-THE SUPER VILLIANY SYSTEM-

  [Task: Spend 672 hours in west Trigon]

  [Progress: 0/672]

  [Rewards: Immunity (1)]

  Hjkl? Whats this? Another task?

  I look over the task details, and goggle at the rewards.

  Immunity? With an open-parenthesis "one" close-parenthesis? Could this be the legendary "superpower reward"?

  Yes it was, in fact.

  It was two days after talking to Mrs Grace, and I was currently on the train to SIT. While idly passing time, a bolt of intent hit me and I saw this mission pop up. From behind the illusionary screen appears the red beachball.

  [The Super Viliny System Greets Host, and directs his attention towards the new task.]

  While I'm silently pondering over the new task, Beachball starts buzzing round through the air.

  [The Super Viliny System would like confirmation on the Host's awareness over the new mission.]

  Oh. I guess I haven't said anything to it yet. Hmm. How about I respond in turn?

  "The host Kyte greets Beachball, and confirms that his attention has been directed towards the new mission."

  Kvrrm... Pleck!

  Beachball emits something I can only assume is a ugh. I guess it found that response surprising, huh? Or maybe it just really likes that nickname. Hang on, I'm trying to be getting rid of it, right? Why am I giving it nicknames like it's a friend?

  [The Super Viliny System reminds the host that the completion of these tasks are of considerable importance.]

  I remember now. It's because calling it by its full name is a hastle.

  Now I think about it, I now have three current tasks from this subsystem, right? This is one of them, Another is to shoplift or something, and the other is to... ummm... what was it again?

  Diving into the system's user interface, I bring up the other task.

  -THE SUPER VILLAINY SYSTEM-

  [Task : Wear a villian costume.]

  [Progress: Incomplete.]

  [Reward: Alter-Ego.]

  This is the other one. This one also gives a superpower. Although It's more of a utility than a superpower.

  Beachball flies over to just above my shoulder, and looks at the task with me. Don't ask how I know where beachball is looking. I just do somehow.

  [The Super Viliny System reminds the host that spiked shoes and bck metallic gauntlets are essential to any fashionable supervillian out there.]

  Essential if you were trying to get yourself into a mental asylum, maybe. Otherwise, they're very much not essential.

  I ignore the system's comment and browse through the user interface. I find a particur task I'm looking for, then drag it out, to compare side-by-side with the subsystem's.

  [System]

  [Task: spend 8760 hours below -10 °C]

  [Progress: 0/8760]

  [Reward: Cold resistance (1)]

  This is one of the general system tasks. Again, there are hundreds of these scattered throughout the system. If you live in a really cold area, you'd get this one really quick. If you don't live in a cold region, you would have to travel to one to get any chance of doing it.

  What's catching my interest, however, is the difference in times required to complete the tasks.

  Just compare the two! The subsystem task is over ten times as efficient as the general one! Not to mention, 'immunity' is probably a better superpower to have than 'cold resistance' outside a few niche situations.

  [The Super Viliny System informs the host that 672 hours is four weeks, and 8760 hours is a year. While four weeks is generally associated with a month, which is one-twelfth of a year, the actual ratio is closer to one-thirteenth.]

  This timing, however. Could it be due to st weekend?

  Over the weekend I talked to Mrs Grace, and she suggested I take up patrol duty at East Trigon. It appears that Beachball decided to suggest the same thing. Well, patrol duty wouldn't st for over six hundred hours so I wouldn't be able to complete this task from that alone. However, it would be a start towards it, I guess.

  I ponder it for a while, then I realise the train has stopped. I get out and walk towards SIT.

  While walking through the courtyard up to SIT, I see Alice Thorn striking poses ahead of me. Her movements are fast and sharp, so I'm pretty sure its reted to karate or some other martial art. As I approach, she stops practicing and stares at me.

  "Hey! Alice, what's up?"

  "I'm fine. Just practicing. What about you? Did you miss the train?"

  "No? I'm here right now, aren't I?"

  "Yes. That's what I mean."

  Noticing my confusion, Alice continues talking, stating an obvious fact that I should of figured out already.

  "You're te."

  "I'm te?" I retort in surprise.

  Oh. I thought the train looked emptier than usual. Well, nothing I can do about that.

  I ask about what the heroics csses were doing right now. Specifically, my css. There's a total of six heroics csses- two per year group over three years. I'm in css 2, which is first-year.

  "Would you happen to know what my css is doing right now?"

  Alice nods.

  "Inside, lecture hall three, free period."

  "Oh. Um. That's boring. What's your css doing then?"

  "The same thing. Lecture hall four."

  "Ok. Thanks."

  I start walking towards lecture hall #3. However, after I take a few steps, I double back to ask another question.

  "So what are you doing out here then?"

  Alice averts her eyes, as if she suddenly found a particurly interesting bde of grass on the ground. Slowly, she answers, pausing halfway to find a tactful way to phrase her answer.

  "I chose to... ignore the instructors and do something useful."

  Given her response, it appears she gave up with the phrasing.

  "Ok. Thanks."

  I start walking off again, and Alice continues practicing. After about seven steps, a question enters my mind that I've occasionally wondered about. So I turn around and approach Alice again.

  "Oh. Just one more thing..."

