He was walking to his first class of the day with Ren after leaving the third floor art room.

  “So you being in the Yakuza is true?” Ren said, hands in his pockets.

  Ren had been very touchy since Huro saved him in the alley, and now after Resh said that he had not done so again since they left the art room.

  “Technically no.”

  “Technically no is just another way of saying yes y’know.” Ren had that little smirk he was coming to discover was a usual feature of his face.

  “My dad is the head of one. I am the appointed heir, I am not an active member.” he said with some hesitation.

  “The hell that’s way cooler. You got guys that do what you say around town too?”

  “No. Just babysitters my dad has check in on me occasionally to see how I am doing.”

  “Why would he need to have guys check on you. You guys not live together or something?”

  They arrived outside the classroom, the chatter inside suggested everyone was already in but them but that the teacher hadn’t arrived to quiet everyone down.

  He turned to Ren. “No we don’t.”

  Then he opened the door and went in leaving Ren in the hall with a slightly startled expression. He felt most eyes in the room turn to him, then more as some people pointed him out as he walked to his seat. They had begun whispering to each other. His supernatural hearing picked up a lot of it.

  “Oh, a new guy. He’s kinda hot.”

  “You would think that you love emo types.”

  “Think the new guy plays sports?”

  “Hey did Ren just follow him in? You think they’re…?”

  “He looks kinda familiar.”

  Then he reached his seat and sat down. Almost the entire class went still, the silence was deafening. Before he heard a single girl across the room whisper.

  “That’s Kuro?”

  Then the classroom exploded into fervent whispers, everyone talking over each other. Everything about him, a few about Ren and how sad it was that he was being targeted by Kuro too now.

  His eyes eventually settled on Carmen and Sayo sitting near the front. He would have had to walk by them but he apparently missed them in his rush to get to his seat. Carmen was eyeing him strangely while whispering to her friend and when she saw him looking at her she blushed a little and looked away.

  ‘Well it was nice being looked at without fear for the little bit I could get away with. Between Resh’s group and all the people in class right now the whole school will know what I look like now within the hour.’

  Eventually the teacher arrived and the class settled down to get started on his lecture.

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  ***

  The teacher finished his lecture just as the bell began to ring signaling the end of the first class of the day. He was surprised to find the first class was an English class.

  Kuro did not have memories on what his classes actually were throughout the day. That was likely because the original Kuro did not care enough to bother learning them. The only thing he could remember of the last few weeks was him gazing off into the distance zoning out.

  ‘Not that it mattered much.’ He thought. Kuro was basically a genius and studied in his free time at home on subjects way ahead of the school's curriculum.

  He was busy engaging in original Kuro’s favorite pastime of zone out in his own thoughts until he noticed someone approaching from the hall. He would have ignored it but he could smell the man that was approaching and knew him from before class started.

  The doors had already been opened by other students so he saw the man round the door looking in and scanning the crowd of faces until he landed on Kuro and made his way over.

  Ren saw the guy come in and immediately began curling in on himself hoping not to be noticed as a furious Taeyo stormed up to his desk.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve cost me?” The boy whisper yelled through clinched teeth.

  “I don’t see why I should care.”

  “You will when Clinton and his boys come for you.” The boy wore a nasty grin on his face as he turned to leave.

  “Kuro stood and grabbed him by his shoulder, digging his fingers in painfully. “Who said you were dismissed?”

  He pushed the boy down onto his knees while he loomed over him from behind. “You’re gonna take me to your new friends so I can have “words” with them.”

  “And if I tell you to go fuck yourself?” The boy was seething while trying to wrench Kuro’s grip on him.

  He could feel a growing irritation with this boy. He got people to torment someone he use to be best friends with just because that friend turned out to prefer the company of the same gender and now he thought he could waltz in making threats about getting people to come make his life hard.

  ‘If everyone wants me to play the villain then so be it.’ He tightened his grip on Taeyo's shoulder before throwing the boy across the walkway into some storage lockers against the back wall.

  “You seem to not understand who you are speaking to. Resh even tried to warn you to not make an enemy of me.” Kuro was closing the distance on his while talking as the boy tried to scramble to his feet.

  “I was gonna let bygones be bygones. What is about to happen to you is only your fault.”

  “Wait, we ca-” Kuro did not let him finish begging before slamming his fist into the boy's stomach. He was managing to keep his heart at a normal speed so his strength was not too monstrous. Unfortunately for Taeyo though, Kuro was still probably the strongest person on campus even without his powers.

  Taeyo crumpled almost instantly, he looked up at me with a gaze full of venom as if his stare alone could make me hurt. He had no such power or this might have been worse for him.

  Kuro slapped the boy hard enough to disorient the guy as he fell against the floor. He still felt mad at Taeyo for being so dumb and hateful so he gave him one quick kick into his side which lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the lockers again.

  He crouched down and grabbed the boy by the back of his hair pulling his face up. So he could look the guy eye to eye.

  “I was not asking. You will take me to this Clinton and his friends, and I suggest you do it quickly before I decide to continue this demonstration of why this was very stupid of you.”

  There was genuine fear in the boy's eyes now. I could smell it on him like cologne, It made the predator within very happy.

  “O-okay, I will t-take you.” He was shaking and stuttering.

  “Good now lets go.” He gently tapped the boy on the face which he flinched at each time.

  He struggled to get up while Kuro watched. He began to walk out while clutching his stomach and ribs. Kuro turned his head to find horrified and frightened faces on everyone in the room. The room reeked of fear, except for Ren who wore a satisfied grin. Underneath all the fear was that smell he could not identify again.

  ‘So much for being a hero, maybe I can settle for being an Anti-hero.’

  ‘This is just who I am.’ was his last thought before following behind Taeyo.