Help from the Shadows (Open Novella Contest)

18 (Chenhua)

Mister Movien didn't look any different, but the sneer on his face made him look completely unrecognizable.

On the other hand, Ungaikyou looked more ferocious and had this glint in his eyes which sent shivers down our spines as they glowed red. 

Mister Movien chuckled darkly as he towered over us, sitting on Genbu's old throne, "It's good to know that someone actually recognises me after all those years. But my tolerance for humans is long gone now. After 30 years of planning, 30 years of waiting, my revenge isn't going to be stopped by newcomers like you!" He pointed to our group. 

"Why do all of this, Mister Movien?!" Whisper asked, the shock in his tone obvious. Mister Movien blinked at him.

"What do you mean, do all this?" he asked. "I'm just trying to get my long-delayed revenge!"

"W-What made you hate humans so much, though?" Rau looked shocked. I blinked. Rau, this is the first time I've heard you stutter...

Mister Movien froze.

"W-What made me hate humans in the first place?... Hehehe...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he suddenly began to laugh like a maniac. Keisuke shivered hearing that laugh. Natsume instinctively walked in front of him. So did Akinori, Touma and Yame-chan. 

"What made me hate humans? No, it should be WHO made me hate humans in the first place!" he declared.

"What?" Akino looked confused. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I," Choiseung agreed.

"I'm on the same boat as you guys," I muttered under my breath.

Whisper, on the other hand, looked pale, "No, it can't be..."

"Yes, it's the original watch holder who made me the way I am today!" he cackled out. 

"The who?" Natsume, Touma, and Keisuke looked confused, but Yame-chan, Akino, Rau, Choiseung, and I looked at one another. 

"What did he do so wrong then?" I asked him. He blinked, before he grinned scarily, "Do you really want to know?" 

"There has to be a reason, right?" Akino bravely pointed out. Mister Movien looked like he was contemplating it, before he smirked, "Fine." and began his tale. 

"30 years ago, I was a great director who everyone looked up to. All my movies were loved. Everywhere I walked, everyone would cheer me on. I thought that my life couldn't get any better. But it got worse," his smirk became a scowl. "The original watch holder, who I had so thoughtfully put as a star in one of my films, began telling the Youkai about the so-called 'truth' behind the filming. Since he had befriended a lot of Youkai before, they began to believe him, and my popularity began decreasing. Eventually, I was shunned out and no one wanted to be with me anymore. I was so angry at that time. I wanted revenge on him. I wanted to destroy him." 

"It was at that time that someone approached me with this plan. That someone told me that she had looked into the future, and had seen that the new watch holders would be strong enough so that I could take their powers and use them to destroy the town." 

"That's how I spent these 30 years. Waiting. Watching. Planning," he looked at us. "And it worked beautifully! I managed to kidnap those 4-" he pointed to the Original Quartet. "-and managed to suck out their powers. Arihoshi for his youki manipulation, the Princess for Shuka, Tsukinami for the Ogre watch and Yoseiken, and Amano for his strong emotions, which helped strengthen the powers."