The Number One Villain

Kaden, Satoku and the small boy laid on their backs, their legs hanging over the edge of the door opening. Satoku was excitedly telling the boy, who shyly introduced himself as Kaito Monomo, about operation “Reflect and Make a Dash to the Finish”. Kaito didn’t say much after his introduction. He just sat up and nervously kept looking around and twiddling his fingers.

After Satoku finished his story, they all stood up to head further in the building, but before they could, a boy, dressed in a black coat, walked up to Kaito. He looked slightly shorter than Kaden. His hair was long and flowing, and looked black like charcoal. His bright scarlet shone through his bangs, partially covering them.

“Hello there!” Satoku greeted him cheerfully.

The boy in black didn’t respond. Instead, he reached his hand to Kaito’s neck and gripped around it. He pulled him up, off his legs, and walked closer to the edge.

“What are you doing?!” Kaden exclaimed. “Put him down, now!”

The boy chuckled grimly.

“Oh, gladly.” He said in a sinister, emotionless tone, while dangling Kaito’s body over the edge.

Kaden wanted to jump at him, but for some reason his body wouldn’t let him. He felt like something cold was covering him, holding him in place, but he couldn’t see anything there when he looked down. He glanced over to Satoku, and saw that he was also struggling to move.

“This kid,” the boy started, looking in disgust at Kaito, “he crossed the line after the time was up, did he not?” 

He shook his head.

“Now would that be fair to the others that fought so hard to get here on their own?” 

His voice turned more smugly by the second.

“If you ask me, we should just throw him back overboard.”

Kaito whimpered, as the boy slightly loosened his grip. He chuckled and looked back at Satoku and Kaden, who struggled to get out of whatever held them back.

“Then again, if he didn’t have help, he wouldn’t have made it in the first place, would he?” 

He menacingly looked back at Kaito. Kaito was now quivering and gasping for air, slapping the hand of the boy in black.

“Maybe the ones who aided him should be thrown over too, huh?”

Kaden felt a sudden tug on his body, and slid towards the edge. He tried to back up, but his body was still stuck.

“What are you doing?!” Satoku yelled out, but the boy just laughed at them.

“See, someone like me had to work his way here. Some of us have ambitions that scum like you can’t get in the way of.”

“And what would that be?” Kaden scoffed.

“Oh my, you don’t know?” The boy said, sarcastically. “Take a good look, as it will be your final one. Before you stands Shisu Kageyona, the one who will become the number one villain.”

Kaden gritted his teeth. Shisu Kageyona reminded him an awful lot of Ari Hakusei. Just as dislikable and just as arrogant.

“For a villain, you do seem stuck up on the rules.” Kaden said sharply.

“What was that?!” Shisu replied, his voice drastically changing to be more aggravated.

“I’m just saying, would the number one villain really care for something as trivial as rule-breaking?” Kaden answered, making use of his sudden moment of bravery, in the face of danger.

Kaden and Satoku stopped moving as Shisu clenched his fist. He threw Kaito on the ground before them, his fiery eyes piercing through Kaden. It looked like he was about to say something, when a pin needle shot at his face. Shisu flinched for a moment and felt the blood coming from his forehead, before pulling the pin out.

“Keep your filthy maggot hands off my baby brother!” A piercing voice yelled from behind them.

A girl, slightly shorter than Kaden, leaped through the air and attached herself to Shisu. With her sharp teeth, she bit into the back of his head. Shisu grunted in pain, trying to throw her off, but it was like she was stuck on his body. Kaden felt himself able to move again, and it seems Satoku did too, because he ran head first into Shisu’s stomach. Kaden ran over to Kaito to make sure he was okay. He was breathing heavily and was shaking.

“Are you okay?” Kaden asked worriedly.

“I-I think so,” Kaito responded in a small voice, “I’m sorry, I caused this…”

Kaden shook his head.

“Enough!” Shisu shouted out. 

His voice echoed through the hallway as a wave of shadows covered it. All of them were pushed against the wall, stuck in place.

“All of you.” He said through gritted teeth, seething with anger.

It looked like a dark aura was seeping out of him.

“Don’t think I’ll forget this. You should think better before crossing someone in this place.” 

He turned his gaze to Kaden specifically.

“You might end up hurt,” a sly grin now formed on his face, “or worse.”

He stormed out of the hallway, which lightened up gradually, filling with the late morning sunlight through the still open doors. They all dropped to their feet, as whatever held their bodies in place left with Shisu.

The girl rushed over to Kaito to hold him tightly, pushing Kaden aside carelessly.

“Are you okay, my darling baby brother?” She cried out, squeezing his body more than Shisu had his neck.

“I’m alright, Haido,” coughed Kaito, “please let go.”

Haido looked similar to Kaito, they both had black hair, a tan skin tone, and almost gleaming yellow eyes. Haido’s hair, however, more closely resembled knotted up barbed wire. Kaden though that if he were to touch it, he might hurt himself.

“How would you even determine the number one villain?” Satoku asked out of nowhere. 

Kaden looked at him, taken aback by his sudden question.

“Is that what you’ve been thinking about this entire time?” He asked, baffled.

Satoku looked at Kaden, as if he should’ve already guessed that this was the case, and nodded. Kaden gave a sheepish laugh in response.

