"You okay?" Hairo asked, gripping your shoulders with the intensity of someone coaching a marathon runner. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Fine," you said. "Forgot something."

You had forgotten nothing. You went and stood in the stairwell for two minutes until your face cooled down.

That one, Saiki observed from inside the classroom, having heard the collision and identified you by the specific frequency of your embarrassment, is going to be a problem.

Wednesday was supposed to be a fresh start.

It was not a fresh start.

You had a perfectly normal plan: walk in, sit down, treat Saiki Kusuo like a regular person and not like someone who had witnessed your nice weather moment and filed it away in whatever immaculate mental archive he kept. The plan was simple. The plan was foolproof.

The plan did not account for the fact that the seat beside his was the only one left when you arrived late, or that you would sit down so quickly you misjudged the chair entirely and had to grab the desk to catch yourself, or that in grabbing the desk you knocked your pencil case to the floor and it opened, scattering its contents in a wide and impressive radius.

The classroom went briefly quiet.

You collected your pens from around the feet of several people who were very gracious about it. Saiki did not move, but one of your erasers had rolled to a stop directly beside his shoe. You stared at it. He looked down at it. You both looked at it together, like it was a crime scene.

You picked it up.

"Thanks," you said, to the eraser, to him, to no one.

I didn't do anything, Saiki thought.

His expression did not change. It never changed. Somehow this was worse.

Thursday, you had almost convinced yourself you were a normal person.

Then he held the door open for you; barely, just a hand against the frame, the most minimal possible courtesy, and you said, with complete sincerity and zero control:

"Thank you, sir."

Sir, Saiki repeated in the privacy of his own mind, genuinely unable to move on from it.

You walked through the door, kept walking, and did not stop until you reached the bathroom, where you ran cold water over your wrists and stared at your own reflection.

"Sir," you whisper screamed.

By Friday, Saiki had developed something he refused to call fondness but which functioned identically to it; a mild, helpless attention that pulled toward you the way a compass needle pulls north, unasked for, purely mechanical.

You were, objectively, a disaster. You walked into things. You said nice weather on cloudy days and thank you, sir to your classmates. Your thoughts were loud in the specific way of someone who was constantly narrating their own humiliation back to themselves.

And yet.

You sat down on Friday without incident. Got out your notebook. Clicked your pen three times, a nervous habit, he'd noticed, and then went still.

A full sixty seconds passed.

I made it, you thought, with a quiet, private triumph so genuine it was almost luminous. Normal. Completely normal. No disasters. I am a functioning person.

Saiki looked over at you.

You were smiling slightly at your own notebook.

He turned back to the front of the class.

...Forty-three seconds, he thought, because he had, without meaning to, started counting how long your good moods lasted before something went wrong.

It was, he decided, purely observational.

The bell rang. You stood up, caught your bag on the chair, and stumbled.

He caught your elbow without looking up from his desk.

You made a sound that was not a word.

"Walk slower," he said, which was the most he had ever said to you, and went back to packing his bag.

You stood there for a moment.

That, Saiki thought, very carefully not looking at you, was a mistake.

He was, for once, not entirely sure he minded.

[saikikku]

Anomaly

You have joined the list of unpredictable people in Saiki's life.

Saiki x Reader

[introspective | fluff | oneshot]

~ 2.5K words

The thing about you, Saiki had decided, was that you were frustratingly difficult to predict.

This should not have been possible. Saiki Kusuo could read minds, not metaphorically, not intuitively, but literally, completely, in real time. He had access to the unedited interior of every person he had ever stood within two hundred meters of... except Nendou. He knew what people wanted before they knew they wanted it. He knew what they were going to say before they opened their mouths. He had reduced the entire observable social world to a set of mechanisms, and the mechanisms, once understood, were boring.

Then you transferred into his class on a Thursday in October, sat down two rows away, and thought, with complete sincerity: I wonder if fish know they're wet.

Saiki had stopped walking in the middle of the hallway.

A first-year had walked into his back and apologized seventeen times.

He could read minds. He could see the future in fractured, flickering glimpses. He had reduced every person in his life to a pattern: Nendou's randomness was itself predictable idiocy, Teruhashi's self-absorption a clockwork mechanism, Kuboyasu's aggression an easy arc. Even the people who thought of themselves as complicated were, at the level of their actual thoughts, straightforward. Most people wanted: to be liked, to be comfortable, to avoid the specific humiliations they'd already experienced once. Layer that over whatever surface personality they'd constructed, and you had a complete picture.

