Lady Caltheris' fist lunged towards Kurai's face, startling Kurai, who flinched in the process.
Lady Caltheris underestimated Kurai's behavior as that of an ignorant fool; she had taken her under her roof only to spend her weeks training Kurai.
"I should laugh, but even fools don't deserve this much of my attention."
So she commanded the Nightmare Fuels to prepare to dispose of Kurai.
An insignificant girl held no purpose in her collection of children.
Therefore, a single command, and the fate of Kurai would be sealed forever.
Yet, even so, she chose to give her one last chance, trusting there was a reason her master chose her.
But Kurai was all fragile, staring at the deceased woman lying on the ground.
"Oh, do tell...what could possibly justify my interest in her?" Lady Caltheris snapped, loud enough for Kurai to hear.
"That'd be me if I don't stop being a coward," Kurai thought, watching every drop of blood from the unalived woman drip.
"You better not make me regret my decision, Kurai," Lady Caltheris thought, thinking of all the ways to make her demise extremely gruesome and gory for all the time she sacrificed on someone as pathetic as Kurai.
Little did Lady Caltheris know, the intense training and starvation broke something within Kurai.
Her hope for humanity to be a peaceful place where violence wasn't a thing was just something that could never ring a bell.
Kurai crossed her arms, her eyes filled with tears, which only added to her fear.
"S-She murdered her...just for gossiping about her," Kurai thought, holding back her tears.
Lady Caltheris watched from a distance, studying for any signs of weakness.
"Cry...cry...so I could report to master that you're not worthy as you seem," Lady Caltheris thought, accidentally hitting her cane on the floor.
Kurai tensed up, then the usual shine in her eyes faded.
By that time, Chihiro distracted Lady Caltheris from her.
"Motherrr, Kurai will become the evilest villainess in history! Just give her some time, she's probably the type to be scared doing stuff in front of others," Chihiro suggested.
"Hm," Lady Caltheris glared at Kurai, "I suppose so. She does look like the shy one."
Chihiro winked at Kurai.
Kurai just awkwardly waved back.
"If Chihiro didn't stick up for me, Lady Caltheris would probably lash out...lash out? But I'm the one who should be lashing out on these people."
Kurai pouted.
--
Night came, and that's when Kurai's thoughts began pouring in.
"So? If it were for you, I would just be dust, and that's a must. Why do I feel sad when those mean people go away?" Kurai mumbled,"Isn't this what the world craves? Being free from evil?"
Kurai had a hard time digesting the situation before her, which, if she didn't analyze properly, could have dire consequences.
"I ran away from my family, came to this lady unwillingly, seeking freedom, and what did I expect when I didn't receive any?"
Kurai twisted and turned but couldn't fall asleep.
Kurai and the other Nightmare Fuels shared a room, not much of a suitable place for a claustrophobic person.
The children were cooped up on an old, stained floor mattress. Some sleepily tugged at the bed sheets, some snored loudly, and the worst kind of sleepers of them all...the ones whose bodies can't help but do the Macarena.
Why would Lady Caltheris let twenty children share one room, you may ask?
She says it's a part of the communication process, and it'll break the shy ones out of their shells by forcing them all into one tight room, in the dark, with cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling and no working fan.
That's totally not child abuse.
Kurai was just staring into the abyss, trying to make out the environment.
Her vision was horrible, and she really needed glasses to save her eyes from the blurry catastrophe, but she never told her mother because she thought it emphasized her nose, and she didn't wish to make her nose the highlight of her palette.
"Look at them...cooped up beside me on this...this thing they call a mattress! I deserve some respect for all I've been through. At the rate, they'll gang up on me and slaughter me right before my very eyes," Kurai groaned.
Slowly and steadily, Kurai crawled off the mattress and opened the shutters for her dramatic monologue.
"Hence day forth, there will be black rain rushing, and it won't stop. From the clouds to the sea, I'm no longer trapped in this misery! Drink it up from my cup, and I hope you see, it's nothing personally...(but choke and not swallow). Cuz the world needs to lend me an ear. Cleansing is what the world needs to truly end this misery. I'm tired of feeling black whenever I'm feeling attacked. So why should I be the one to wash away? No more, no more! I said no more!! Today, there will be black rain."
Lady Caltheris was fast asleep, sucking on her thumb like a baby, an image of innocence that made Kurai's lips curl into a slow, twisted smirk.
"And this is the lady we take all this talk from?" Kurai thought, searching all the cabinets for Gengyo's makeup supplies, and applied them to her face.
But her face had a cakey texture that felt foreign upon her face.
"Ugh, how in the world am I going to be evil if I can't even apply makeup properly?!" Kurai angrily whispered, "Does the foundation or the powder go on first?"
