Son of a Hero

“And where do you think you’re going?” Spat Axel, when Kaden came slowly walking down the stairs.

It was just them in the room. Rowena was already out working, and Morey was still vast asleep.

Kaden gave Axel a look of fury. While he realised that he was at fault too, he still wanted to either ignore him completely, or shout inappropriate insults at the top of his lungs. He knew, however, that either option would only make things worse for him.

“School.” Kaden mumbled reluctantly, just barely loud enough for his father to hear it.

Axel started laughing a disingenuous laugh, and Kaden took the opportunity to swiftly walk to the door.

“I didn’t say you could leave.” Axel said sternly, the moment Kaden had reached the door handle.

Kaden let out a small quivering sigh.

“I’ll be late.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Late for what?” Axel cackled.

Kaden tried to control himself, but the fake laughter made it hard to stay composed.

“It might be hard for you to understand, but there are other schools than Postella!” Kaden blurted out.

Axel instantly sprung up and thundered,

“You don’t talk to me like that!”

The countless words trying to escape Kaden’s mouth made his lip tremble. Instead, he turned his back to his father and put his hand on the door handle again. Axel walked over and slammed his hand on the door.

“You’re not going anywhere!” He shouted.

“You can’t stop me!” Kaden shouted back.

Fury shot into Axel’s eyes as he turned Kaden around. Kaden didn’t even dare look into them.

“Wow, what’s going on?” Morey yawned as he walked down the stairs.

Axel immediately shot around and let out an annoyed grunt the moment he saw him. Kaden took this brief chance to head out the door. He heard his father shout after him as he walked away. Kaden didn't care, he just wanted to get away from him.

The portable school was located on the other side of the city this morning, so Kaden had to go quite far. His mind being occupied with anger made the trek feel even longer, as he absent-mindedly went the wrong way a few times, and had to run back. Eventually, he reached the big black doors of the school, with a few minutes to spare.

Before he could enter his classroom, Kaito bumped into Kaden.

“Hi Kaito.” Kaden greeted, without looking around at him.

“H-hey.” Kaito responded nervously, while holding on to Kaden’s arm, as to not fall backwards.

Kaden tensed up immediately at Kaito’s touch. He quickly looked around, but Haido was nowhere to be seen, so he let out a sigh of relief. Kaden opened the door for both of them, and let Kaito go through first. Though he was still shaky, his nervousness seemed considerably less than before. Kaden smiled as Kaito found his seat, and quickly did the same, before Professor Slechtsnor found him late.

The moment he sat down, the professor walked in. After everyone had said good morning, Satoku darted around.

“What happened yesterday?” Satoku said in a not so low whispering tone.

Kaden quickly shushed him, when a few other’s eyes landed on them, including what felt like the mechanical eye of the professor.

“I had to go check something.” He whispered back, as soon as they all looked away again.

“Whatchu have to check?” Satoku asked, clearly having disregarded Kaden’s shushing.

Kaden put his finger to his lips, when even more looked in their direction.

“Can we talk about this after class?” He whispered angrily, getting slightly redder.

Satoku thought about this for a moment, then nodded.

“But you have to promise we’ll talk.” Satoku added.

Kaden ignored Satoku’s last statement tried to focus on his work. He didn’t want to think about what happened after he left, nor what happened this morning, but he was going to have to say something to his friends, to explain his sudden departure.

When the lunch bell rang, Kaden headed out before anyone else. Satoku being significantly faster than him, however, even without using his powers, easily caught up to him.

“So, what were you checking?” He asked again, while poking Kaden in the back.

When Kaden tried to ignore his question by saying “Later” Satoku asked again.

“What were you checking? Come on, tell me. I’m doing this for your own good.”

“Will you knock that off?!” Kaden snapped, when he could no longer ignore the poking.

“Oh, sorry dude.” Satoku said, backing off a little.

“You can be really annoying sometimes, you know that?” Kaden told Satoku, already regretting his words as they left his mouth.

“That’s what my parent’s used to say too.” He chuckled back.
Kaden stopped walking and looked at Satoku, who gave off the impression that nothing was wrong. Regardless, Kaden felt bad about what he said after that.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean– You’re not annoying.” Kaden stammered.