You made decisions that didn't follow.

The umbrella incident was the first thing he catalogued.

It had been raining since noon, a grey, indifferent rain that showed no interest in stopping. Saiki had identified seventeen separate people who had forgotten umbrellas and were cycling through various degrees of resentment about it. Standard. Predictable. He had walked through all of it unmoved, because he had his own umbrella and also because other people's minor miseries were not, as a rule, his concern.

You had an umbrella. He'd noted it that morning, yellow-handled, slightly battered, tucked under your arm. You'd thought, good thing I checked the forecast, with the quiet satisfaction of someone who had learned a lesson the hard way and internalized it.

He saw you give it away at the school gate.

Not to a friend. Not to someone who asked. To a woman you had never met, somewhere in her sixties, who was looking at the rain with the resigned expression of someone who had somewhere to be. You'd just, held it out. Said something brief. She'd taken it with surprise and then gratitude, and you had turned up your collar, stepped into the rain, and walked home.

Thinking about something you'd read years ago. Some passage from a book he didn't recognize, the words half-remembered and warm, like something held a long time.

You walked home in the rain thinking about a book, and you didn't think once about the umbrella.

Saiki stood at the gate for a moment longer than he needed to.

Hm, he thought, which was not a thought he had very often.

The laughing thing was subtler, and bothered him more.

You laughed at things a half-second after everyone else, like you were translating a joke into a private language only you spoke.

Not slow, he'd checked, reflexively, and your comprehension was immediate. You got the joke when everyone else got it. You just didn't laugh yet. You held it for a half-beat, turned it over, and then laughed at something that was adjacent to the joke but not quite the same thing. Something you'd found inside it.

He wanted, badly and irrationally, to know what that was.

This was new. Saiki did not generally want to know what was inside people's thoughts; he already knew, constantly, and mostly wished he didn't. The wanting was unfamiliar. He examined it with the suspicion he'd give any unfamiliar object.

It didn't go away.

He started, without entirely meaning to, keeping a list.

Not a physical list. He would not have done something so demonstrably strange as write it down. But mentally, with the compulsive precision of someone who could not help but organize information: things you had done that he had not predicted.

The umbrella. The laughing. The time you'd spent twenty minutes helping a classmate find a phone that turned out to be in their own bag, and hadn't been impatient once, not even internally; your thoughts had been patient all the way down, which almost never happened, people were almost always at least slightly impatient underneath the performance of patience.

The time you'd stopped in the middle of a crowded street to look at a bird. Just a pigeon. Unremarkable in every measurable way. You'd looked at it for a full ten seconds, thinking something he could only describe as quiet, and then walked on.

The time you'd gotten a question wrong in class and your first thought wasn't embarrassment or self-criticism but a genuine, unguarded oh, interesting, I had it backwards, like being wrong was just new information. Like you were taking notes on yourself with the same curiosity you'd apply to anything else.

He caught himself watching you more than was strictly necessary for threat assessment.

Annoying, he thought.

He looked anyway.

The list grew. He resented the list. He continued adding to it.

You bought a snack from the vending machine and it got stuck, and instead of the standard range of reactions: frustration, resignation, hitting the machine, walking away... you tilted your head, considered it thoughtfully, and bought a second one, which knocked the first one loose. Then you stood there looking at two snacks you'd only wanted one of, and your thought was not wasteful or clever but simply: well. okay then.

You left the second one on a bench.

Saiki ate his coffee jelly and watched you from across the courtyard and thought, with the reluctant precision of someone completing a calculation they hadn't chosen to start:

I don't know what you're going to do next.

It had been years since he'd thought that about anyone. He'd forgotten what it felt like. He was relearning it now, incrementally, one unpredicted action at a time, and the feeling was strange and bright and faintly maddening and he was not ready to name it yet.

You picked up your bag and headed back inside.

A half-second later, for no visible reason, you smiled.

Annoying, Saiki thought again, with considerably less conviction than the first time.

He looked anyway. He was always going to look anyway. He had given up pretending otherwise somewhere around the umbrella incident, if he was being precise, and Saiki Kusuo was always precise.

He added the smile to the list.

It was not the last entry.

The list, by November, had become a problem.

Not in size, though it was, by any reasonable metric, too long for something Saiki insisted was purely observational. The problem was qualitative. The nature of the entries had shifted in a way he had noticed and documented and was actively refusing to analyze.

Early entries: gave umbrella away, laughed at a half-second delay, genuine curiosity about being wrong. Behavioral data. Anomalies logged in the same way he'd use for anything else; a statistical deviation, a pattern that didn't fit the model, a variable worth monitoring.

