Team Not-So-Bad

After the first day, things went slightly better for Kaden at Kagekoka.

While he may have still been stressed about having to lie to his parents, his father seemed happy that Kaden went to what he thought was Postella Academy. Though he felt guilty, Kaden didn’t want to take away that happiness just yet. Besides, he was just glad that his father actually seemed proud of him for once. He hadn’t said he was, but the tone in his voice made Kaden assume this was the case. And, while his mother was surely still suspicious, she seemed happy that Kaden had cheered up a bit.

He found he was rather decent in History of Villainy and Biology. Though, he didn’t particularly excel in classes like Thievery, Deception, and Gym, which led to a plethora of new embarrassing moments for him and everyone in his vicinity. These embarrassments were still met with laughter, but most of his classmates got bored with making fun of Kaden, after a while. The only people that continued to make fun of him were Shisu and his newfound friends, Gin Hayakuchi and Anoyo Tomime. They looked down on and bullied everyone, of course, but their favourite targets were Kaito and Kaden. Luckily, Haido and Satoku would always step in for them, fighting them off if necessary. While Kaden would want to fight back himself, his power hadn’t improved at all.

With it being a villain school, fights in the hallways were not a rare occurrence, though Kaden always tried his best to avoid them where possible, believing he would not be able to defend himself. Haido, however, was no stranger to fights. Almost everyone seemed to make fun of her as well, but were afraid when she as much as looked in their direction.

During lunch, Kaden and his friends always sat in their usual spot in the cafeteria. Originally, other than Satoku, none of them had plans to sit together, but like he did the first day, when he noticed any of them alone, he’d say,

“Why would you sit alone, when you can be with your best buds!”

And dragged either Kaito, or Kaden to the other.

Haido would call him a “filthy maggot” whenever he would do so with Kaito, and chomped down on his head violently afterwards.

Eventually, they decided unanimously that it would be easier for them to just sit together from the start. Kaden noticed Kaito smile after this notion, though he quickly hid his face when he noticed Kaden noticing him.

Satoku had offered a place outside early on, but Haido had told him she doesn’t like change, and since the school’s position changed frequently, they went for a spot inside.

They had claimed a perfectly square cavity, somewhere in the corner of a wall. The hole stood out to them, because it was the only anomaly in the otherwise ordinary-looking cafeteria. Ordinary for the school’s standard, that is.

All of them had their own theory as to why this random square-shaped gap was placed in only this corner of the room. Kaito was convinced that there was a square-jawed monster that had bitten the wall, lurking around the school somewhere. He shivered every time someone brought it up. Satoku had said that there once was a villain so strong, he could punch perfect squares, and when they got angry they punched a hole in the wall. Haido suggested that professor Kokoro, their History of Villainy teacher, was secretly a samurai, and that she had cut out the hole, just because she could. Meanwhile, Kaden was sure that it was just an architectural mistake, and that the builders of the school had been too lazy to fix it. He didn’t tell anyone his theory, in fear of ruining their fun, and just went along with Satoku’s strong villain hypothesis.

The cavity was big enough to house approximately five people, so they would have room for one more person. That is, if most people weren’t afraid to approach Haido, calling her weird or crazy. She was a year above them, though she had tried to fail her first year, so she could be with her “darling baby brother” when he joined the school.

Apparently, students had always called her crazy, and whenever they did, she’d always exclaim,“It’s fine! They should see me when I really go crazy!” Before giggling her usual cackle.

Kaden, however, always felt bad after hearing it. While he did get the same impression of her at first, after having got to know her a bit, he found her to actually be more charming, in a way. As long as he didn’t touch Kaito.

Kaden and his friends headed to their usual spot, after another day in gym class where he had embarrassed himself, this time by failing to defeat Charles in a foot-race, due to tripping right before the finish line.

“I don’t understand how you tripped.” Haido questioned him. “There was nothing on the track.”

She cackled loudly.

“I don’t know, I just… tripped.” Kaden mumbled, getting embarrassed.

“Eh, it happens,” Satoku said, “I used to trip over my feet all the time, when I first started running!”

He slapped Kaden on the back, joyfully.