After testing lots of the monstrous fluids on her face, she came to a conclusion: every villainess she read about in webnovels had some form of secret identity, and makeup wasn't going to do much.
And that's when it hit her.
Gengyo always wore a beanie and was that...crotchet?!
Eager to start her journey as a villainess, she snuck up beside him and tapped his arm softly.
"Gengyo, could you help me with something?"
Gengyo still remained fast asleep, dreaming far away in the depths of his mind.
In the dream, he was standing in a dining hall.
Long table, white cloth, silver cutlery glinting under a faint red light.
His heartbeat filled the room before he could realize what was happening.
He breathed slowly and got closer to the table.
By the table sat, dressed in black and gold are people he had never met, all laughing, eating meat so rare it drips down their wrists.
The plates were filled with food...glazed meats, sweet fruits, goblets of red wine that glimmered like rubies.
One of the men noticed him and greeted him with a warm smile.
"Have a seat Gengyo, we've been waiting for you, my boy!"
But Gengyo didn't recall meeting these people.
A chair reserved specifically for Gengyo magically pulled away from the table, allowing Gengyo to have enough space to fit himself in.
He didn't know these people, but food was food, so what can you tell the lad?
Gengyo licked his lips, picking up his fork to collect the meat to place it on his plate.
And that's when he realized...
"Wait...this isn't any kind of meat...is t-this human flesh?! "
"Eat up," the people said. "You're one of us."
Gengyo stood up on his chair and slammed his hands onto the table.
"The fuck you mean, one of you?! I'm not a fucking cannibal!"
The people got silent and whispered before a woman spoke.
"In time you will learn, in time you will know."
"Shut the fuck up! What shit are you people talking about!"
That's when their faces blurred...like someone had smudged their features out of existence...but their eyes were sharp, glowing faintly red.
They raised their cups toward him.
"To our blessed brother," one of them said, voice thick with mockery.
"To the one who smiles as chaos rules the world," said another.
Gengyo tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't move.
The air around him grew heavy, thick with heat.
He looked down...and saw his hands drenched in red.
Dripping in fresh red.
The laughter rose again, louder this time. It rattled the plates, shook the walls.
The blurred faces began to twist, melting into grotesque smiles.
"You were never innocent," they whispered in unison.
"If she knew what you did, she'd say so too."
The chandelier above him cracked, the glass falling like rain, and he looked into the reflection of the shards as they fell.
Every shard showed him, sitting at the table, smiling.
But his reflection's smile was wider...almost proud.
He woke up gasping, Kurai sobbing on his arm.
"Kurai, what's wrong?
Kurai looked up, teary-eyed, enough to make Gengyo forget what he was worried about.
"Gengyo, I need you to crochet me a badass mask!"
"Pffft! You? Wear a badass mask? Oh please!"
"Heyyy, come onnn"
After minutes of convincing, Gengyo finally gave in. After all, if it wasn't for Kurai, those people would keep on messing with him like they usually did.
He kept on seeing their faces, but whenever the dream was finished, the memory of their faces would begin to distort and disappear.
"Fine, what would you like the mask to have?"
"I want a light purple crocheted mask that hides all the features on my face. There would be silver beads and black raindrops coming down my eyes."
"Um...why black rain?"
"Don't worry, they'll figure it out."
"Who's they? And besides, no one would take you seriously if you show up with some cheap crocheted mask! We need to find you something more expensive, something that makes them scatter throughout the streets, begging you to spare their lives!"
Kurai raised her eyebrows.
"And where do you suppose we get a mask like that? This house is a wreck! We can't afford—"
"What do you mean afford?! First step of being evil, Kurai is you don't wait in line to get what you want, you snatch it right from their noses!"
"You want me...to steal?"
Gengyo frowned and crossed his arms by Kurai's foolish question.
"What? Do you think villainesses spend a yen on items they want? You might as well call yourself a peasant with that mindset."
Kurai remained silent; she had never stolen anything in her seventeen years before but Gengyo was right.
If she showed up in a cheap crotcheted mask, she'd become a laughingstock for the whole of Japan!
But her little scheme to becoming the greatest villainess alive and showing Lady Caltheris that she was nothing compared to her was almost complete.
If she wanted to show Lady Caltheris she was truly evil, she needed to earn respect at all costs.
"You're right...but for me to show Lady Caltheris that I don't even need to hide to be a respected villainess, we would have to steal from a store when the mall is open and hide perfectly well!"
Gengyo would have complained but at this point, he would do anything to prevent himself from getting bothered by those people from his dream again.
"Alright, what's your strategy?"
Gengyo and Kurai went back and forth with ideas of how to make an everlasting impression on the workers and regular citizens.
Fear earns respect, and respect is yearned.
"No matter what challenges we face, don't back down. I need to put Lady Caltheris in her place."