Recent entries were different.

Recent entries included things like: made a small noise of betrayal when the cafeteria ran out of the soup they like. Sat very still for a moment. Accepted this. Got something else. Did not mention it to anyone. The noise was very small.

Saiki had mentally recorded: the noise was very small.

He reviewed this fact with the detachment of someone finding an unfamiliar crack in a load-bearing wall.

It had started, as best he could trace it, sometime in late October.

You had been doing homework at your desk before class, and you'd made a mistake; he'd seen you make it, seen the small frown, watched you erase it with more force than necessary. Standard. He'd filed it and moved on.

Then you'd looked at what you'd written after the correction, tilted your head, and written a small star next to it. Not a grade. Not a mark. Just a star, apparently for your own benefit, apparently because you'd decided the corrected version deserved one.

Saiki had stared at his own desk for a moment.

That's, he had thought, and then stopped, because the end of that sentence was that's endearing, and that was absolutely not the kind of data he was collecting.

He'd recategorized it as unusual positive self-reinforcement behavior and moved on with his life.

He'd thought about the star twice more before lunch.

The problem compounded in the way that problems did when you failed to address them early.

You talked to plants. Not full conversations, just small acknowledgments, passing remarks, the verbal equivalent of a nod. Looking good, you'd said to the potted fern outside the science room, without breaking stride, without any apparent self-consciousness, and Saiki, who had been three steps behind you, had nearly walked into the door.

You named inanimate objects that inconvenienced you. Not out loud, internally. The chair that always caught your bag was the chair. Said with a specific italicized resignation that suggested history.

When you were thinking hard about something, you pressed your thumbnail to your lower lip and your eyes went to the middle distance and your thoughts made a specific sound, not quite words yet, more like the feeling of words about to happen. Saiki had become, without authorizing this, familiar with the sound of your thinking.

He had also become, without authorizing this, familiar with the face you made when you found something genuinely funny versus politely funny versus funny in the private half-second way. They were different faces. Cataloguing them had taken approximately no time at all because he had apparently already done it without noticing.

This is purely observational, he reminded himself, with the frequency of someone who had stopped believing it.

December brought new data.

It was cold enough now that everyone had shifted into winter routines; heavier coats, morning complaints, the particular social bonding that happened when people were collectively miserable about weather. Saiki observed all of it from the same fixed distance he observed everything.

You arrived one morning with your scarf wrapped incorrectly, one end significantly longer than the other, listing to the left. Your thought upon noticing this was not embarrassment but a brief philosophical well, it's still warm, and you'd left it.

Saiki looked at the uneven scarf.

He looked at it for longer than he should have.

It's asymmetrical, he noted, as though making an objective observation.

It looks, he continued, extremely reluctantly, somewhat-

He stopped the thought there. He was a man of discipline.

The mittens were worse.

They were mismatched, not dramatically, not clown-levels of different, but one was slightly darker than the other, the kind of thing that happened when you bought replacements and the dye didn't quite match. You'd clearly decided this was acceptable. You'd clearly decided this weeks ago and not thought about it since.

Saiki thought about it.

He thought: they don't match.

He thought: they don't notice or don't care.

He thought, very quietly, in the most guarded and well-defended corner of his mind: that's-

A first-year sneezed nearby, and the interruption was so welcome he almost thanked them.

The incident that cracked something open happened on a Tuesday.

You had stayed late, he knew because he had also stayed late, for entirely unrelated reasons that he had documented thoroughly. The classroom was empty by the time you packed up, and you didn't notice the pen that rolled off your desk and under the radiator until you were already standing with your bag on.

He watched you look at the pen.

He watched you calculate, visibly, whether it was worth it.

You got down on the floor and retrieved the pen. This was not remarkable. What was remarkable was that while you were down there, you apparently noticed something else, a small piece of origami, a crane, the kind that ended up in strange places when Aiura got bored. Slightly dusty. One wing bent.

You picked it up. Smoothed the wing with your thumb, carefully, the way you'd handle something that had been through something. Set it on the windowsill.

Then you picked up your bag and left.

You didn't think anything in particular while you did it. There was no internal monologue of how kind I am or someone might want this or even the vague social self-awareness of a person performing niceness. You just, fixed the wing. Put it somewhere better. Left.

Saiki sat with that for a long moment.

The crack he felt, somewhere in the architecture of purely observational, was not loud. It was very quiet. The quiet of something that had been under pressure for a while finally, incrementally, giving.

