The Mastermind is a Middle School Student (KHR FF)

Sick Fox (Please cure him!)

(27: still lying to ourselves?)

[-1-]

There are various superstitions that the Hibari staff believes in.

The skylarks that land on the manor's ground chips twice before landing, and chirps twice when leaving.

There's only three colonies of ants on the premise, all the ants are believed to be incarnations of old great gods that are in constant war.

And for the last one; some people only behave when they're asleep.

– Slides. The door rumbles open.

“...”

A traditional Japanese room, sliding paper doors, cold tatami floors. Two figures splay arrogantly in the middle of the room, one completely buried under a quilt while the other sit domineering with a stoic face.

It would've been a calm domestic scene, if it weren't for the traces of blood on someone’s tonfa—

And the presence of one subordinate that desperately wished he had no eyes.

Kusakabe Tetsuya had lived his entire life in gratitude and loyalty to Hibari Kyouya. At first, simply out of obligation, but later he found himself completely devoted to the ideals of the taciturn fight-maniac skylark– simply out of pure respect for the strong.

Kusakabe knows that many things they do are not to be revealed to the public, and Kusakabe knows that there are many more things that he (and consequently Hibari) doesn't know simply because they're not qualified enough.

Of course, this does not mean that Hibari is undeserving of this information, but merely because it is not yet time for the access to be in Hibari’s hands. As much as Kusakabe believes that the current Hibari Kyouya is more than enough to turn Japan upside down, he also firmly believes that an older and more mature Hibari would be able to achieve something more; something grander.

This belief powered his determination like jet fuel, becoming more and more entrenched with sharp stinging arrogance as his past turns unrecognisable. The once taciturn child became a devout follower, following behind bloodied tonfa as if those violent hands could tell him the truth of the universe.

It's a bit addicting, Kusakabe admits. The power trip that crashes over his conscience everyday, the kind that would have swept a normal man off his feet and into the abyss. The knowledge that someone that could be considered Namimori’s Uncrowned King is behind him, and he; his symbol.

It's very addicting, to the point that Kusakabe struggles to tell which is his right and which is Hibari’s. Because again, they share everything. Does not mean he's entitled to it.

And so Kusakabe followed behind Hibari’s footsteps, always close behind like a secondary shadow. Observing, observing, and observing.

And so Kusakabe observed for years under silent stares.

The way his acknowledged superior grows stronger after every fight. The way the (then) child thrived in violence, smiling amidst red rain, and clawing his way into victory. Sharper, tighter, better. The way that he instinctively catched deadly strikes as if it was a mosquito, the way that he grits his molars every time he loses a fight. It's almost concerning how many times Hibari had received life threatening blows — before brushing it off with a night’s rest.

Kusakabe had thought; Hibari Kyouya is a beast that feeds on despair.

This is the beast that he had chosen to lead him.

Regret means nothing, not that Kusakabe regretted following that wide back.

Not at all, in fact —

To Kusakabe, nothing can stump Hibari.