Before they reached the cafeteria, they walked in the middle of a commotion in one of the hallways. Shisu and his friends had cornered Amene Desuna, attempting to intimidate her. She, however, had the same blank look on her face as she always had. Her eyes were a shade of blue and purple, almost looking like they changed colour, depending on the lighting. Though she always stared blankly ahead of herself with a half smile, they were twinkling like freshly fallen raindrops. Her purple hair flowed like a waterfall down her back.

The sight was weird to see. Amene towered above almost everyone in the class, Satoku being the closest to reach her height. Yet here she was, being pinned down by these three bullies, who were significantly smaller, seemingly unfazed by this.

“What do you think you’re doing, huh?!” Shisu asked, clenching his fist.

“You don’t stand out for weeks, and then embarrass me in the race?!”

“I have long legs, so I move faster, I suppose.” She replied, apparently deep in thought.

Shisu slammed his hand against the wall next to her, hard enough to form cracks into it. Amene didn’t flinch. The other two seemed excited about what might happen next.

Kaden normally would just avoid Shisu, afraid he’d go after him next, but seeing him and his friends against someone who did not fight back, made him want to step in.
“What do you think you’re doing, Shisu?” Kaden asked, trying to sound intimidating.

Shisu grunted and seethed at the mere sound of Kaden. He turned sharply and composed himself to create his usual condescending look.

“Oh look, it’s the chicken, the lunatic, and our wannabe heroes.” He chuckled, and so did his friends.

“That’s Miss Lunatic for you!” Haido shouted back, showing her teeth angrily.

The insult “wannabe hero” stung more for Kaden than Shisu could have ever known. Without thinking, Kaden created a Negative Bubble around his hand.

“Ooh~” Mocked Gin. “What’re you going to do? Turn us pink?”

The three of them laughed.

“Why don’t we find out.” Kaden told them and gulped.

He didn’t mean this as a treat. He genuinely was not sure what would happen if he hit them with this bubble.

Shisu chuckled, and in an instant a cold, almost wet feeling covered Kaden’s wrists. They twisted as Shisu turned his hand, and Kaden grunted in pain, trying to resist. Shisu stared at him, challengingly, but before he knew it Satoku had run forward and whacked Shisu in the face.

Being freed, Kaden also ran forward, but was stopped by the small, blonde, pudgy boy, Anoyo. He kicked Kaden in the shins, which hurt, but not that much. Him on his own wasn’t much of a problem, but Gin also stepped in to aid him.

“Why don’t you step back?” A soft echoing whisper sounded in Kaden’s head. “You wouldn’t want to get hurt, would you?”

Kaden halted immediately. Gin’s power, Silver-Tongue, allows him to persuade anyone to do anything, as long as his requests are realistic. You could see whenever he activated it, because his tongue would turn a silvery colour, and right now, he was using it on Kaden.

Kaden nodded faintly and was about to head back, when Haido shot a needle at Gin’s face. Out of shock, Gin stopped talking.

“Hehehe! I love fights!” Haido cackled, now also sprinting forward.

Kaito was trembling, and mumbling, “No, no, no, no,” over and over again, clenching his chest with both arms. He curled up into a small ball, away from the fight.

Haido, who had the power to produce needles from her bones, covered her hand in pins and started punching in the direction of Gin and Anoyo. Kaden tried to make some spots on the floor liquid, with the bubbles on his hands, so they would lose their balance when stepping on them. Instead, he managed to make viscous puddles of half solid, half liquid goop. Meanwhile, Satoku was shooting like a bullet, around Shisu, who grew progressively more aggressive. He tried to catch Satoku with whatever it was he used to hold people down, but Satoku was too fast.

Anoyo, who had fallen down, with small needles in his backside, pushed some buttons on a device he had just fished out of his pocket. Wires sprouted from the back and attached themselves to Haido.

“You’ll regret messing with me.” He said menacingly, his voice not quite fitting with his chubby face.
Electricity surged through the wire, shocking Haido. The needles on her hand enhanced the jolt and made sparks fly out of them, hitting not only Kaito, but also Gin. Kaden wanted to run towards her, but the flying sparks were too much to avoid or reflect.

He ran over to Anoyo instead, and wrestled the device from his hands.

“How do I stop this thing?!” Kaden asked a laughing Anoyo, while frantically pushing buttons, which seemed to only make it worse.

