Yu Kaito was second best.

This was the one thing in his life of which that he was absolutely, unambiguously certain.

It was also the one thing in his life that he hated above all else.

It wasn't fun. He had always been the best. He was supposed to be the best. And until High School, he always had been.

Not until he began attending Meioh High had he ever met anyone able to even come close to rivaling him…and then, of course, that person had had to go and outdo him, not just in one subject—nor even simply in many!—but in all of them. He had to go and outdo Kaito in everything worth doing, without even showing the slightest sign of effort.

All of that hit home particularly hard after his arch-rival returned from several week's absence, made up every piece of missed homework by the next day, and made a perfect 100 on the same test Kaito stayed up all night on to get a 99.

Of course, Kaito blamed that lost point on the fact that he hadn't been feeling his best lately. Exactly what was wrong was hard to pin down, but he definitely wasn't feeling normal (not that he was by any means normal), and it was also highly distracting.

In any case, the fact remained that he was second best, and that was unacceptable.

And just to add insult to injury, he wasn't even left alone to stew about it.

No, Meioh High had its share of bullies—though few were gauche enough stoop to such things as physical violence (it was a classy place, after all). Kaito honestly thought he might prefer that.

No, these bullies had figured out how to hit him where it really hurt.

"Oh, a ninety-nine?" asked the bully, conversationally. "A pity there wasn't any extra credit, or you might have finally gotten the highest grade."

Kaito clenched his teeth and reminded himself through his blinding headache that the bully only brought it up because he had never had chance of being the best.

"Though, then again, it wouldn't have mattered if there were," mused the bully. "He always gets every point."

Kaito rubbed his head. "Why do you persist in bringing it up?"

His tormenter shrugged. "It's just clear that you want to beat him so badly, so it's a shame…"

Kaito's head was pulsing blue fire.

"Please kindly refrain from mentioning him."

The other's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, you mean—"

The dancing colors behind Kaito's eyes seemed to shoot outward and envelope both of them.

"Don't. Say. His. Name."

"—Suichi Minamino?"

His tormenter's grin froze on a face that was suddenly pale.

No, not pale. Grey.

His body was completely grey, except for the small sphere of pulsing reddish light that was busy rushing from his mouth.

Said ball of light shot forward into Kaito's hand.

He stared at it, lacking any sort of reaction to give this unexpected turn of events.

Time snapped back forward from the strange slow motion it had been trapped in, and Kaito abruptly knew exactly what had happened, thought nothing at all about how or why.

The boy had broken the taboo he had set, and he had paid the price with his soul.

In a blind panic, Kaito shoved the swirling ball of light back towards the boy's mouth, trying to force the soul to go back where it had come from.

The boy's face was as cold and hard as stone, but only for a moment. Then the red light disappeared into his mouth, and he collapsed to the floor choking and coughing.

"W-what the hell…" he spluttered, but Kaito was already backing down the hall.

"Nothing whatsoever," he said, and then turned and made a strategic retreat down the hallway.

Breathing heavily, Kaito rubbed at his head.

In the shelter of an empty classroom, he did his best to take a thorough mental accounting of the events that had just occurred.

All he knew for sure was that the glowing ball of light had been the boy's soul, and that it had been stolen because he had broken the rule Kaito had set the instant before.

But how had that happened? When had Kaito gained the ability to dictate—and enforce—what others could say?

But Kaito's mind jumped ahead, setting those questions aside as, for the moment, unanswerable, and instead zeroed in on several others that he might well be able to answer.

What were the limitations of this newfound ability? Was it, in fact, replicable at all? Could he change the restricted words? What would happen if he didn't put a soul back? And, most importantly, what would happen if he broke his own taboo?

Kaito's lips tightened. That last one would be risky to test, but he had to know.

One way or another, he would figure out a way to mitigate that risk and learn the answer.

Kaito's lips curled up.

If he could master this, he might be able to meet that damned Suichi Minamino on fair grounds at last.