The scent of miso soup flooded the air as Saki came into the dining room for breakfast. She greeted the housemaid, Mrs Yoshino, an old lady who has been taking care of the house, including the meals ever since she was a baby.

  The Honda family consisted of only three members, Saki, her grandfather and her uncle who was currently training in Thailand to develop his Muay Thai endeavor. With no adult woman in the household, the old Honda relied on the help of Mrs Yoshino to look after Saki.

  “Good morning grandpa,” said the girl with a bright smile as she saw the short man coming in.

  The man nodded, then took a seat. He placed down a white envelope and pushed it in front of the girl.

  “I'm going out to meet up with some old coaches to plan a training trip for the boys, so here take this and go have fun.”

  The girl opened it, seeing a generous allowance inside.

  “That's too much, Grandpa… what will I do with all this?”

  “I heard there’s a hero event or something in Upper Shinjuku. How about you go there?”

  The girl paused, not knowing what to say. She stared at the old man, questioning him with her confused gaze.

  “You’ve been cooped up inside the house for days and nothing happened. So I thought that it would be good if you go get some fresh air. I'll meet with you later in the afternoon and we can go see the doctor to have you checked up again.”

  The girl's eyes shone brightly, her heart palpitating in her chest. She had been very careful during the past few days to not cause her villain nexus to trigger. But, being kept inside the house made her restless. She loved being out—training, moving, helping—and now, with her grandfather’s permission, she was overjoyed.

  “Thank you, grandpa!”

  The old man smiled softly while eating. He knew how much his granddaughter enjoyed going out, especially when it concerned hero events. So he was just as happy for her.

  “Still, be careful, you never know what can happen.”

  “Yes! I promise!”

  I won’t take any vigilante requests until the doctor gives me the green light.

  Later, the girl took the metro heading to Normal Town Shinjuku. At the station, guards inspected her ID—standard protocol for those with villain genes. Her electronic card listed details like whether she had triggered her nexus or caused disturbances.

  All people with villain genes were obliged to regularly update their ID and have it scanned in public places. It was the government’s way of maintaining public safety.

  After having been granted permission, she was allowed on the train and within minutes she was in the centre of Normal Town Shinjuku.

  The city here felt brighter. Clean streets, tidy walls, and friendly crowds replaced the grime and graffiti of her own district. Normal Towns were warm and vibrant like the sun. Villain Towns—shadowed and dangerous—were the moon. Unfortunately, this was due to the concentration of delinquents and troublemakers in the villain towns compared to the normal ones.

  To say that criminals and such were only in Villain Towns were not completely true. There have been supervillains who were born normal. Nonetheless, the crime rates were higher in Villain Towns than normal ones. Hence why, a visit in a normal town was like a breath of fresh air for those living on the other side.

  As Saki entered the mall where the hero event was being held, she could not help but squeal like a little girl as she saw the large banners that had been displayed together with human size cardboard standees. Large groups of fans were stationed near them, taking pictures and commenting on the realistic designs.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Without losing a second, the young girl quickly merged with the crowd, taking pictures here and there, stopping by numerous pop-up stores for limited edition goodies. She could not hide the large grin on her face as she bathed in the joy of being a pure-hearted fan.

  Today’s event was another government attempt to reinforce the position of heroes in society. Superheroes were beings who put their lives on the frontline to protect civilians, they were their protectors and as such, were idolized by many. Nevertheless, there were still some who did not see them in the same glorifying lights as their fans.

  Some thought that heroes were still human beings and that giving them too much spotlight would only encourage those in the darkness to cause more chaos to gain their attention. Others simply did not wish to be taxed for pompous beings in shining clothes who constantly destroyed their towns while fighting the supposed enemies. And the decline in heroes was not helping either.

  With the rise of Supervillains, more was being expected and demanded from the heroes. However, compared to supervillains, they did not possess a nexus that could boost their powers. Hence, fights were tougher for them and many lost their lives at the hand of stronger villains. As the rate of deaths among heroes increased, many were discouraged to venture in this field. Meanwhile Supervillains rose at a constant rate throughout the years, causing more and more casualties.

  In the eyes of the public, the heroes were not doing enough to do what they were supposed to do, garnering hatred and negative reactions from many. Hence why, the government felt the need to organize such events to boost public support for heroes.

  Saki believed that one day, people would realise that heroes were much more than they believed them to be. And that once they did, things would improve. Perhaps, cures to remove the villain genes would be found and supervillains would gradually be taken down, leaving only small criminals. However, this was yet to come. Until then, the government would have to put more effort in gaining the favour of the people.

