Three weeks prior, in The Hideout's capital, when Yamikuro left to train with Urashin.
The sun shone brightly into Yamikuro's dorm room, where his clone had snuggled into the bed and slept like a baby.
The night after splitting apart from Yamikuro and the others, he wasn't happy with the name he was given.
And after searching for a name, he found one that he liked.
Wrath.
That's what he was going to call himself, even if he had to pretend to live as Yamikuro Asaki for now.
Wrath hugged the blanket, instead of having it on top of him, and one of his feet was hanging over the edge.
That also meant he was late.
zzzZZZ.
A couple of knocks came from the other side of the door.
Cedar's clone was trying to wake him up.
zzzZZZ.
That was all he got in response.
Kaminari's clone got tired of it, his annoyed voice giving it away.
"Let me handle this."
He kicked the door open.
Cedar and Kaminari stepped in, looking at the mess Wrath had made.
There were wrappers on the ground, the digital clock was turned off, and clothes lay on the ground, almost like Wrath searched through the entire closet.
The bang woke him up.
With one eye open, Wrath looked at the two humans standing in his room.
'Tsch. The hell do they want.'
He didn't find it necessary to ask them out loud.
Cedar was the first to speak up.
"You're late, you know... Like really late."
Wrath shrugged.
"So what?"
Kaminari's clone let out a sigh, he wanted to drag Wrath out of bed.
"Dude, you can't be serious. We're leaving you behind."
Cedar nodded, agreeing with Kaminari.
"You know what will happen once Urashin comes back, right?"
Wrath's mind flashed back to the words said by him.
"You are just a clone, so I can kill you with just my index finger if I wanted to."
Wrath groaned and got up on his feet.
'Just wait until I get my powers back, human.'
Wrath got out of bed, and his hair was a complete mess. He only had Yamikuro's pajama pants on but no shirt.
Cedar, Kaminari, and Wrath all stood in dead silence for a couple of seconds.
"What?" Wrath asked, his voice deep.
"Aren't you going to dress up?"
But as Wrath was about to search for the school uniform, Kaminari stopped him.
"Have you gotten... Bigger?"
Wrath's figure was different from Yamikuro's, and anyone who has seen Yamikuro more than once could tell something was off.
Wrath had somehow grown bigger muscles and abs overnight. Yamikuro, on the other hand, was rather skinny.
Perhaps this was one of the abilities of the clones- to change their appearance.
"I wasn't going to stay in that skinny body forever."
Cedar sighed, his patience running out.
"Let's go. We're seriously running late now."
Wrath threw on Yamikuro's clothes, and Kaminari ran after Cedar. Even though he didn't want to go, just like Wrath, he had to cover up for his other self, the real Kaminari, who was out training.
As they were hurrying to school, Wrath couldn't help but look around. There were kids, younger or even older, also walking beside them.
He even felt a slight emptiness in him.
'I'm not sure who I was... But I definitely wasn't one of these humans. No way.'
They reached the school building, and all of this was new for Wrath, but he adapted fast.
Education for teenagers, attending from eight am to three pm every day from Monday to Friday, doing homework, not talking back to teachers, being quiet during lectures, and everything else that came with this life.
Once he reached the class, along with Kaminari, the entire class was baffled.
They were thirty minutes late.
But more importantly, the two classmates noticed something different about Yamikuro.
Wrath noticed them staring and looked at them with a look of disgust.
"What do you want, human?"
One of them was confused.
"Human?"
He then looked at the student next to him.
"When has Yamikuro acted like this?"
The student shrugged.
"It's weird."
After being yelled at, Kaminari sat in his seat, but Wrath sat in an empty seat before Kaminari, instead of the usual Yamikuro's seat behind Kaminari, next to Isabella.
"That's not your seat, Asaki." The teacher noted.
Wrath only looked up at the teacher.
"It's mine now."
The teacher let out a gasp.
"I know that you lost Kazuhiko, and you must be grieving over his death, but this does not excuse you from acting like this."
Wrath raised an eyebrow, he wasn't told any of that. But this made him reevaluate the situation. Perhaps it was best if he stayed quiet and kept his head low.
Kaminari understood that Wrath wanted to sit at Yamikuro's seat.
"It's behind me."
Wrath stood up, the chair slightly creaking, picked up his backpack, and sat down where Kaminari told him to.
'Never would've imagined I'd be ordered around by humans.'
But something struck him: how did Kaminari's clone remember where to sit?
"How did you know where to sit?" He decided to ask.
Kaminari's clone turned around, whispering.
"The original had it written down at his desk."
Wrath only nodded at that response. What kind of an idiot needs to write that down?