Oh, he thought.

Just that. Oh. The single syllable of a person who has been carefully not arriving at a conclusion and has arrived at it anyway.

He walked home in a direction that was technically correct but longer than necessary, hands in his pockets, reviewing the situation with the grim thoroughness of a man auditing his own finances.

The umbrella. The laughing. The star next to the corrected answer. The small noise about the soup. Looking good to the fern. The uneven scarf. The mismatched mittens. The origami crane with the smoothed wing, sitting on the windowsill.

He was not, Saiki Kusuo told himself, the kind of person who found things cute. He was a telepath with the power to stop time. He had moved a satellite once. He had rearranged the magnetic poles of a small region. He was constitutionally above the experience of finding someone's mismatched mittens-

The mittens, said some small and treacherous part of him, were very cute.

Saiki stopped walking.

A cyclist swerved around him. A dog looked at him with the blank sympathy of an animal that had seen everything.

I'm aware, he told the dog, which could not hear him.

He stood there for a moment in the cold, with the city moving around him, and conducted a final, thorough, completely objective assessment of the data.

The data was not ambiguous. The data had not been ambiguous for some time. He had simply been, and this was embarrassing to admit, wrong, not about the facts, but about what the facts were facts about. He'd been cataloguing anomalies when he'd actually been cataloguing, with obsessive and comprehensive detail, every small thing about you that he-

He started walking again. Faster.

It didn't help. It hadn't helped last time either. He was beginning to suspect it was never going to help.

Annoying, he thought, for what was probably the hundredth time, about you, about himself, about the origami crane and the mittens and the half-second laugh and all the rest of it.

He added annoying to the list.

It was, he recognized with the resignation of a man who had run out of options, the least accurate entry on it.

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★

I'd find it very cute if he made categories for everyone and comes to the realization that he isn't making pure observations anymore, but is starting to be endeared by someone's quirks.

[saikikku]

Tropes Made Fun of in Saiki K

We all know it's a comedic gag (and a lot of the time I wish it wasn't), but I don't ever think I've seen anyone actually talk about the sheer amount of anime tropes that are being made fun of or why characters act the way they do. Like it's genuinely amazing the series got away with being a parody of so many anime archetypes; and Saiki is literally telling us it's all ridiculous.

Kusuo lists some of them right at the beginning that he made happen with his powers:

unnatural, colorful hair and eyes

people ignoring weird features like his antennas

the crotch and boobs being always covered when the rest of the clothes are blown away

fast recovery times

surviving serious injuries

Characters:

Saiki Kusuo - The overpowered protagonist; the fantasy of being all powerful (it's an inconvenience, he told you so).

Saiki Kurumi - The impossibly kind mother (even powerful psychics struggle against her sincerity).

Saiki Kuniharu - The pathetic father (well at least he's present), and the man obsessed with his wife. Literal shoe licker.

Saiki Kusuke - The Genius/Rival sibling. *sigh* He is also the bro-con (brother complex).

Iridatsu Yuuta - The special kid; the child chosen by destiny. Children are often used to perceive things adults cannot and Saiki literally exposes himself with no problem to him. His powers are just explained away by child imagination.

Nendou Riki - The idiot best friend; he's the lovable moronic sidekick and his idiocy is almost like a superpower because Saiki can't read him. He accepts Saiki completely, has seen him use his powers, and somehow he still doesn't know about them, or just hasn't said anything because Saiki is his partner no matter what. He supposed to be ugly?

Nendou Midori - The single hard working mom

Takeuchi Riki - The absent father/ dead parent. Funny, even with no memory he actually isn't absent and helps his son sometimes.

Uryoku Chouno - The fraud magician; the mysterious occult masters, the wise mentors, the stage magicians that secretly know real magic. He is a complete fraud and the irony is he's associated with the most powerful psychic on Earth. And he started down this path because he lost his office job and his wife (Midori) left him.

Kaidou Shun - The chunnibyou hero; teenagers who believe they're protagonists in supernatural stories; the would-be isekai victim. He acts like he's battling against dark forces while everyone else is just living in a slice of life comedy. He is normal and his little brother has surpassed him in every way. If Kaidou had his own anime, he would be Saiki without all the avoidance.

Mrs. Kaidou - the control freak mother that just wants the best

Kuboyasu Aren - The reformed delinquent; the scary looking (middle/ high schooler) guy/ former gang member that is secretly nice and actually has a heart of gold. The glasses? Fake. And his attempts at being normal are sort of more terrifying than if he just acted like a delinquent; he has absurd superhuman strength. Somehow he's the most sane friend Saiki has.

