Riley Ross

"I would like to commend Riley Ross."

Oh? This is bad.

Everyone slowly turned their heads at Riley as soon as Spectacular Mustache Man singled him out. And when Spectacular Mustache Man started clapping, they all followed suit one by one—with the loudest cheering Gracey and Bella.

"Heh. That's right!" Gracey started pointing down at Riley with both index fingers as Bella started doing a beat with her mouth, "We. Have. The. Main. Character. In. Our. Group. Yeah. Oh Yeah."

Bella continued beatboxing, and Spectacular Mustache Man allowed them to make noise and even nodded several times.

Pauline meekly clapped for Riley while Victoria was smiling at her. The green streaks of electricity crackling from her eyes, moving wilder than usual as she clapped for him faster and more enthusiastically than the rest of the students.

Tomoe just casually went with the flow, all the while thinking just how much these people didn't know about him.

Hannah, well, she was the only one Riley was looking at the entire time, and although the smile on her face was quieter than the others, her eyes, which were turning red, were proof enough of how proud she was.

She mouthed something with her mouth, words that were reserved only for Riley to hear and understand.

Uh oh. I appreciate that, Sister. I do. But the more you think of me as this heroic figure, the more disappointed you would be once you find out the truth. Perhaps I could have stopped with Ryan Roman, and your disappointment in me would not have reached this far, or perhaps you would not have even been disappointed.

But it is too late now—I can never reveal what I am to you. It would crush you. I do not ever want to see that, Sister.

You must never know what I am.

The cheering lasted for an entire minute, and Spectacular Mustache Man gracefully let the noise die down on its own before he started speaking again.

"You deserve all the praise you can get, young man," he said while nodding approvingly to him several times. He then looked at the other students one by one and nodded for the final time, "If you do good things, and if you save people, the cheers will come naturally. Now that all of you have your laptops, some of you might even be aware that Mr. Riley is now officially registered as a superhero."

"W-what?!"

"Seriously?! He's twelve… doesn't that make him the youngest superhero?!"

"Okay, enough. Enough. We're having a class now," Spectacular Mustache Man raised his palm, "I mentioned that to you because Riley is now registered as an E-rank Hero. He jumped straight from F to E, justifiable for what he did. I could even say not enough—but this is where our earlier talk falls. From what we have seen of Mr. Riley's powers so far, his abilities would make him, at the very lowest, a B-rank Super. And at the very highest, he is an S-rank Super."

Spectacular Mustache Man crossed his arms as his mustache once again lifted him up in the air.

"The hard truth that we have been telling you was that as soon as he was born, Riley was always going to be in that rank," he sighed. "Our powers can be trained and enhanced, yes—but some are always going to be much stronger. Riley has also been trained ever since he was young, even before he had awakened his abilities—and he is training even now, maybe more so than any of you. I can feel his telekinetic frequency tingling my mustache all the way from here, and he has had it on ever since he walked into this room."

…What?

Riley's eyes slightly widened upon hearing Spectacular Mustache Man's words. He quickly looked up and glanced at him, before looking away to the floor.

Spectacular Mustache Man… can sense my telekinesis using his mustache?

"All of you should be working hard—because even someone like Riley still needs to prove himself and climb up the ladder of the Superhero rankings. I expect all of you to do double the effort." Spectacular Mustache Man nodded to himself before the projection on the wall finally changed again.

"Now, shall we talk about Supervillain Tiers? They… are the same as superhero rankings, and there is not much to talk about them. Their actions are valued more than their strength—but then there are Threat Levels… which we would discuss some other time," he sighed as the projection on the wall disappeared and he once again landed back on the platform.

"I know that all of you have questions about this Potential Villain List. And first of all, I just want to say that on behalf of Mega Academy, I am sorry we kept it hidden."

He closed his eyes for a moment before his mustache twitched and he started walking around.

"But I also want to tell you that it is for your own good," he said.

"While Mega Academy will not directly walk you to the moral path, we at least could help in guiding you there…" Spectacular Mustache Man subtly glanced at Gracey and Tomoe, "...The list is for us to know that a student would need special attention. Not because we are trying to villainize you, but because we are trying to prevent that from happening. You are not bad, and not even misguided—so, for those who are starting to look at your classmates differently because they are on this list, don't. They're still your friends. They are still the person you knew before the list was revealed to you. But most importantly…

…I want you all to know that all of us are on this list. Each and every one of us has the capacity to do bad and evil things, even if we don't mean it. Just because you are good now, it doesn't mean you will always be. And the reverse could be the same—they might be bad now, but it doesn't mean they will always be. I want all of you to remember that each time you look at people."

And what about me, Spectacular Mustache Man? Was I… ever truly good? And if I were, would I ever be good again? The fact that I am questioning that now might already be an answer… but right now, no matter what, I think of myself as already irredeemable.

"That is all for today. I am dismissing you early."

***

"Why… do the instructors here always give inspiring speeches?"

Outside in the school grounds, the Baby Crew was now heading to the mall to hang out and buy some snacks for their rooms. Unfortunately for Hannah, everyone has decided that after the mall, they will spend the rest of the day in her dorm room.

"I mean, why is he talking like we've known each other for a month? Haven't most of us just met like less than a week ago?" Gracey blinked a couple of times, "Although… it actually doesn't feel that way. It feels like I've known you guys for a hundred years or something. Wait!"

Gracey stopped everyone on their tracks as she opened her long arms. Everyone wondered what it was again, but Gracey only looked at them with wide eyes and said,

"Maybe all of us were friends in a different time?!"

"...Or maybe we just click as friends?" Hannah sighed as she gently brushed Gracey's arm away, "I heard weird people tend to stick together, so… yeah. Fuck. I'm officially part of the weird group."

"No, my little disciple…" Gracey shook her head, "...You are part of the main character group. Be honored!"

"You really should spend less time reading whatever it is you're reading. It—"

"Ayo! Is Hera!"

Hannah's words were suddenly interrupted by Bella's loud voice. Everyone turned to look where she was looking, only to see Hera right in front of the mall and leaning on a black sedan.

Hera also glanced at them before standing up straight and waving at the group.

"I heard you kids were dismissed early by SMM," she said. "Hannah. I hope you don't mind, but I'm here to fetch your brother. We… have plans."

"Is… this about that audition?" Hannah blinked.

"Oh, you know?" Hera smiled, "Yes. Riley said he was interested in some soul searching, and maybe taking a part in a drama—I'm taking him there."

"But he's a minor?"

"You don't have to worry about that. I contacted your mother."

"What?!"

"Yes. Diana's pretty cool, if you don't mind me saying so," Hera chuckled before finally turning her attention to Riley, "Let's go, Whitey?"

"W-wait, I'll go with you!" Hannah said as she grabbed Riley's hand. The eyes of the rest of the Baby Crew glistened and glimmered too as they looked at Hera.

"Sure…?" Hera narrowed her eyes, "But do you guys have permission to go outside? You need one during school days."

"Oh… how do we get that?"

"Yesterday," Hera winced. "You need to tell the Academy one day prior. So… Riley?"

"Hmm," Riley glanced at Hannah. "I will not take long, Sister—and if I get the part, I will make sure to bring you to the red carpet."

"Wh…" Hera blinked,

"Let's not… think about those things yet. Shall we go?"

"W-wait!"