But this was only one of many classes Wrath had to get through.
Once he heard lunch break was a thing, an hour of free time where students get to eat food and relax, he became excited.
Who would've thought something this small would entertain a figure like Wrath, but this was his life now.
But as Wrath walked to the cafeteria, the same two classmates followed.
They crouched behind a corner, with one of them looking over the wall.
"Do you have eyes on him, Coste?"
"I do. He's approaching the cafeteria, Caom."
Caom nodded and ordered Coste to move out and follow the person whom they thought wasn't Yamikuro.
Wrath, on the other hand, stared at the food before him, despite not having any memories; deep down, he knew that food wasn't like this whenever he ate, if he ate at all.
He stabbed the fork into the rice, chewing slowly, his eyes scanning the room. The cafeteria was filled with noise, students laughing and chatting, trading bites with each other. He didn't fit into that picture. He never would.
At the same time, Coste and Caom had entered the cafeteria. They didn't sit down; instead, they stayed near the wall, watching Wrath closely.
"You see that?" Coste asked in a low tone.
"Yeah... Yamikuro never eats alone. He always sits with Kaminari and the others."
"Then who is that?"
Caom didn't answer. He didn't know either.
When Wrath finished his food, which he surprisingly enjoyed to some degree, he stood up and left the tray and dishes on the table. He had no intention of returning it, as humans could clean up after him.
To Wrath, that was their purpose.
"He's different. Yamikuro never leaves his tray," Caom whispered.
Coste leaned forward. "Not just that. The way he eats, the way he moves. It's not him. I'm sure of it."
Wrath walked through the corridor, his steps echoing against the floor, when his eyes met the huge entrance doors. Something in him pulled there, like he needed space. He pushed them open and stepped outside.
The air was clearer. He looked into the sky, which was covered with white clouds.
'Why am I even here...'
Caom and Coste slipped out after him, crouching low like they thought they were spies.
But before they could follow further, a shadow fell over them.
A guy twice their size, a year older, crossed his arms and stared them down.
"Hand it over," the guy said. His tone wasn't a request, but a threat.
Caom blinked. "What?"
"Whatever you have," the older student replied, grabbing Caom by his collar and shoving him against the wall. The sound echoed across the yard.
The echo reached Wrath, his head tilted, along with his eyes narrowing. At first, he ignored it. He didn't care; humans fighting humans, it wasn't his problem.
Coste tried to step forward. "Stop it!"
The bully shoved him down, his back smacking the ground. Coste groaned from the impact.
Both of them were helpless.
Wrath looked at the time on the clock on the school's wall, above the entrance door. Lunch was ending soon.
He had to walk back in and sit in the boring class. But when his eyes glanced over, he saw Caom's hand trembling against the wall. Coste was struggling to get up.
'So those two, they followed me out here.' Wrath said to himself.
The bully raised his fist, ready to drive it into Caom's face.
But before the punch landed, Wrath was standing beside him. His hands stayed in his pockets, and his stance was calm.
The bully froze, lowering his fist just slightly. "What do you want?"
Wrath didn't answer. He wasn't even sure himself why he was there.
The bully's face twisted into a grin.
"So you want to get hit too?" He swung his fist toward Wrath.
Wrath moved first. His own punch crashed into the bully's chest, sending him flying across the yard. The older student slammed against the wired fence and slid down, gasping for breath.
Wrath stood there, looking down at his hand.
'Was that me… or are my powers returning?'
Caom and Coste stared at him, wide-eyed.
"You…" Caom started, his voice shaking.
He hadn't expected the person who appeared as Yamikuro to save him.
"...Whoever you are."
Coste nodded quickly. "But… you did save us. We won't tell anyone. You have our promise."
They stepped closer, their expressions softer now. "But at least tell us your name. If you're not Yamikuro… then who are you?"
Wrath's eyes narrowed. He turned his back to them. A second of silence followed that action, as if he doubted on what to answer.
"...Wrath."
The two exchanged a look.
"Wrath... You're covering for Yamikuro Asaki, aren't you?" Caom said.
"Not like why matters to us, but we can help... By showing you how he acts." Coste added.
The night fell quickly, crickets sang outside, with a few bugs tapping against the window of Yamikuro's dorm room.
Wrath sat on the soft chair, with homework before him, but his eyes weren't on that. He was looking outside, at the dark, starry sky.
His reflection in the glass stared back at him.
'Why did I do that?'
His grip tightened.
'I don't care about humans. I hate them. I should've just let those idiots handle their own problems.'
"Then why... Why couldn't I just let them suffer? Just what am I...? Who was I? And why do I despise humans?"