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Footsteps echoed in the hall, a sharp thud with each step that sent dread racketing down Isagi’s spine. He whipped around from where he’d been anxiously pacing in front of the cell door.
Kaiser leisurely strutted down the hallway, waving at him in amusement when they locked eyes. Isagi frowned but did nothing but stand impatiently until Kaiser finally made it to his destination, stopping right in front of Isagi—so close that Isagi practically had to crane his neck back to glare at him because taking a step back was not an option.
Nonetheless, Kaiser seemed to enjoy that, too, smirking in amusement and eyes narrowing smugly. But today was different.
It wasn’t just the same ‘I hate you’ act they always adhered to—Isagi actually had to be Kaiser’s subordinate. Kaiser wasn’t usually one for the formalities, preferring to rile up his trainees instead of bossing them around, but this would be Isagi’s last day as a formal trainee. Tomorrow, hopefully, he’d be a full-fledged hero under the supervision of Kaiser. Which was arguably better than being the man’s trainee. He was insufferable and hated Isagi more than any other trainee, which was totally unfair. It wasn’t Isagi’s fault he was just better at his job than Kaiser was.
“Ready, Yoichi?” Kaiser asked, grasping Isagi’s wrist and pulling it up until it was almost at eye level. He turned his arm gently to the side and back again, thumbing at the bracelet secured around Isagi’s wrist. In the process, he slyly brushed his mouth against the skin of Isagi’s inner wrist, smirking as Isagi shivered in disgust. “ If you succeed, you might get this off.”
Isagi made a face and ripped his hand away from Kaiser, rubbing at his wrist like that would erase the press of Kaiser’s lips against his skin. “You don’t think I can do it,” Isagi deadpanned, an observation, not a speculation.
Kaiser pulled back slightly, chuckling and grabbing a keycard from his pocket, observing Isagi from the corner of his eye. “You can’t . I’ll enjoy punishing you for it after.”
Isagi’s brows furrowed nervously as he watched Kaiser swipe the keycard and push open the door for him. Isagi shot him an unimpressed look and entered the room, noticing the unsettlingly white walls and the lack of any furniture whatsoever besides the main focus in the center of the room: the villain bound to the chair.
Except, Isagi couldn’t exactly hide his surprise when he was met with Itoshi Rin—not only the little brother of the coworker he had looked up to the entirety of his employment with the government, but also the very person he had fought against on countless occasions.
Isagi had… a complicated relationship with Rin. He wasn’t sure if they were enemies, per se. Well, he knew they should be enemies, as they were on opposite sides of the system. But Rin shone so brightly… and, well, Isagi knew that sounded bad from him, especially considering his occupation, but Rin was just so good at what he did. Rin had beautiful abilities—the power to maneuver himself like water and control water himself—but he had despicable motivations. Isagi wanted to beat him just as much as he wanted to know more about him.
But looking at him now, all he could feel was a sense of foreboding—like he was on the edge of something big and even the eerie room was setting him off. Rin was dressed in his usual villain getup, but his mask had been hastily pulled off, exposing Isagi to his clear teal eyes and handsome face.
The worst part was that Isagi couldn’t even say it was the first time he had seen it in person. In the dark of night, accompanied by shadows and silence, Rin had shared his secrets and Isagi had wanted to save him, too.
Rin’s eyes looked into his, and Isagi looked back, a bit of confusion creeping into his chest. Rin had this intense aura, seeming to understand their situation more than even Isagi. He directed a hateful glare at the two of them, but he refused to say a thing. A pang of hurt ran through Isagi unbidden at the pure hatred directed at him from Rin. He shoved it down. Heroes and villains are not supposed to… feel that .
Isagi wasn’t quite sure what to think yet. His final exam had something to do with Rin? But how would this prove anything if he was firmly fastened to a chair? Weren’t they supposed to fight?
Cold seeped into his skin as he glanced at Kaiser, tilting his head questioningly.
Kaiser grinned.
“Kill him.”
Isagi felt his heart stop. “What?”
“Come on, Yoichi. You heard me the first time. Don’t make me wait here forever,” Kaiser sighed, leaning against the wall close to the door of the cell with the impatience of someone uncomfortably comfortable with murder.
Isagi’s eyes were wide, mouth dry as he tried to process what was going on. His breathing quickened, heart pounding wildly, as he turned back to look at Rin, whose sour face now made more sense. Did he think Isagi had come down here with the intention of killing him?
The silence in the room was unbearable as he stood stock still in front of Rin, looking down at him with frightened eyes and shallow, unsteady breaths. The more he stayed still, the more Rin’s gaze turned concerned until finally Isagi took a step back, unable to look at him anymore.