“Eh, it’s fine dude, my parents were bad people.” Satoku explained.

“Well, I guess they were heroes, so maybe they were just bad parents.” He added, rather conversationally.

“What?!” Kaden gasped, when he realised what Satoku had just said.

“Oh yeah, they were the worst.” Satoku nodded.

“No, no, that’s not what I mean.” Kaden said in a lower, hurried tone.

He quickly looked around, and when the coast was clear, he pushed Satoku into an empty room.

It was a small storage closet, filled with cleaning supplies, and the weaponry that Satoku and Kaden saw Professor Slechtsnor using, during the entrance exam. They varied from what looked like small handguns to large canons. It was barely bright enough to see each other in there.

“This is a bit forward, dude.” Satoku said nervously.

“Your parents are heroes too?” Kaden asked, seriously.

“Oh! Well, yeah…” Satoku said, like he was deep in thought, “wait, did you say ‘too’?”

Kaden quickly covered his mouth.

“D-Did I?” He stuttered.

Satoku slowly nodded. Kaden swallowed.

“Nothing to worry about, I bet loads of students here had heroes for parents.” Satoku said as he patted Kaden on the back.

“I mean, look at me for one!” He laughed, a little too loud for Kaden’s comfort.

“It’s different.” Kaden whispered, as he gestured Satoku to keep his voice down. “Besides, I don't think it's a good thing to just casually say around here.”

Satoku shrugged.

“You don't live with your parents anymore, do you?” Kaden asked.

Satoku shook his head.

“They disowned me a while ago,” he started explaining, “mostly because I wasn’t strong enough. There were other reasons, of course, but I think that was the main one.”

“What? But you’re really good!” Kaden exclaimed.

“That’s because I trained lots after that!” Satoku laughed. “I’m still not even close to their level though, they were super strong! I’m sure you’ve heard of them, their hero names were Bullet-Point and Milisec.”

“My… parents used to work with them, occasionally. They were some of the best speedsters.” Kaden said softly.

He guessed he had accepted that Satoku now knew his secret. Besides, they were in a similar situation, after all.

“They worked pretty closely too, until the Big Fight. After that, they apparently–”

“Changed?” Satoku finished Kaden’s sentence.

Kaden nodded hesitantly.

“So I’ve heard,” Satoku said, “I wasn’t born yet though.”

There was a moment of silence where both of them processed the conversation they just had. Kaden had thought something like this would be a big deal, but with someone like Satoku, it felt like just any ordinary topic.

“By the way you asked that question before, I assume you’re still living with your parents?” Satoku then suddenly asked.

“Uh, yes…” Kaden mumbled.

“That does explain why you never want to hang out after school.” Satoku muttered. “What did they say when you told them?” He then asked, bewildered.

Kaden gulped slowly.

“Y-You didn’t tell them?!” Satoku blurted out, upon which Kaden hastily covered his mouth.

“They would kill me if they knew.” Kaden whispered.

“And they’re gonna be fine with it if you hide it from them?!” Satoku reasonably questioned through Kaden’s hand.

Kaden lowered his arm and sighed.

“Of course they won’t be…” Kaden said sombrely. “My dad was already furious when he found out I wasn’t going to the hero school he wanted me to…”

Satoku considered Kaden for a moment, then put his hand on Kaden’s back.

“I think you should tell them when you get back home.” He then said, carefully. “It’ll only get worse from here, probably.”

Kaden clenched his fists, remembering what would be waiting for him at home. Or rather, who would be waiting for him.

“Easy for you to say,” he said, “you hate your parents.”

“I don’t hate them.” Satoku told Kaden calmly. “If I could go back and show them how strong I’ve gotten, I would. But… I know they’d never accept me anyway.”

Kaden swallowed.

“That’s the real reason I came here, you know? To show them what I’m made of.”

Kaden looked at Satoku, unsure of what to say.

“Family is important, you know?”

At that moment, someone opened the door. It was the janitor, a small, scrawny old man, whose eyes were only barely visible through his thick grey eyebrows.

“What’s this?” He grumbled in surprise.

Kaden and Satoku looked at each other, then at the janitor, and ran for it.

