"YOU SHOULD TONE down on using cuss words Amadin," Irekitan Bae tells me again after what seems to be my twentieth time cussing in the past minute. He allowed me to change into regular clothes then had me and Lebechi sit down to tell him everything.

"I knew something was up when I saw you two 'practicing' together," he makes sure to air quote before talking on, "you don't even like Lebechi that much, so it was weird."

"You don't like me?" Lebechi raises a brow at me.

"Not that I don't like you,I just don't like. . ." I think of what to say, I was indifferent to Lebechi as a person but her outspokenness, brilliance, and how she acts like the best when we are grouped together was what I did not like.

"Yes, or at least, she hated that you always had to be the group leader, that is what she said, then." I glare at Kitan, he has said too much.

"It doesn't matter now, I like you. . .somehow."

"Somehow?"

"Lets get back to the matter at hand, Kitan has seen too much, is there a way to wipe his memory?" I scrunch my face before biting my nails.

"Wait, what?" It is Kitans turn to glare at me, "Why will you do so? You can't even. It is highly impossible."

"If you think that is impossible—although, it is at the moment—then you will not believe anything we tell you. Even Amadin had a hard time believing after she made it possible so, you should just go home."

"Nah, uhn," Kitan wags his fingers at us. "Spill."

Lebechi looks at me and then I nod. There is no use in hiding it from him, telling him would make him run and never speak with me and I was fine with that. The chubby girl sighs then speaks, she even goes as far as showing him the book where part of the history was.

"I can't be certain about some things so I have to read more, and find out places in Lagos that may have relation to this culture. But Irekitan, it is all real."

The boy looks from Lebchi to me and back to her. "Powers?"

"Yes, she has it. Technically not her but the ring, but she does."

"Did she . . ." he pauses and looks to me, "Did you put her up to it, Madin? You almost lost your legs last time you were doing this superhero nonsense, do you want to loose all of you this time?"

"You almost lost your legs?" Lebechi looks at me with confusion in her eyes.

"When I. . .jumped in hopes of having powers," I say lowly.

"Oh, then. No, Kitan, we promise you this is real."

"Prove it," he looks at me only.

"I just saved your life back there, what else should I prove?"

"Anyone can save someones life," he argues back.

"Yeah, well, not the way I did. Grabbing you. . .you weigh a ton by the way, and removing you from harms way. That takes super strength, which I have." I scoff at him but can't meet his eyes.

Everyone is silent after that, only our breathing can be heard. It is almost late, I want to tell them, my parents will soon be home and I don't want them to think I have friends again. They will act weird and too jovial. Although they don't tell me, I know they are worried about me since the accident.

"Do you think she will be happy with how you have become this obsessed?" Kitan says slowly, when I look at him his eyes are on his fingers and he taps his feet continuously on the ground. His teeth bites his lips briefly, I can see the hurt written all over his face. We were all close, but it was almost as if the two of them had a special bond that I could never get into and it made me jealous then. Thinking about it now made me sad.

I sigh and decide to demonstrate for him, I stretch my hand towards my room door which is slightly open and say, "Look behind you." I look to my window, not knowing whether or not he does what I tell him to. If he saw it fine, if he didn't, fine. It was all up to him. My ears pick up the sound of wood against wood as I curl my fingers, then after that I hear Lebechi laugh happily. This is when I look to see what I have done—the door is twisted beyond recognition and yet attached to the frame.

"Do you believe us now?" Lebechi asks Kitan who still has his focus on the door. He stays still at first, then faces the both of us next.

"Igeon maldo andwae," sometimes I forget Kitan is half Korean until he says a phrase or two. He gets up then pick up his school bag, "I need to go."

I don't move. The human mind is feeble, but I feel sad his reaction is to freak out, Lebechi tries to stop him but he is out the door very quickly. I later hear his voice as he greets one of my parents goodbye. I am in for some question session.

"You should go too, it's late." I get up and prepare to go welcome whoever is around. She nods, keeps her things into her school bag then proceeds to leave the room with me behind her after returning the door to normal. When we get downstairs, Mother emerges from the kitchen, she has a light smile on her lips as she looks from me to the girl.

"Good evening, Mrs. Nehi."

"Good evening dear, how are you? It is nice to have you here," Mother greets back, excitement in her tone.

"Thank you ma. You have a lovely home." She says and walks out of the house, I follow to close the gate, but mostly to avoid statements like 'Amadin, you are not hospitable enough'.

When I get back inside, my mother is giving Eni some snacks, he smiles at her happily. "So, you have friends now, that is good."

