Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter three│fallen heroes

Despite it being a bright, sunny day, the room was filled with darkness, the only source of light coming from a gap between the curtains. The beam of light shined against a chair, a throne, placed in the center of the room, which was overall shrouded in darkness.

A figure sat silently in the throne, head tilted and a gloom expression on their face. They suddenly raised their hand, pointing towards the door where a timid, young looking boy with messy orange stood, almost seeming to peer inside the room without being noticed.

When he was noticed, he flinched before quickly straightening his posture and putting his hands behind his back, though his figure was still shaky. "Y-yes─" he paused, taking a gulp to swallow his nerves, and tried speaking again. "Yes, master?" His figure no longer shook like a leaf, and his voice was a lot clearer, though there was still fear hidden in his expression.

The dark figure mostly hidden by darkness didn't immediately respond, instead tapped their fingers on their throne. Through the darkness, they stared at the young boy with narrowed eyes that pierced through the darkness, but then their focus shifted to something completely different towards the side. The tapping stopped, and they turned back towards the boy.

"You made sure that they all died... correct?"

The boy seemed to hesitate for a moment, opening his mouth, but no words were coming out. Seeing this, the dark figure narrowed their eyes into an intense, cold glare. Close his mouth the boy just stood there, hands behind his back, and an unreadable expression plastered to their face. He then spoke with neither any hesitance, nor fear.

"Yes. Every last one of them."

"AGH!"

It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, it wasn't possible. There was no way this could've happened, it should have been impossible, she had been certain that this was never going to be happen, that nothing would go wrong. She was wrong, and the proof was right in front of her.

Minji stared at the ground, she didn't look angry, or teary, and the expression she wore was just... blank, unreadable and empty. Gritting her teeth she clenched her hands into fists, nails digging into her hands almost close enough to draw blood. Her voice full of frustration, she screamed out multiple curses, before turning around and her fist hit the wall.

Blood dripped down from her knuckle, which started to tremble along with her knees. "Ha... haha... hahaha... I can't believe it..." What sounded like laughter was heard coming from her mouth, as the rest of her body began shaking.

"They... she... actually... they're actually..." She falls silent again, her expression hidden by her hair, though tears are seen roiling down her cheeks. Gritting her teeth again, she pulls her bloodied hand back, still formed into a fist, and swings it back towards the wall, letting out a loud, wretched hoarse scream of anger.

"That'll be $9.99!"

"Thanks!" Exchanging the money for the book, once she had it in her hands, Chieko looked at it in awe as if it was the best thing she had ever seen since sliced bread. Looking at the cashier with the biggest smile across her face, she thanked her, before running out the door with the book held to her chest.

Though, as soon as she walked out the door, she stopped in horror. She swore that when she walked through the door, she didn't see a single cloud in the sky, it had been bright and sunny just, what, minutes ago. Now, rain was pouring down, hard, even though it had just started raining.

"Agh... I don't have an umbrella with me... I thought it wasn't supposed to rain!" She had to get home quick, so she couldn't simply wait for the rain to pass, and it didn't look like it was going away anytime soon. Hiding her book in her jacket, her only protection an arm over her head, taking a step back, Chieko ran out from her only cover, and straight into rain. "Stupid weather girl! Stupid stupid st─"