Kuboyasu Rean - scary looking father; gang member/ yakuza family member

Teruhashi Kokomi - The perfect girl/ idol; the Mary Sue heroine. Saiki is the only person that doesn't react to her beauty; romance anime would have this be the start of a love story, but she develops an obsession trying to get a reaction out of him.

Teruhashi Makoto - The freaking sis-con (sister complex).

Rifuta Imu - The rival love interest who suddenly appears to challenge the main heroine. A character like her would normally be a serious threat, but instead Teruhashi utterly destroys her confidence just by existing and then she falls in love with her and starts to hate Saiki.

Hairo Kineshi - The passionate sports hero; the fiery protagonist and the guy who solves everything with effort. His intensity is absurd and inappropriate for ordinary situations.

Yumehara Chiyo - The shojo heroine; girls who constantly imagine elaborate romantic fantasies. These girls are portrayed as small and cute and concerned about their appearance. She wishes to be that but she's a normal teenager and ends up getting excited when she sees food. Her real behavior clashes with the romanticized version of herself.

Arisu Makino - Because you've seen at least one slice of life high school anime with a girl interested in the dark arts whose supposed to be creepy, but she's one of the nicest people.

Mera Chisato - The perpetually poor character; poor but cheerful, hardworking student supporting family, and the hungry girl gag character. The joke is that her poverty was turned into a personality trait.

Aiura Mikoto - The psychic/ destiny girl; the mystical fortune teller and the fated soulmate character. The twist is, she actually isn't wrong; the fortune teller is usually a fraud character but her powers are real and Saiki still isn't interested. And, she is so fortunate that she's met truck-kun and lived.

Toritsuka Reita - The perverted spiritual monk; the spiritual hero and the guy blessed with a supernatural ability. He'd be portrayed as someone wise and noble whose advances would be used as comic relief in some other anime.

Akechi Touma - The super detective genius/ hyper observant prodigy; also the childhood best friend of the protagonist. And you know those animes where the protag gets beat up as a child; that him. He eggs his bullies on because he can't shut up and he's proud of his incontinence...

Saiko Metori - The rich rival; the absurdly wealthy heir and the elite who thinks money solves everything. Ironically he actually has character development.

Hii Suzumiya - The walking disaster; she is the whumpee character that if something tragic is going to happen, it's always going to happen to this specific character and to anyone associated with them. The twist is that she's completely fine and brushes it off like that's just how life is.

Satou Hiroshi - The ultimate background character; anime have this habit of introducing characters as this normal person and then you find out like two episodes later that they are the chosen one or something. Saiki is obsessed with him because he is actually a normal Japanese guy, not "anime" normal.

Situations:

Chosen One - protagonists discover they're special; Saiki is special and hates it.

Romantic Destiny - fate repeatedly tries to push Saiki into romance and he spends his energy trying to escape it. Anime usually rely on romance to bring characters together.

Sports Festival/ Tournament Arcs - Everyone becomes weirdly intense because most school anime treat sports like a life or death battle. Characters love proving themselves, but Saiki knows he would win; it's pointless and he has a secret to keep.

Friendship Power Ups - Some anime solve problems with the power of friendship. Saiki acts like it's a complication, but he ends up better off for it.

Love Triangles - Rom/coms thrive on misunderstandings. The misunderstandings are happening entirely in people's heads and Saiki is just trying to go home and avoid it all.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things. There's just so many things packed in there.

[saikikku]

I think it's hilarious that, canonically, Saiki cannot play an instrument. He just makes people think he can by transmitting the sound into their head.

Saiki, why haven't you learned? I think you'd find the challenge fun.

This clip is from that mmd video I made. Do whatever with it, idc.

Manga panel below

[saikikku]

Is Saiki really aroace? I thought it was just a hc like the trans thing

Dang, you really asked this during pride month but I'll humor you.

I'll try to be as factual as possible.

1. Asexuality

Sexual attraction (who you want to have sex with).

When he looks at people, the first thing his x-ray vision does is strip their clothes off. He is so desensitized to bodies he doesn't care what people look like because he doesn't view nudity as being sexual. It's just a body. Above he is comparing naked women to noses. If he continues to stare at people, he sees through their skin to the muscles, and without his limiters, down to their skeletons. Even if he lost his powers, he won't suddenly feel people are sexy to look at; he's been over exposed.