“There are many types of villains that are all good in their own individual category.” Satoku continued to contemplate. “It would be difficult to say who’s the definite best, don’t you think?”

“I guess so…” Kaden mumbled, also starting to think about it.

“The number one villain is obviously the one with the most kills!” Haido cackled, still holding onto Kaito. “They’re the most evil of evil, of course.”

Kaito shook his head.

“Not all villains have to be killers, big sis.” He told her.

“Recently there’s been a big wave of morally ambiguous villains, even.” Satoku added, while nodding. 

Haido rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.

Kaden didn’t really know how to add much to the conversation. From his point of view, there had always just been the heroes and the villains. The good and the evil. He supposed that maybe there was a wide variety of them, thinking about it now. Some who weren’t as bad as they were portrayed to be. Though, maybe he was only swayed by the not so evil seeming future villains that were in the room with him now.

Satoku and Haido continued the discussion, mostly on their own, while Kaden and Kaito sat on the edge, watching as the school walked to its desired place. They were both just listening to the others arguing about what exactly made a villain villainous, while watching the scenery go by.

“I saw you during the exam.” Kaito quietly told Kaden. “You were fighting the creepy moustache man, right?”

Kaden nodded in response to his question.

“How exactly does your power work?” Kaito asked nervously. 

He quickly hid his face with his shirt. It seemed like it took a lot out of him just to talk to Kaden.
In truth, Kaden wasn’t actually sure himself how his powers work exactly. He had always done what his parents told him to do, but today he discovered that he could do more with his powers than he originally thought.

“Well…” Kaden started, thinking about how to word it exactly, without giving away who his parents are.

“I can create these bubbles, and everything in those bubbles turns inverted.” 

He was thinking long and hard about every word.

“Because all of the colours inside invert as well, I call them Negative Bubbles. Though I can choose to invert anything else I concentrate on when creating the bubble, like direction, emotion, or the state of matter.”

Kaden thought about how he created his shields.

“And uhm… When I pour something I need into it, I can make the bubbles bigger.”

Kaito looked at him as if he was trying to make sense of everything. Kaden could almost see the cogs turning in his head.

“It’s hard to explain, since I’m not really sure myself.” He added.

“Why wouldn’t whatever you pour into it just invert as well?” Kaito then asked.

Kaden looked at Kaito, dumbfounded.

“He’s right, why didn’t it?” He thought, panicked at what could’ve happened if that is how it turned out. 

He looked down at his hands, with a contemplating expression. Kaden didn’t say a word after that. He could only think about what else he didn’t yet understand about his powers.

At last, the school stopped walking and planted itself in a forest on the edge of the city. Kaden was pleased to know that this wasn’t that far away from his home. Maybe he could still make it before his parents returned.

Satoku offered to walk back home with Kaden. Kaden, who immediately got nervous that either Satoku would find out he had heroes for parents, or his parents would find out that he was hanging out around villains, declined swiftly. It seems Satoku was taken aback by Kaden’s prompt answer, which made him feel slightly bad, since Satoku had been so kind to him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Satoku asked, with a slight smile on his face, which for him still was decently sizable.

“Of course.” Kaden quickly said, trying to smile back.

Satoku’s normal big smile returned, and he gave Kaden a thumbs up, before speeding off. Kaden watched as Kaito and Haido Monomo walked off together too. He decided to walk away as well, before the crowd of the other kids came out, or much worse, Shisu Kageyona.

It was late afternoon when Kaden got home. He slowly opened the door, praying that there was nobody there.

“Phew, I made it.” He sighed out in relief after seeing an empty house.

“Made what?” A deep, stern voice said from behind him.

Kaden’s heart sank. If he had got there even a little sooner, everything would be fine. Yet, now, his father stood behind him.

“Where did you come from?” He said strictly, while walking past Kaden into the house.

“I was just–” Kaden started, catching a glimpse of his father’s eyes and quickly averting his.

“Uhm… out training?” He hesitantly states, not even convincing himself. 

It wasn’t a complete lie, he did have some practice with his power. Axel grabbed him by the arms and looked Kaden in the eyes.

“You were out training?” He asked. 

Kaden nodded nervously.

Axel stared into his eyes for what felt like an eternity, before he started talking again.

“Well alright then, that’s great son! It’s good to get some training in before your first day!”

He patted Kaden on the head. Kaden looked away and caught a glimpse of his mother, who looked at him with a mix of suspicion and concern.

“I’m very tired now, though, f-from the training, so I’ll head to my room.” Kaden quickly added. 

This again was not far from the truth. He had felt exhausted after the exam and his encounter with Shisu. He did his best to avoid eye contact with either of his parents when walking to the stairs.

“Kaden.” His mom called him back.

Kaden froze, with one foot on the first step of the stairs.

“Y-yes, mom?” He stuttered and turned around to face her.

“The villain school has been spotted around the outskirts of the city. Kagekoka High.” She told him. 

Kaden, who was obviously well aware of this, gulped.

“Be careful when you go out next time, okay?” She continued as she gave him a sweet smile.

Kaden turned around and nodded.

“I’ll be careful.” He said, feeling like he had just betrayed her.

When he got to his room, he took off the gear he had worn under his clothes and flopped onto the bed. He stared at the ceiling of his room, feeling sad and anxious, but also hopeful, and maybe even a little excited.