What kind of sick joke was this? His final exam to become a hero was to kill someone? It didn’t matter that Rin did bad things—Isagi didn’t come here to kill people, no matter how deplorable he knew the whole hero enterprise was.
He spun on his heel, intent on getting answers from Kaiser. “Why?”
Kaiser opened his eyes, having closed them while waiting apparently. Isagi didn’t believe that bullshit. He was watching Isagi’s every move for the slightest mistake. “ Why ? Didn’t I tell you to never question orders from your superiors, Yoichi?”
“I won’t kill someone just because you want me to, Kaiser!” Isagi yelled, anxiety settling deep in his bones. What were his choices here? He couldn’t kill Rin. But Kaiser had every ability to kill the both of them right here if Isagi refused to complete his stupid fucking exam. Think!
Kaiser pushed himself off the wall with a disapproving hum. “I knew you couldn’t do it, Yoichi,” he tutted, circling around him as Isagi turned with his movements to keep him in his line of sight. Kaiser grinned, quickly stepping in the opposite direction. When Isagi tried to follow, Kaiser’s rough fingers were already on his chin forcing him to look directly at Rin. “But you’re lucky I refuse to let my rival fail so easily.”
From behind him, Kaiser had all sorts of advantages. Isagi hated him so much. He had originally wanted to surpass this naked emperor. But was killing someone really a fair trade off?
It wasn’t even a question.
Rin, now, directed his glare behind him, at the asshole who was warding off Isagi’s attempts at elbowing him with embarrassing ease, all with his hand still gripping Isagi’s chin painfully hard. Kaiser’s nails pressed into his skin, digging in so deep that Isagi swore he could feel blood running down his neck.
“Kaiser-!” He struggled to get the words out through his grunts.
Kaiser caught his wrist, finally ending their struggling and forcing his hand forward until his palm was pointed at Rin’s chest. Isagi breathed heavily, chest heaving with both exertion and panic. He didn’t want to kill Rin. Rin was looking at him with those same indifferent eyes as always, but Isagi had learned how to read him eons ago.
Kaiser’s deft fingers released his chin, trailing lightly down his skin, almost teasingly, until they came to a stop, fingers drumming down the column of his neck. His hand wrapped around his neck like a warning, applying force to remind Isagi of what he was capable of.
“Why don’t you use that ability of yours, hm?” Isagi tensed, trying to pull his arm out of Kaiser’s grip, but the fingers only tightened around his wrist. “Conjure up a gun with those freaky fucking puzzle pieces.”
When Isagi hesitated, Kaiser squeezed his hand around his neck with frightening strength. Isagi gasped, free hand coming up to claw at Kaiser’s arm, but he didn’t even react. Isagi wheezed, feeling the blood rush to his head and the air slowly leaving his brain. Isagi was quick to activate his skill, causing the air around his hand to turn into tiny puzzle pieces and leave in its wake a daunting, real gun.
Kaiser released his neck apathetically, and Isagi gasped in air like a starved man. “You’re- hah- fucking sick.”
Kaiser just laughed and caressed the skin of his forearm, causing tingles across Isagi’s arm and making Isagi feel vaguely sick. “But I’m even making it easier for you, Yoichi. You don’t even have to do anything but pull a trigger.”
Isagi coughed, ignoring the way Kaiser’s body pressed incessantly against his back, forcing him to inch closer to Rin and push the gun into Rin’s forehead, guided by Kaiser’s hand. Rin was only looking at him.
They stared into each other’s eyes as Isagi breathed out shakily, hands cold from fear. Rin was still looking at him with wider-than-normal eyes, still shocked from the previous choking display. Something must have showed in his eyes because Rin’s lips turned downwards into a slight frown. “ Isagi ,” he called, almost desperately.
Isagi could practically feel Kaiser’s smirk.
“‘ Isagi ’?” He repeated incredulously. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard mister Puppeteer here call out to anyone like that, Yoichi.” Kaiser’s breath ghosted over his cheek and his lips brushed his ear, causing Isagi to flinch away, as he whispered into his ear. Rin glared at Kaiser, pulling subtly, for the first time, at his restraints. “So you two are close, aren’t you? Didn’t I warn you about this, too?” Kaiser laughed, pulling away to focus on using his own ability, bending the air so forcefully that it hardened and cut a deep line into Rin’s cheek. “Don’t try to save them .”
Isagi watched with dazed eyes as the blood from Rin’s wound dripped and dripped and dripped. His whole cheek became red with sticky blood, painting him in a murderous light. Rin’s glare hardened further, as he spat out some blood that had gotten into his mouth. Isagi’s mouth trembled. He wanted to say something, to fight back, to protest, but he couldn’t force anything to come out.
