"I knew it!" Bella jumped up, eyes wide. Even Pauline gasped as they stared at each other. "Girl, you ain’t say nothin’ ’bout yo mama bein’ famous! I hear her voice erryday on the damn TV!"
"Wait a minute," Hannah’s eyes widened as she pointed at Gary. "I think Riley and I t your mom outside the Academy during the entrance exams! That was your mother?! And here I thought my mom looked young—what the fuck?!"
"It’s... not that big of a deal?" Gary waved them off as he wiped his forehead, "You are literally the children of the world’s richest man."
Suddenly, everything went quiet. Gary looked around, expecting soone to respond—but no one said a word.
Then he noticed all eyes on him.
"You—" Hannah pointed at his face, "...I’ve been aning to say this since before we left the Academy. But you do know your makeup’s smudged, right?"
"I-I’m not wearing any makeup!" Gary’s eyes widened as he looked at his hand, and there indeed was powder residue on it, "W-wait... where’s there bathroom?!"
He practically leapt off the sofa, covering his face as he bolted down a random hallway—didn’t even wait for Hannah to answer—unfortunately for him, there was no bathroom at all to where he was heading.
"He... really is wearing makeup," Hannah blinked a couple of tis as she looked at the other girls, "But I didn’t realize it was that thick. Did... you see his skin? It looked... smoother than mine."
"Y-yeah..." Victoria, whose skin was still as soft as a baby’s, slowly nodded.
"You think... maybe he’s hiding a scar or sothin’?"
"I an, it’s bad to gossip, but..."
And as Hannah and the others slowly started to form a circle, their voices also quieted down. And surprisingly, even Tomoe slightly leaning in closer, curious as to what their speculations were. If Riley wasn’t seeing it wrong, a small hint of a smile was even showing on her face.
’Even you... are different from , Tomoe. You seek connection, to them. You can be one of Sister’s friends—if there is a reason not to kill your reasons, it would be that their deaths would change you. Would you still be able to be friends with Sister then?
Or would you beco a monster... like ?
And that is... wrong.The existence of monsters in this world is wrong—Alice knew that, and I know it too.
Should I let you beco a monster like , Tomoe? But Sister hates monsters, she hates supervillains. I can not allow more to exist...
...but I am sorry, Sister—I was already given permission to kill Tomoe’s parents. I do not have any intentions of creating monsters and supervillains, but I will not stop now.’
***
anwhile, as the Baby Crew were experiencing the life of normal teenagers, in a restaurant a mile away from ga Academy, a man was currently kneeling in the kitchen—it was the very sa man whose hand was accidentally crushed by Riley.
"Please, boss. I—I need the money! My insurance didn’t even cover the surgery."
"Look, Richard," the restaurant owner sighed, shaking his head. "We can’t hire you back."
Richard tried to grab his boss’s leg, but the man subtly moved away.
"Maybe you should... rest for now, okay? I’m really sorry. I’m not tryin’ to be insensitive, but... you’re a cook. You need two hands for that. There are other jobs out there."
"But this is my career, Barry!" Richard pleaded. "C’mon, we’re supposed to be friends! I was there at your kid’s christening, man."
"I can’t. I just... I can’t. Look. Please, man. Don’t make this too awkward for . Sam is—"
"Samantha? My wife? Did... did she tell you not to hire back?" Richard’s voice started to tremble.
"No," Barry quickly shook his head, "I’ve been friends with Sam longer than you. She’s my wife’s’ best friend and I can’t—"
"Fuck. Seriously?" Richard’s eyes twitched, "We’re talking about my career here, man!"
"I just—then let help you so other way. I can give you money for you to—"
"Fuck your money!" Richard stood up, raising his voice at Barry and violently pointing at him, "I need my job back!"
"...Get out, man," the tone of Barry’s voice changed as soon as Richard scread at him, "Just... get out before I call the cops."
"I’m... I’m sorry. I’m just desperate," Richard’s lips twitched, "What about—Hey. They discovered I’m a super in the hospital. I can... I can use my powers, man. It would... it can really help. And you can still pay the sa! My... my power’s very convenient. You can even fire everyone else if I use it and cut costs."
"You’re... a super?" Barry took in a small gulp as he subtly took a step back, "What... what can you do?"
"W-wait... let show you," Richard nervously smiled before closing his eyes. He sniffled and stretched his neck, shaking his hands as he let out a deep breath, "Okay. W-watch this."
He gritted his teeth, and his eyes even almost popped out from their sockets—but even after an entire minute, nothing happened.
"...Just go ho, man," Barry sighed and turned around, "And please don’t co back here, or I will really call the cops."
"W-wait, just wait!" Richard opened his eyes and tried to call for Barry to co back. But he did not even turn around at all, "Barry! Barry!"
"Go ho, man. Look, I’ve been trying to call Sam about what to do with you, but she’s not answering—so, just go ho. The only reason I even hired was because of her. Goodbye. Richard."
"Barry... I said wait!"
And as Richard reached his hand out, a shadow suddenly passed by him and imdiately rushed toward Barry—and without even any hesitation, the shadow grabbed a rolling pin from one of the counters... and smacked Barry at the back of the head.
"Wh—"
Barry imdiately dropped to the ground, his vision started to blur, and he could see drops of blood falling to the floor. He then imdiately turned around, only to see the man who hit him on the back of his head.
And it was Richard himself.
"W-what the fuck, why did you—"
But before he could finish his words, Richard said sothing—but not the one holding the rolling pin, no. The one that was still standing at the back, seemingly also confused.
"S-shit, fuck! I... didn’t an to do that! It just... it just appeared out of nowhere, Barry!" Richard clutched his head in panic before motioning to the other person, who did, indeed, looked just like him.
"What the—" Barry started to tremble as he looked back and forth between the two, "There’s... there’s two of you? What the... what the fuck, Ricky?! Get... get the fuck away from ! I’m... I’m calling the cops, man."
"W-wait, don’t do that!" Richard gritted his teeth, while his... clone just stood there staring down at Barry.
"You’re... you’re going to prison, man. Fuck..."
"Don’t..." Richard shook his head. And very soon, the panic look in his eyes faded.
"Barry..." He whispered,
"...please don’t make do this."
"W-wait... wait..."
"This... this is all that albino’s fault. It’s... all his fault."
"No. Wait, Ricky... Wa—"
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