He does know what people look like; he has acknowledged that Teruhashi is pretty, Rifuta is cute, Nendou is ugly, Satou is average. These comments are purely aesthetic and not because he has sexual desires.

He doesn't have motivation to look at explicit content either even though he can see pictures; while characters like Toritsuka, Nendou, and even Kaidou have been shown looking at it, Saiki showed no interest.

Saiki completely ignored Kaidou throughout this entire scene; this is Nendou's house btw. His only priority was getting Nendou's dad to leave him alone.

He also declined Aiura when she was in his bed, nude, offering herself. What does he do? Give her her clothes to put back on. No reaction.

He is 100% ace.

2. Aromanticism

Romantic attraction (who you want to date or fall in love with).

Before I even get into this:

I'm aware that Shuuichi Asou (mangaka) is a SaiTeru shipper; it doesn't mean anything to me that he included SaiTeru title cards in S2. He was sharing his art of his characters and he continues to do so, as an artist does. If SaiTeru was his goal for the series he would have made it canon, but he did not. Saiki says "I don't want either of them (Aiura and Teruhashi)," when his grandparents find out about them and it's left on that note.

The show is a gag meant to make fun of tropes. Teruhashi is the parody of the "perfect girl," usually the first girl introduced, that's flawless and always ends up with the underdog mc regardless if some other girl that's more fitting comes along. Except here, Saiki is overpowered and unintentionally popular and Teruhashi is so perfect that when Saiki ignores her existence, she thinks she's the one in love. It's meant to be ridiculous.

Getting into it:

I can't say I blame him. He doesn't feel attracted to walking muscle bags.

He doesn't want a relationship because of his powers. He says that all the way to the end and he sticks to that. If he didn't have his powers it might be a different story.

Romantic feelings aren't completely based on looks; feelings can develop overtime regardless of physical attraction.

He consumes romantic media; one of the first things he's shown trying to watch on TV is "Love Fantasy" until it gets spoiled. He also was very invested in those stranger's love story when he accidentally touched that book. So he is at least ok with media. Left at that, aego is fitting.

Aegoromantic is defined by a disconnection between oneself and the subject of romantic attraction. They may enjoy the depiction of romance in media but feel little to no desire to participate in romantic relationships themselves.

He is also supportive of his friends being in love, as long as that "love" isn't directed at him. He wants Kaidou and Yumehara to get together, so Yumehara doesn't set her sights on him again.

Where you may disagree is his feelings for Teruhashi, Aiura or Satou. His feelings are platonic for all of them.

Satou is the first person he's expressed wanting a friendship with; he likes how average he is and tries to impress Satou with having the same interests. Saiki stalks all his friends btw; the stalking was just blatantly shown for Satou to prove a point. It's a squish.

A "squish" is the platonic counterpart to a "crush." It describes an intense desire to be close to someone or form a deep friendship, but without any romantic or sexual interest.

Saiki has a very good relationship with Aiura because she understands him. She talks to and jokes around with him and makes him feel included. They are best friends and he feels comfortable enough to hug her, and she is often his go to when he needs help.

He realizes as time goes on that Teruhashi has started to view him as a human being, starting at the mixer; she saw him as any other guy before so that was shocking to him and he starts to consider her as a friend rather than a girl who is after him. He is impressed by her efforts in being perfect, and he wishes she would just be herself and not worry about what other people think of her. He is concerned for her wellbeing. In reawakened, he blushed at her; it's not because he likes her. He was objectively analyzing her, as he does all things, and she caught him staring. He's embarrassed.

If I saw any of that as being romantic then I'd say he's demiromantic.

A demiromantic person only experiences romantic attraction after forming a deep emotional bond with someone.

There's a 50% chance he is aromantic, but he is arospec.

3. Gender

Because you brought it up.

Saiki was born, in a transformed state, as female. So trans, technically. He isn't sure which form is his true form since something he struggles with is control over his powers, however:

His default state seems to be male, and if there's anything to take from this panel he was assigned male at birth. He also goes by he/him pronouns.

Saiki is an opportunist. If a situation calls for it, he will turn into a girl, and he has said he'd want to be a cute girl in his next life. He cannot be a girl indefinitely as that power only lasts for 2 hours, and need 5 hours before transforming again..

Personally I do not think he cares. If I were to label him, it would be gender nonconforming.

[saikikku]

soooo i read your writing saiki on the aspec post (very helpful btw) and i was wondering if you had any more specific examples of his behavior before/during a relationship? i’m not very imaginative and often need things spelled out for me. ty!!

Thank you for the question! This is going to be a long answer.