"Uh, well. School project," I remember how Lebechi said the lie days ago, "History project."

"History? Isn't Kitan in Science class?" Shit.

"Yeah, we needed his help in perfecting the. . ." the what genius? ". . .reproductive history."

"Reproductive history?" Mother has a confused look.

"There is no such thing," Eni says before he takes a bite from his snack, his eyes on me. I make sure to eye him spitefully before responding to Mother.

"It is a new kind of lesson, even we were confused. We need a science student to explain some things to us," my brothers face tells me he doesn't believe a word.

"Liar," Eni says but Mother scolds him with her eyes.

"Alright, that is good to hear. Dinner will be ready in a few and your father is almost home, maybe you can tell us all about the project, sounds interesting."

Tell? I hardly understand what I said, and now she wants me to talk about it? "Uh...I'm not feeling too good, can I skip dinner?"

She suddenly looks back at me, "What is wrong?"

"I think the concussion from that day, and I am really tired."

"You can't skip dinner, I'll bring it up to you. And some medicine too, go lay down." I almost gag at the mention of medicine, this was what I get for having a nurse as a mother. But I am grateful I will be able to escape the eyes of my family for the night. Plus I am really tired, exhausted even, so exhausted that the minute I lay on my bed, I sleep off.

Everything is like a blur, from waking the next morning to readying for school and being inside the class. Even what the teacher teaches doesn't stick with me and it is Visual Art.

"Make a painting of perspective, to be submitted next week." Mr Kennedy says just as we hear the break bell ring from the Art Lab where we—those who offer Visual Arts only—are seated.

"Yes sir," we chorus, and get up to head back to class. We are four girls and seven boys who offer the subject out of the twenty eight of us in my class. The rest chose Economics and I always wonder why. I huff and hug my notebook to my chest with one hand while the other is inside my pocket, a new habit I have formed in order to check for the presence of the ring. I left it at home, purposely, before I left for school and by the time assembly ended, I found it inside of my school bag. Before heading for the Visual Art Class, I threw it into the bin and before the end of the class, I felt it inside of my pocket. It is creepy how it keeps finding its way to me, but I also wish my other things could do the same, like the house keys I lost in JSS2.

Just as I climb up the stairs which leads to my class, I sight the tall frame of Irekitan and my breath hitches, not because I am supposed to avoid him—well that too—but because of the look in he had on his face yesterday when I twisted the door with the power of the ring. What is he doing hovering outside my classroom?

Maybe he is here to call his football players, I tell myself and work up the courage to walk past him into my class.

"Amadin," his eyes light up when they see me, I feel mine open wide.

I clear my throat, "H-hey."

"Hey, yeah, I need to talk to you."

"You're not here for your footballers?" Even though I hear him well, I still feel he is mistaken about his reason for being before me.

"Why would I need them?" He bends his neck, his questioning habit.

"Well. . .because you don't need to talk to me about anything, and you are the football captain."

He looks into the classroom briefly then at me, his voice is a whisper, "There is no need to beat around the bush, I need to talk to you about what happened yesterday." He did not believe me, maybe he is here to tell me I am crazy. I remember the sadness I felt when he freaked out.

"Nothing happened yesterday," with those words I walk into the classroom straight for my seat at the back.

"Amadin," Kitan calls behind me repeatedly and my classmates begin to murmur loudly.

One of them, a female, is bold enough to talk. "Sports Prefect, you're here!"

No, it's just his ghost.

I eye the petite girl who happens to the Female Social Prefect, she blinks her naturally long eyelashes at Kitan and that makes me want to choke myself.

"Yes, I am. Hi Amarachi."

"You did not show up for the Prefects meeting this morning, we were all worried about you, are you sick?"

I frown knowing Kitan should have been made both the Male Sports Prefect as well as Punctuality. For the first weeks in JSS3 he came before any of the students in school and just managed to cut back on how early he came to school when we entered Senior Secondary.

"Yeah, no, had an important business to. . .get. Thank you for your care." He looks to me, about to approach when Amarachi speaks again.

"So are you two a thing now?" I see her nod my way but apparently Kitan needs extra set of eyes or maybe glasses.

"Who? Thing?"

She and her girls give a special kind of fake chuckle, "You and Amadin of course, you have not come to see her since, but who notices?"

You did, I don't say a thing, just choose to watch the mini movie.

Kitan gives a light laugh, the one he gives when he is nervous or embarrassed. "N-no, its not like that."

