Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter five│aftermath

This had to be some kind of joke, right? There was no way that what Minji was saying, what Satou had told him... Neither of them could have been telling the truth. This was just some sick joke.

"Taichi, I─" When Minji reached out her hand for his shoulder, Taichi immediately lifted his head upon hearing her voice, his eyes shining a vibrant emerald green. She opened her mouth again to say something, anything to comfort him after what he's just heard, but she just wasn't quick enough.

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The rest of the day, Chieko couldn't pay attention in class. The voices around her blurred out and the only things she could hear were the thoughts in her head. What had happened earlier during recess... she still couldn't comprehend. To be honest, all of it still felt like some kind of weird dream.

Like she was going to wake up from this any minute now, and she'd experience her real first day at school. Though, something told her that wasn't going to happen. All of this was real, whether it felt like it or not.

She tried falling asleep in class, not caring if her teacher scolded her. Unfortunately, her mind wouldn't allow her to even rest her eyes for a few minutes. The voices in her head refused to stop, even for a few seconds, and it slowly started to drive her insane.

Her tired eyes glanced at the clock conveniently placed above the door, and to her dismay, there were still thirty minutes left of class, but at least it was the final lesson. Once it was over, she was free to go home, back to mom who she knew would make her feel safe again, she might help out with a few chores or she might just go straight to bed.

Oh wait, she couldn't, she forgot that she still had training with Minji after school. Sure, she could stay home for a few minutes, maybe fifteen, to get herself back in the mood and calm herself down after the exhausting day. She'll surely feel better once the bell signalling the end of class is heard throughout the school, because that meant she no longer had anything to worry about, not until the next day at least.

Yeah, everything will be fine once it hits three o'clock. She'll be ready for Minji's training, and hey, who knows, maybe she'll be able to convince Minji to reveal her all powerful ability. It had to be something spectacular for keeping her under all this suspense for so long, and that just made her all the more excited for when the time comes, and she'll get the chance to go up against Minji with her full power.

No matter how excited she was, she knew why Minji wasn't revealing her power just yet, because if she can't beat her now, without her using her ability ─ she surely won't stand a chance once she shows off her full power. So maybe Minji was right, not revealing it just yet... That just made her even more determined to grow stronger to actually witness, and fight against it.

Thinking about just how strong Minji truly is, her mind brought up a conversation she had with Taichi some time ago, before she became a hero, which really... was a while ago. Taichi looked away, letting out a light scoff. "Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. She's energetic and childish, yet somehow older than me..." he grumbled the last part, sounding slightly annoyed. He became silent for the next few seconds, and she thought that the conversation had finished, but...

It was when Taichi and she were taking cover from the rain after having gone to the amusement park together, she could never imagine herself doing anything like that with Taichi again, not with how they left on bad terms.

"But... don't underestimate her, you've gone up against her before." Thinking back to when she had a fight with Minji, and actually ended up winning ─ which was really quite the surprise ─ it felt like it had happened so long ago, and honestly, she can't remember exactly when it had took place.