“Come back here!” He yelled at them, but they were already gone.

Before they had reached the cafeteria, Kaden stopped Satoku.

“You can’t tell anyone about this, okay?” He said, holding Satoku’s arms.

“About hiding in the storage closet?” Satoku asked, confused.

“About my parents.” Kaden whispered, while shaking Satoku slightly.

“Ah, that wouldn’t be my secret to tell, would it?” He chuckled, patting Kaden on the back.

Kaden looked at him, worriedly, not knowing whether to trust that statement. He didn’t think Satoku would intentionally reveal his secret, of course, but he couldn’t help but worry that–

“I know I can be a little impulsive, but you can trust me.” Satoku said confidently. “I’m many things, but untrustworthy is not one of them, I hope.”

He nodded.

The “I hope” at the end didn’t exactly spark confidence in Kaden, but whether or not he wanted it, Satoku now knew his secret, so he put his trust in him.

“Where have you two been?” Haido asked suspiciously, when Satoku and Kaden arrived at the Square Cavity.

They looked at each other with open mouths.

“Not the closet.” Satoku then blurted out.

Kaden slammed his hand to his face and let out a sigh. Haido looked confused, but Amene had a look of bewonderment on her face.

Kaden quietly sat down, and dragged Satoku with him before he could say anything else.

“Where’s Kaito?” Kaden asked, trying to change the subject.

“Preparing for his Gym resit.” Haido told him.

“Turns out fainting is an automatic fail.” Amene added.

“It’s today?” Kaden asked.

Both Haido and Amene nodded.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, now that he can use his powers!” Satoku said confidently.

Haido smiled to herself and nodded firmly.

The rest of the day, Kaden kept thinking about what Satoku had said. He did feel bad for him, though Satoku himself seemed to be fine with it.

Kaden's mind couldn’t concentrate on his school work, knowing that soon he would have to go back home. He had no desire to do this, but where else was he supposed to go? Besides, now knowing that he was really the only one that still had parents to go to, made him feel bad for not wanting to see them.

Even when watching Kaito’s resit, he wasn’t fully paying attention. Kaito had easily wiped the floor with Anoyo, receiving full marks. The rest of team bad cheered for him loudly, with Haido being the loudest, of course. Kaden wanted to be happy for him, but the knot of anxiety in his stomach grew larger, the closer the end of the day came.

As the last bell of the day rang, Kaden slowly made his way to the entrance hall. The school was still swimming dolphin-like towards shore, far outside the city, which Kaden did not mind. He watched through a window as the school submerged and re-emerged itself from the water, until it finally came to a halt.

Kaden forced his legs to move towards the door, and upon opening it got a waft of sea air. He looked to the side and saw Amene enjoying the fragrance. He barely noticed she had walked next to him at all.

“You like the ocean, Amene?” Kaden asked.

Amene nodded happily, and stretched out her hand.

“You want me to come along?” He asked, looking at her hand.

Amene nodded again.

“You can just ask me, you know?” Kaden said awkwardly.

“I don't want to repeat the same mistake as last time,” she said firmly, “it was rather embarrassing.”

Kaden assumed she was talking about when she replied “yes” a little too excitedly, back at her parent's home.

He grabbed her hand, and she pulled him along. It was a good excuse for Kaden not to return home just yet, and it seemed to make Amene happy. She played like an excited puppy near the water, and Kaden sat down on the beach, watching Kagekoka High swim away, when all the students had left.

Satoku came up from behind Kaden and sat down next to him.

“So, did ya think about what I said?” He asked, now also watching Amene do cartwheels in the water.

“Which part exactly?” Kaden mumbled.

“Going home and telling your parents.” Satuko told Kaden, like it was something he could just casually do.

“It’s not that easy.” Kaden said shortly.

“Yeah, maybe not.” Satoku responded, to the surprise of Kaden.

Kaden looked at Amene, and remembered the look in her eyes when he mentioned her parents.

“You think we could still catch up to Kaito and Haido?” Kaden then slowly asked Satoku.

Satoku gestured to himself.

“Right, of course we can.” Kaden filled in his words.

“Why though?” Satoku asked.

Kaden looked at him meaningfully.

“I just had an idea.”