13—denial

At the beginning, you forgave Kai Toshiki. It had been a windy day when you and Ren were conversing on top of the Foo Fighters building when Ren recalled the spread of the alien epidemic as it happened in Japan, the land of its origin.

"So it all started because of a boy?" You asked, restraining the bitterness in your tone so you would not be tempted to jump to conclusions.

"Yes. It was this boy." Ren said, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out a crumpled picture which he held up to show you.

It was folded into thirds to focus on the boy in the middle. He could not be more than thirteen years old, yet he bore a sullen look that was unnatural on children. He gave the impression that he did not want his picture to be taken, but instead of ruining the shot by simply withdrawing all expression, he retaliated at the photographer with a death glare.

You think, 'What a little shit.'

"This was the first picture taken of him since his parents passed away." Ren said, quieter than before.

A slight drizzle had begun, and you barely flinched as you took a moment to absorb the information that the trigger of the encompassing evil was a child.

"He's terrible, and he doesn't know how to live." Ren sighed, as if he was talking about a friend. "It's been three years and he's still a terror in these parts."

"Wait a minute, you can't mean that—" You started and got distracted when a rain drop landed on the tip of your nose.

"Yea, he's old enough to swear at now. Just like you and me," Ren said, and unfolded the right side of the picture to reveal a cock-eyed little Ren. "By the way, look how cute I am!"

Months later, you had successfully suppressed the memory of being shown concrete evidence that Kai Toshiki was also once a sad child.

You were no longer a knight and went back to living a normal life. When once you had kept to your side of the world, you had learnt the importance of keeping track of current events. You did it in the dark though there was no need to keep secrets anymore. After retrieving a carton of milk from the fridge, you sat at the communal kitchen table in your boarding house with your laptop and loaded the blog of one Miwa Taishi. That boy was of average skill level, yet fairly well-connected within the Japanese Vanguard community.

You were sipping your milk when the picture on the latest post finished loading. It featured Kai Toshiki with a sour expression and sporting a crimson, scaly six-pack and a shiny tiara. You spat your milk out to prevent yourself from choking.

After wiping up your spilt milk, you turned your attention back to the picture. Well, of course, the dragon abs and the tiara had been photoshopped, most likely by the blogger himself.

You read the blog post:

A big thanks to all who have participated in Hitsue Cardfight Club's Haiku Battle!

We wouldn't have done it without all your support!

Special mention goes to the debates team, who had to sacrifice incensed members to retreat into the icy chill of the canteen's icebox. Your exploits will surely be passed on as part of Hitsue High's legacy~

Well, I hope that everyone enjoyed the wit of THE Kai Toshiki today. I have never witnessed him speak so much, let alone with such poetry!

Once again, thank you for participating in our club's event and please continue to support us! :

-Miwa Taishi,
Captain of Hitsue Cardfight Club

You read the post twice, then scrolled back up to the picture. Ten seconds passed. Then ten minutes. Ten days later, your insomnia drove you back to photoshopped Kai Toshiki again.

You couldn't censor your brain fast enough as you form the thought, 'Is he always so interesting?'

A/N: It's Friday for me, so have some Gaillard receiving secondhand accounts of Kai Toshiki through second-person POV. The Haiku battle is like a rap battle except that contestants will be disqualified for using obscene references and personal insults since it's part of a school event.