This is a follow up to: A Guide to Writing Saiki Kusuo in a Relationship as an Aro/Ace Coded Character

First it's important to know: Why is Saiki Kusuo avoidant of any and all relationships?

The answer is Akechi (Asumi) Touma. He got attached to him as a kid and ended up injuring people, so Kusuo swore off friendship in order not to hurt people with his powers again.

Deep down, Saiki does not want to hurt anyone; he actually does want interaction. He is using coffee jelly and sweets as a joy replacement for the lack of connection in his life. He has convinced himself that he doesn't need anyone and that he is above human behavior.

Before a relationship:

Indifference to Romance Saiki simply doesn't seem to have interest. When classmates obsess over crushes, he finds it baffling and exhausting rather than relatable. He just doesn't understand, why change your behavior for someone else?

Annoyed by Romantic Attention, Not Flattered When the most beautiful girl in school approaches him, his internal reaction is basically "this is an inconvenience." He pretends she doesn't exist.

Aesthetic ≠ Romantic He can acknowledge that someone is objectively attractive without any pull toward them. This is aesthetic attraction and he'd be analytical about it, like when he stared at Teruhashi without his powers. Now that he could stare, he was acknowledging, wow she is actually very pretty.

Avoids Relationship He goes out of his way, using his powers, to prevent situations from escalating into romantic territory. He avoids being seen, reroutes the other person, diverts their attention to someone else. (Queue scenes of hilariously avoiding Yumehara)

When "Relationships" Are Forced On Him

Keep in mind, if you write someone falling for him immediately after meeting him:

No Jealousy Response When other characters compete for someone's affection around him, he feels zero territorial or jealous impulse. He's more likely to be relieved if someone else "takes" the romantic attention off him (likes that Yumehara turned to Kaidou).

Persistent "I Don't Want This" Internal Monologue Whenever Teruhashi or Yumehara angle toward romance, his internal commentary is consistently annoyed and dismissive, never secretly pleased.

Kindness Without Romantic Motivation Saiki does help people and care about their wellbeing, but it's consistently framed as obligation, habit, or low-key affection for friends. (His first sign of protection toward Teruhashi is at the mixer; those three guys were thinking lewd things about her. He'd feel crappy letting them take advantage of her.)

Saiki also sees himself as a burden because of his powers. He doesn't believe his parents actually love him because of the trouble he's caused, so there's no way he'd believe a stranger or "friend" would just accept him. It has to be proven to him through persistence and they need to be aware of his powers to fully prove it to him.

Catching his interest:

This person is either extremely average or they've surprised him in some way.

Intellectual / Mental (I love the sapiosexual/romantic angle; not attracted to looks, but their mind) Saiki can read minds. He knows what everyone is going to say before they say it. Someone whose thoughts are layered, or just deeply unusual would be compelling to him. Something closer to fascination that he can't immediately categorize or dismiss. As much as he pretends not to care, he gets into situations because he is nosy and likes to people watch.

Persistent Whether it's impressing him with some character trait, teasing him, or annoying the hell out of him. He will eventually find it endearing that someone wants to be in his space, even if he doesn't say that.

Compatibility It wouldn't be a lightning bolt; he won't let it be. It would be a slow realization that he keeps choosing to be near this person when he doesn't have to be.

Disgust Hear me out. Someone has done something that makes him want to torment them. This is his dynamic with Toritsuka, and you know what... Saiki is sadistic as hell; not only is it entertaining, it makes him happy. This would be an angle to spin when his motivation is something other than romance.

His Internal Response (That He'd Never Admit) Confusion First He wouldn't immediately recognize what he's feeling because he has no real frame of reference for it. He'd probably analyze it like a problem, trying to find a rational explanation. "I keep factoring this person into my decisions. Why?" Mild Panic, Tightly Controlled Not the blushing, stuttering anime panic. More like an internal alarm going off. He'd be unsettled in a way he couldn't immediately logic his way out of, and that would bother him more than the feeling. Denial as a First Resort He'd almost certainly rationalize it away initially. Tell himself it's just proximity or some explainable psychological response. He is deeply committed to keeping his life uncomplicated. Heightened Observation He already notices everything, but he'd find himself cataloguing specific things about this person without intending to. The way they think, small habits, how their presence feels. His brain refuses to file them away like everyone else. He is going to stalk them. Research He clearly believes he isn't made for romance or sex like other people. He'd start questioning himself and has to do research on the topic. His Tells: -> Less annoyed by them -> Intervenes more than necessary -> Thinks about this person a lot -> Doesn't move away from them -> Lingers near them without reason -> Jokes around/ teases them -> Feels compelled to reveal his powers (He can't enter a relationship honestly without this being known)

Headcanons:

When his behavior change becomes noticeable to that person, he let's them assume things instead of telling his feelings.