Rin, probably assessing his state, scowled. “He’s not going to do it, you fucking fake. Let him leave.”
“Oh~” Kaiser released Isagi’s arm, letting it drop limply to Isagi’s side as he stared at Rin in alarm. Kaiser pushed Isagi aside, leaving him to stew in his overwhelming thoughts. His now free hand came to rest on the chair’s backrest threateningly. “Are you begging for him, villain ?”
Rin’s eyes sharpened, darting around Kaiser’s form before a feral expression began to dawn on his face made all the more unsettling by the blood all over his face. “At least I don’t have to beg for his attention, lukewarm emperor.”
Isagi could see what he planned to do before he even attempted to do anything. He jumped in immediately. “Kaiser- wait!”
Kaiser halted, his hand pulled back to punch Rin right across the face. His deranged, angry eyes turned to Isagi in annoyance. Rin also looked at him, a tinge of worry evident in his features.
“If you’re going to be useless, Yoichi, stay there and shut the fuck up.”
“No!” Isagi ran forward, coming face to face with Kaiser and aiming the gun right at Rin’s forehead. “I’ll do it!”
Kaiser gave him a doubtful look, lips twitching up in mockery. “Not gonna chicken out?”
Isagi gave him a determined look and pressed his lips into a thin line. He stared at Rin. Rin stared back with a serious expression, almost seeming to lean into the gun. Isagi swallowed.
There were four main restraints on the chair. Two for his wrists, which also functioned as ability-dampening cuffs, and two around his ankles. The two on his wrists were the most important since Rin could take care of the rest if he had his ability.
In a split second, Isagi activated his ability to create a pile of useless pebbles. A side effect of his skill was that it slowed time for everyone but himself. When Kaiser realized what he was trying to do, it was too late. Isagi shot both of the restraints on Rin’s wrists with perfect accuracy and spun around to hit Kaiser in the head with the butt of the gun.
Unfortunately, Kaiser was a better fighter than he liked to give him credit for, and he ducked, punching Isagi right in the sternum. Isagi staggered back, winded, but only reeled himself up for another punch before growing deathly still.
“Siding with the peasants now, Yoichi? Pathetic.”
In Kaiser’s hand was his phone, open to an app that he’d never seen before. But Isagi’s above average senses allowed him to quickly read and analyze the screen. The display showed his hero-issued license photo and a digital dial. It also showed a model of the monitoring bracelet on his wrist. He immediately knew what it was, fear making him shiver.
He’d heard of it from Sae—how some supervisors loved to use the shock feature in the bracelets they were all given to keep trainees in line. Sae warned him about things like this all the time, but what could any of them do to avoid this in the first place? Once they were recruited and in the system, they were there for life.
Isagi straightened up and stood still in front of Kaiser while Rin quickly hurried to his side, free from the restraints. Kaiser and Isagi stood, locked in a staring contest, daring the other to make a move.
Rin urgently tugged at his shirt. “Isagi.”
He knew . Fuck. They had to leave now. But…
“Rin, go,” Isagi insisted. “I can’t leave.”
“That’s right,” Kaiser laughed. “Eyelashes here might be able to get out of here, but we’ll track you to the ends of the earth if you step foot outside this room.” He laughed again, a crazed glint in his eyes as he walked closer, threatening them with each step. Rin grew tense beside him. Isagi grabbed his hand and pushed it to the door, but Rin refused to leave. “I might even go easy on you if you stay right there like a good boy, Yoichi.”
“ Rin .” Rin tore his glare away from Kaiser to rake his concerned eyes over Isagi’s face. Isagi squeezed his hand in reassurance. “Go. Please.”
“...”
Rin squeezed his hand back and fled without another moment of hesitation, only stopping to look back at him once.
Kaiser hummed in amusement once they were alone.
Isagi made sure he was ready if Kaiser decided to fight him. “You let him leave.”
“It doesn’t make a difference whether he dies now or in a few weeks,” Kaiser replied nonchalantly. “ You , however-” Kaiser smirked, walking leisurely to the door and closing it with a soft click. “-need to be punished immediately. And I don’t like having audiences for that.”
“You’re going to shock me?”
Kaiser gave him an amused look, taking note of the fact that he hadn’t moved an inch since Kaiser brought out his phone. “ Worse .” He pocketed his phone. Isagi felt danger bells go off in his head as Kaiser came closer. “But… I’ll take it easy on you because I like you, Yoichi~”
All Isagi remembered for the next few hours was cut after cut from nothing but air digging into his skin and laughter as he tried to stifle his reactions. He failed to hold back his screams after the first hour.