“Did you know pure water is actually a great insulator?” Asked Amene Desuna, who was suddenly next to Kaden.

Kaden jumped a little, having not heard her walk over through all the commotion.

“What?” He asked, staring back confused.

“Many people don’t know this, but water in its purest form is actually an insulator, not a conductor.” She explained airily, her gaze looking like she was mentally miles away.

Amene pulled her hands through her long purple hair, and flipped it up at the end. From the tips, a stream of water started flowing, in the direction of Haido. Her hair seamlessly transitioned into the clear water, as she directed the stream with her head.

Just like she had said, when the water surrounded Haido’s body, the electricity stopped flowing. With amazement, Kaden looked at Amene. Haido started cackling hysterically, while making swimming motions in Amene’s water-hair.

Unfortunately, the water did not only reach Haido. Some of it had spilled on the floor, around where Satoku was running. As he was charging head-first at Shisu, he slipped and fell.

“Gotcha.” Shisu said sinisterly, making a grabbing motion with his hands.

He held Satoku in mid-air, before flinging him at Kaden.

“I should have just taken care of you back then.” He said with an agitated tone. “I guess, better late than never.”

The room went pitch black, and Kaden felt a cold, dreadful feeling surrounding him. Something had clasped his neck and was squeezing tightly. He felt his throat, but all that was there was his own neck.

“S-Shisu, please… Stop…” Gin pleaded.

From the sound of it, Shisu had not only got a hold of Kaden and his friends, but also Anoyo and Gin.

Kaden heard footsteps through the pitch-black hallway, coming closer to him. All he could see was Shisu’s glowing red eyes, glaring at him through the shadows.

“Show the world…” He said slowly. “Show them what? How pathetic you are?”

He laughed softly and cracked his knuckles.

“Someone like you being in the same class as me is frankly insulting.” He continued condescendingly.

Kaden braced himself as best he could, feeling fainter the longer he was in the darkness. Then, a whispering echo sounded in his head.

“Let us go… Now…”

The room became light once more, and Kaden could feel the grip on his throat loosening. He looked over to Gin, who noticeably had just used his silver tongue. Besides Haido, who was laughing, and Amene who just blankly stared ahead of herself, everyone was gasping for air.

“You…” Shisu thundered, changing his direction towards Gin. “You used your power on me?!”

A dark energy swirled around Shisu’s hand, as he raised it above his head.

Gin whimpered, and scuttered backwards in fear. Kaden could’ve sworn he saw a slight shift in Shisu’s expression when he lowered his hand again. Shisu scoffed and walked off through the crowd that had now gathered around them, due to the commotion.

Gin and Anoyo looked shocked at each other, but decided it was best to follow Shisu.

“Haha! Yeah! That’ll teach you to mess with team Not-So-Bad!” Shouted Satoku after them, even though it was clear to everyone that they had just lost the battle.

To everyone except Satoku, most likely.

Kaden looked around and saw that, besides being a bit bruised from the fight, everyone was mostly fine.

“You all are an interesting bunch, aren’t you?” Amene said in her ethereal voice.

“You could say that, yes” Kaden laughed sheepishly.

Now that the battle was over, the muttering crowd of students dissipated.

“Team Not-So-Bad is a terrible name.” Haido told Satoku, while straddling Kaito.

“No, no, it’s perfect!” Satoku corrected her. “See, it’s as Kaden said, for villains, we’re not so bad!”

“Don’t blame me for your terrible naming!” Kaden exclaimed, a bit embarrassed to hear his words thrown back at him.

“Especially you, Amene!” Satoku continued, ignoring Kaden’s remark. “You were awesome with your water-hair thingy!”

“Me?” She asked with her finger to her chin, looking up. “Does that mean I am part of this 'team Not-So-Bad'?”

“Of course! We’re best buds now, aren’t we?!” Satoku asked excitedly.

Kaden put his hand to his face and shook his head, but he couldn’t help but chuckle at Satoku’s excitement. He could see a slight quiver in Amene’s lip, before her blank expression returned to her.

From that day on, Amene Desuna joined them every day, to hang out in the perfectly square cavity in the wall, with the rest of team Not-So-Bad.