He has a period where he becomes more avoidant because he's annoyed with his change in behavior (it's not going to work; somehow he's going to end up exactly where he was trying to avoid).

He gets very flustered when directly approached about it, tries to deny it, but eventually lets it happen.

His indecisiveness leads to the "What are we?" question because there's been an obvious change that's no longer strictly platonic. His answer is he doesn't know, he does not want to apply labels to himself.

During the relationship:

Decide if Saiki wants a queerplatonic relationship or not.

Queerplatonic territory

A bond that's deeper than friendship, prioritized without necessarily going into romance or sex; it can go into that territory but it's not built around that. It really depends on the people and what their terms are.

There can be more than one QPR.

A QPR could be any companionship that breeches into a territory that looks like romance to others. Examples:

Friends with "benefits" / "strings attached".

Living together for companionship.

Cohabitating best friends, whom may or may not be raising kids together

Friends that are each other's primary support and may share finances

Sensual touch: hugging, holding hands, cuddling, kissing (not on the lips)

QPR triad/group: it's what it sounds like; it's when there's multiple people involved in the QPR

He'd probably be most comfortable with a QPR. It would just be: this person is different, and I've decided that's their permanent problem.

That unspoken "you're mine to look after and I didn't ask for this" energy is so Saiki.

His relationship with Aiura is the closest canon thing to what a QPR could potentially look like.

Terms: friends, best friends, companion, partner or life partner

Headcanons:

He'd press his forehead against theirs to show affection when being vulnerable.

He will hold hands even though he is scared he might crush theirs.

He is not the hug initiator. He asks, "You want a hug?" and he holds his arms open for them to hug him. Same for cuddling.

He acts disgusted or indifferent when shown affection, but he secretly loves it.

He needs exact instructions, otherwise he won't act. "Just tell me what you want."

He is bluntly supportive, even if it involves another person. "Well do it then."

Romantic territory

Everything from the QPR also applies here; except, now there is a condition. The condition of romance implies there is an intense emotional draw to a specific person.

He would get jealous or feel possessive.

Longs for commitment/ being exclusive; like there will be no mistaking that a romantic relationship has been entered.

Standard relationship boundaries apply; no cheating behavior.

Idealizing the person as the ideal partner (fantasizing; ex: see how Yumehara and Teruhashi project their version of him. What is Saiki's ideal partner? What would he want?).

Courtship behavior: romantic dates, gift giving, display of affection, verbal reinforcement of love (Will he have a hard time expressing himself? Probably. Will he do it because he wants to or because it's expected of him?)

Terms: boy/girlfriend, lover, wife, husband

Headcanons:

He is demiromantic

He remembers every little thing about the person and will take them on their version of a perfect date.

He gets very confused about his possessive feelings so he hides it, but if he sees someone putting the moves on his person, he intervenes with his powers.

He clears his schedule for his person.

Sexual territory

(This is educational so I'm keeping this sfw).

He is 100% Ace because of his x-ray vision power; he's completely desensitized to bodies. Where he currently is in the show, he can see people for up to 5 seconds before the skin disappears; it resets if he blinks or looks away. But if he is aged up, there's no reason this can't change; he is constantly trying to improve his control over his powers.

Personally, I like the sapiosexual angle; he'd be attracted to someone's mind rather than their body.

However completely up to you if he is sex favorable, indifferent, or averse. Asexuals can be curious about sex or even think about it a lot, or completely repulsed.

Headcanons:

He is indifferent.

He has to be asked, needs instructions, because he'll never bring it up himself.

He'd do research, whether that's reading books, on the internet, or looking at his person's fantasies.

He'd be flustered and awkward the first time, but once he knows what to do he'd be indifferent about it. As in, he doesn't care if the act happens, but if he's asked, he will do it.

He is scared of his own strength, so he let's his person take the lead.

I have to stop myself; I will just keep going. Saiki actually has a different dynamic with each person in his life. Those characters can be used as a template if you're planning on writing xOC/Reader. I made that into a separate answer: Using Existing Characters as Templates

[saikikku]

-Blink-

The first time I made him, he crashed the program. I had to tear him apart and start from the beginning.

Saiki what am I even going to do with you?

You aren't supposed to use your powers like that