  After having done some satisfying purchases, the young girl walked around taking a look at some clothes while waiting for the heroes to come. They were scheduled to appear earlier, however, a few supervillains had caused some disturbance in Villain Town Shinjuku therefore they would not be here for a long while. In the meantime, she looked at a few men's clothing stores.

  She wanted to buy a gift for her grandfather, to thank him for the big allowance and for always being reliable. Despite not talking much, the old man was someone who was only cold on the outside and that, the young girl knew it well. He always took care of her behind her back, and she was always grateful to have him as her family.

  Most of the time, her uncle was in other countries, training to become a master of all martial arts that existed in the world. So it had always been just her and her grandfather. If not for her, he would have lived in a normal town, since he did not possess villain genes. However, he chose to stay with her, raising her with tough love but love nonetheless. And he made sure that she would grow up without having to feel bad about living as a villain. To ensure that she would not be ostracized at school, she was homeschooled. And in order for her to not create unwanted accidents, he had equipped her with items that would restrict her powers, making her feel like a normal person. Despite his attempts to look cold, he was very considerate and extremely adored by Saki.

  I wonder what he would like… Maybe new training shoes?

  As she pondered over her next purchase, bloodcurdling screams could be heard from the other side of the mall. Saki's senses went awry, feeling an incredible presence in the building.

  Soon enough the alarms signaling that there was a Supervillain in the area rang across the mall and information on the criminal was given through the intercom. A Supervillain who had been intercepted by some vigilantes ran into the mall, trying to create a hostage situation in order to not be arrested. Everyone was asked to evacuate as they were going to lock down the building until the SPF and the heroes showed up.

  Saki tried her best to keep calm while a cornucopia of thoughts ran through her head. In normal circumstances she would have rushed towards the supervillain and lent a hand to the vigilantes. However, considering that she could trigger her villain nexus, she was in a predicament. If her nexus was triggered in here, it would worsen the situation. She would become a berserk villain with superstrength, capable of destroying the entire building.

  Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, chasing away her worries. Whatever thoughts were on her mind, it did not change the fact that there were a lot of people in here that needed her help.

  And so, she quickly ran across the mall, urging everyone to get out, going as far as carrying the disabled and elderly to the exit.

  Finally, the security guards told her to get out as well, since the mall was going under a lockdown. The mall seemed deserted so she followed them outside. However as she stood among the crowd, her attention fell on the sudden broadcast being shown on the screens outside the mall and in the streets.

  “Greetings, people of Normal Town Shinjuku,” a booming voice announced. “It’s your favorite Supervillain—Broadcaster!”

  A huge muscular man with a massive body and canon-like arms appeared on the screen, dark lines and symbols crawling on his arms and neck including a distinctive V-mark. The lines and symbols on him were a clear sign of his villain nexus having triggered, as they had emerged from the V-mark, which was a birthmark that only appeared on those born with villain genes.

  An eerie malicious grin spread across his face as he switched the camera onto the vigilantes who were barely able to stand as blood dripped over their bruised bodies. The crowd gasped in horror, some averting their eyes, others watching in utter fear as the vigilantes were trying their best to protect a few civilians who were stuck in the underground parking lot. The supervillain let out an evil laugh as he pounded punches and kicks into the wounded vigilantes.

  “You need to help them…”

  “Someone help…”

  “Where are the heroes when we need them?”

  “All these people are going to die…”

  The voices of the people in the crowd merged together, creating a cacophony as the security guards tried keeping them in control while debating about what they should do. They knew that someone needed to stop this and intervene. Nonetheless, they were all glued to the ground, fearful of their gruesome end, were they to go inside. Everyone was looking for someone to intervene. Someone should do it, they all thought, excluding themselves from the list, all too scared to step in. All except one.

  Anger and helplessness strangled the girl as the noise around her disappeared little by little, as though they were being eaten away. She could not hear, feel or smell anything. She could only see, and what she saw was enough to fill her up with rage.

  It did not take long for her body to move past the crowd. Suddenly, she could hear again. She heard the guards yelling at her, warning her of the dangers ahead. She heard the frightened cries and prayers of the people outside and the disgusting laughter of the devil inside. And yet, nothing could stop her from dashing towards the underground parking.

  If everyone’s waiting for someone else…Then what about those who can’t wait?

  If someone has to do something, then screw it— I’ll be the one!