  "Columbo?"

  "...What?"

  "Nevermind."

  I don't know what a "columbo" is, but I ask my question anyway.

  "Whats the purpose of those things, by the way?"

  "What things?"

  "Those martial art dance things!"

  "Kata. They're called kata."

  "Yea, Kata. Whats the point of them?"

  I imagine a hero starting to perform some sort of "kata" in front of a vilin. No matter how I picture it, I really don't see how it's meant to be of any practical help. Fortunately, Alice seems willing to answer.

  "Firstly, to teach good form. Secondly, to be used practically in a fight."

  Oh? So it can be used practically? I notion for her to continue her expination. She takes a moment to figure out what I want.

  "... Oh."

  Seemigly surprised at my gesture, she tries her best to expand on what she means.

  "Um. The former is simple enough to expin. While performing a kata, you cycle through several different moves. Usually the moves are repeated multiple times. I suppose I'm trying to say that it gives an instructor a chance check your posture while you perform it."

  "I see."

  "As for how it can be used practically. Sometimes you can adjust yourself into a position mid-fight which resembles one of the postures of a kata. So if you know what you're doing, you can follow the next few moves of the kata to severely injure your opponent. Or at least, put yourself into an advantageous position."

  "Maybe an example would help expin. Watch carefully."

  She assumes a pose with her fist pointing vertically upwards.

  She slowly cycles through what I assume to be three moves of a kata, ending with spinning 180 degrees around, in a kneeling stance with both her arms outstretched.

  "Got it?" She asks me.

  "I think so." I reply.

  "Ok. grab me."

  "Huh?"

  "Around the wrist."

  Alice held out her arm for me to grab. Confused, I hold her wrist.

  "Like this?"

  Alice's heart beat faster.

  A tall boy gently grabbed her wrist. He was saying something, but she didn't hear what he said.

  The moment overwhelmed her, and she felt a tingling warmth flush down her spine.

  Try as she might, she could not deny the emotion she felt

  This feels...

  She mercilessly throws the boy over her shoulder onto the ground.

  ... exirating!

  Her father is a martial arts instructor, and she attends his dojo around twice a week. When she was younger, the uncles there would give her candy and spar with her. At that time, they could easily block her fists, so she would always lose the spar. However, that didn't bother her. She'd bounce up immediately after falling and would continue sparring.

  But over the years, her fists became faster and stronger, and a new generation of students came into the dojo- those near simir age to her.

  They were, to say the least, incredibly disappointing. Without fail, every single boy who frequented the dojo would at some point challenge her to a spar. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, except none of them even tried to hide the filthy expressions on their faces. to say they did it only to show off would be an understatement.

  There were girls near her age at the dojo too, and the majority of girls there also challenged her. Except usually out of envy, rather than goodwill.

  Even those who were old timers there realised that she was no longer the fragile child she used to be. Their perception of her probably changed when she floored her own father and gave him a bck eye, accidentally. The soft expressions on people's faces she used to receive had gradually changed to those of fright.

  Put it simply, she became too good.

  When she first attended SIT a few months ago, she thought that perhaps she could find opponents on a simir level to her. But it turned out most of the other trainees there were the same type she found in the dojo. Perhaps they were of even worse caliber, since at least the dojo had some fully trained police and heroes attending. Still, she managed to find a few people she was happy to call 'friends', and that was enough to keep her satisfied.

  This boy in front of her, however...

  A perfect punching ba- I mean- sparring partner.

  The boy in front of her gets up, looking bewildered.

  "That was fast."

  "I can show you again if you want."

  "Really? In that case, can I see that again?"

  "Sure. I'll do it slower."

  The first time Alice saw this boy was a week ago, when normal csses were halted and SIT held a joint practical session for first year heroics trainees instead. The second time she met him was in one of SIT's underground bs.

  From those two meetings, Alice made two conclusions about him.

  Firstly, he was polite. In Alice's experience, most guys were either arrogant or creepy. This was the main reason she tried keeping distance with most guys in SIT. For her to have any positive opinion of someone, politeness was a must-have.

  Secondly, the boy was much more durable then other trainees. In fact, the boy probably was more durable than the majority of people in her father's dojo, including her father himself.

  "Are you interesting in karate?"

  "Haha. A bit."

  Of course you're interested. You're in the heroics course. She thought.

  Not wanting to waste the opportunity in front of her, Alice decides to set some bait down for her newly found punching ba- ehem- sparring partner. After all, training was much more efficient when you has someone to practice on.

  Err, you misread that. Practice with. Not on. With.

  "If you want, I could try teaching you a bit."

  "Really? Thanks!"

  Alice quickly started thinking about how to summerise Karate down to the basics. After figuring out a list of what she thinks the basics are, she begins to teach.

  After about two hours, the bell rings, signalling the hour and a half lunchbreak for all trainees attending SIT. Not wanting to continue training in front of an audience, Alice dismisses the boy in front of her.

  "That'll be it for now. We have joint training in the afternoon, so you should eat something and get some rest."

  "Thank you, see you around."

  As the boy leaves, a thought enters Alice's mind.

  Hmm? I forgot his name. I'll have to ask for it again next time we meet.

  Alice decides the next time they meet, she would try to remember his name.