KOF School

The Shadow Returns

"I can't believe the nerve of that guy!" Kay blurted out as soon as they reached the ground floor. "Dad, you know I didn't even fail the test. He's doing this just for the heck of it."
"I know," Maxima solemnly agreed. "He's a jerk, a jerk that tried to ruin our whole family."
"Who is he anyway?" Zayn chimed in. "Like why on earth does he have to bother us just for the heck of it?"
Maxima frowned. "Believe it or not, he used to date your mom."
"Eww!" All three of them said at once.
"I know right? Shocking, isn't it?" Maxima snorted. "He doesn't love her any more, just can't accept the fact that she rejected a God like himself. Apparently, he thinks of himself as some superior intellectual being that was descended from the heavens itself."
"Naa-ruu-shii-su-to!" Zayn sang with a slight smirk on his face. "He's a narcissist!"
"Exactly why your mom filed a restraining order against him," Maxima nodded in agreement. "It's not like he didn't move on, he found the love of his life but couldn't bear to see Erin happy with her family. So the moment she was out of the picture, he stepped in to destroy us."
"What a sicko," Kay groaned. "And it's Seirah's birthday too. This butthead certainly does know how to ruin the moment, doesn't he?"
"Ignore that jerk, let's focus on the real deal here," Maxima comfortingly said. "Let's get down to business. Your sister is out on a 'self-care' shopping spree so now's the perfect time."
That statement instantly lightened the mood as all of them looked forward to the party now.

"What took you guys so long?" Krizalid asked in the middle of sticking up pennants in the living room. "It took you like an hour or something!"
"We would've came a lot earlier if it wasn't for that stupid Igniz ambushing us," Kay spat through gritted teeth.
"Igniz?" Krizalid said in surprise, nearly dropping the piece of paper he was holding. "What did he want now?"
"Apparently, a C isn't good enough of a result for him," Maxima sighed, placing the cake down on the coffee table. "After Dash pointed out that he couldn't understand his teaching, he flipped the story to his bad handwriting instead and even had him pull out his books to compare it with books for other subjects. The headmaster seemed annoyed too so he managed to cut him off and send us away."
Krizalid scowled and shook his head. "On a day like this too... he does know how to ruin the mood, doesn't he?"
"EXACTLY!" Kay groaned. "Now I'm too angry to celebrate."
"Dash! No!" Zayn exclaimed. "Don't let that whacko ruin the party! We have cake!"
"Yay, you collected the cake!" Krizalid cheered. "What flavour did you guys get?"
"Honey lemon," Maxima smirked. "Seirah's favourite."
"Not just hers but mine too," Krizalid grinned.
"And it has grapes as topping!" Zayn added.
Kay finally smiled. "For you to clean out, right?"
"Yeah," Zayn smirked.
Maxima chuckled. "Come on, you guys. Help me set the table."

Seirah returned from her mega shopping spree, even wearing a different dress instead of the one she left home with. Zayn fired the confetti blaster as soon as she set foot into the apartment, making her yelp in shock.
"Oh my!" Seirah exclaimed. But then she quickly relaxed upon seeing that it was only them and they had prepared an entire party for her. "Aww! You guys didn't have to!"
"Nah, we had to," Kay grinned. "What's a birthday without a party?"
"You guys didn't go to school?" Seirah asked, pointing at her brothers and Kula in surprise. "You took this as an excuse to play truant, didn't you?"
"What? Nah! We actually went to school," Kula quickly said.
"Yeah, we went to school at the usual time, just didn't come back at the usual time as well," Zayn chuckled. "Dad picked us up early."
They surprised Seirah with gifts, cake, even music. The Igniz incident was momentarily forgotten as all of them concentrated on nothing but the party and having fun.
For dinner, they all went to a fancy restaurant. That was Maxima's treat for her. Seirah kinda felt bad for all of this but it's not like that feeling actually stopped her from having fun.
But Kay couldn't help but notice a person dressed in black watching them from a corner in the same restaurant.

The family enjoyed their grand dinner and made their way back to their apartment building. Maxima parked the Ford Explorer and stopped the engine, unlocking the car so that everyone can get out. Kay got out of the car and couldn't help but notice the same shadowy figure staring at them from a distance.
"You guys wait here, I have to check on something," Kay quickly said as he ran off.
"Yo!" Zayn groaned and ran after him.
"Let's wait for them at the lift lobby," Maxima said, getting out of the car.
Krizalid frowned as he watched his brothers run off. "You guys go up, I'll wait for him."
"I'll... I'll stay too," Kula said. "I want to wait for Dash too."
The other two nodded and started making their way to the lift lobby to go up to their apartment.

Kay ran after the shadowy figure, out onto the visitor parking lot of the apartment complex. He had to know who they were and why they were watching his family. He was sure of it now, seeing how he actually spotted them at the restaurant as well.
Just when Kay thought he was nearing to the dark figure, it jumped onto a motorcycle and rode out of the compound and into the night. Kay tried to pursue them further but it was just no use. The bike was much too quick for him to catch up on foot.
Kay screamed in frustration and banged his fist on the lamppost beside him. There was no way he could track that person down now.
"Dash!" A voice suddenly called. Kay turned around and saw Zayn running towards him, anime ninja style. He stopped in front to of Kay and caught his breath before speaking to him. "What the heck was that about? Why did you run off like that?"
"I saw this dark figure watching us from afar," Kay explained. "I've seen them around many times, even when we were at the restaurant just now."
"Did you catch them?" Zayn asked as if the answer wasn't obvious.
"No!" Kay exclaimed, throwing his empty hands forward. "They jumped onto a bike and rode off!"
Zayn groaned. "Oh great... so there's a stalker on the loose now? First Igniz beat the crap out of our mental health, then stuff became better, then stupid Igniz made a comeback, and now this."
"Exactly!" Kay groaned in agreement. "But who is this weirdo? Igniz's henchman?"
"Sure looks like it," Zayn sighed, pulling his arm. "Come on, let's go back."
They ended up getting a snack from the convenient store at the apartment's ground floor before going back to the parking lot.
Krizalid and Kula were still waiting for them, waving as soon as they spotted them.
"What happened?" Krizalid asked as soon as they came up. "Why did you run off like that, Dash?"
"Someone is following us," Kay said grimly. "I was this close to catching them, but they leapt onto a bike and rode off."
Krizalid groaned. "Who is it this time? Can't we have a moment of peace in our lives?"
"It looked like the vigilante, but why are they watching us?" Kay said.
"Why would the vigilante stalk us?" Kula added. "Are we like... a super family or something."
"It certainly makes me think so," Zayn added with a snort. "What with Igniz being the supervillain, it's about time we got a superhero too."
"Let's go back," Krizalid sighed. "Don't tell Dad and Seirah, okay?"
"I won't..." Kay said. "Kula, if Dad asks, we just went to ElevenSeven to get some snacks, okay?"
Zayn nodded and shook the plastic bag he was holding. "We have an alibi too since it's the truth."
"Okay!" Kula nodded and followed them to the lift lobby.

The reason why Zayn says Narushisuto and not narcissist first is because it's a reference to a song by Kaoru Akimoto titled Narushisuto (ナルシスト).