My heart doesn't shatter, why would it? It is not like I expected Kitan and I to be anything but friends. We were not exactly friends at the moment because I did not want to have him as mine for the moment, but I do feel a slight pang.

"Good," I get up as she says that, tired of being in the class when Amarachi flirts with him, plus I want to get something to eat. "You and Kaka were perfect for each other, no one can actually replace her."

The name makes me stop walking, my back is turned to them but I know they have their eyes on me. It happened a year ago, still it always feels like it was not long, that is one reason why I avoid Kitan and why I avoid her name. My chest tightens, the next second I run, straight to the stairway the Science students use and down, all the way to Sports Arena bleachers. I don't sit on it but go behind, my aim is to hide while I shun the images in my head. I cry silently, the one without tears.

"Amadin," a familiar soft voice calls to me from above.

"Go away, Lebechi," I tell her without looking in her direction. She must be kneeling on the chair and staring at me through the slim space between seats.

"Don't mind Amarachi, she's just a beefer and don't mind Kitan, he's. . .well, blind." she still tries to console me but the the wrong way. I am not in a terrible mood because of what Amarachi said about Kitan and Kaka being perfect for each other—they truly were—but it is at the fact that what happened was because I had been so jealous of their bond and tried to break it.

"Go away."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I can't. We may not be friends, but at least I can be here when you are sad." She says softer than usual. My response to it is a long sigh and we stay like that, no words said. That is until I hear a masculine voice which makes my chest tighten than before.

"She is there, isn't she?"

"Don't tell him," I say a minute late because instead of staying on the bleachers like Lebechi—my new definition of a normal person—Kitan comes round and squat near where I am seated on the ground.

"Her name still haunts you, right?" I hate that he can understand me, I look away, searching for any view that was not his black eyes, small nose and thin lips. "I know you won't believe, but it really wasn't your voice. I know you think it is, since it was after. . ."

We did what we did, he couldn't say out loud, probably because Lebechi was above us.

"What do you want, Bae?" It gets awkward with his body close to mine, he smiles at that and I notice the schoolbag in his hands.

"I have come to be part of this. . .team."

"Team?" I steal a glance at Lebechi who has a confused look as me.

"Hero team."

"There is no such th--" I am about to complete my statement when Lebechi, with her excited voice, speaks.

"You believe us?"

Kitan pauses while he zips the bag open and stares at me, like he is there but not there. It doesn't last though, "I actually thought I was crazy, or at least turning crazy like Amadin--"

"I am not crazy!"

"Oh please, you are. That should be no argument. But anyways, when I got home, I sat down to think, about what I saw, what you. . .did, and I searched the web and got some pretty old historical fact that bored the shit out of me." He finally zips the bag open.

"You googled it?" It is Lebechi who asks.

"Google?" my old friend—because I don't know what title to give him yet—laughs, "Google can't show anything to you. Deep web, baby."

"What?"

"It's not something I can explain to you immediately. But I got some things which convinced me and I spent the rest of the night planning and redesigning this. . ." That is when he brings out an item made of leather, it is folded neatly so I cannot easily tell what it is, but I know because of the color—dark green, like that of leaves and a brown that was both appealing and annoying. I remember what I wanted it for and how I asked Mrs. Abiade to make it for me, that was a month before it happened and I never went back for it.

I take it from his hand and open it slowly, it is the same, just as then when I called myself the Magnificent Tree Captain. One hand down to the opposite waist is made with the brown leather while the rest is made with the green. But the cape isn't here.

"Where is the Cape?"

"You don't need that, I made it into. . ." he shows me rather than speaks. Unlike the original idea, attached to it now is a hood made out of the green leather—which was formerly my cape. I want to sulk at the fact that the one thing I always dreamed of having as a superhero was altered but I am mesmerized at the sight of the new look.

"Wow!"

"Same thing I said, in my mind," I did not know when Lebechi came to join Kitan in his squat position.

"I thought you didn't sew again," I look at Kitan who only shrugs.

"Meh."

"You have to try it on, it is way cooler than what I gave you," obviously.

"I'm not fit for it."

"What do you mean? It is your size, you did not add weight," the glare I give Ktan is enough to make him apologize.

"I mean, I am not superheroish, I am. . .me."

"Who is a Superhero?"

I really don't know the answer to that. While growing up, I thought a superhero was anyone with superpowers but with the event of yesterday—I still feel sore from where the people hit me—it definitely had to do with more than the powers. Patience not to beat up everyone who annoys you is there.

"Not me."

"Fine," the boy says, "do you want to waste what you have been given? Think of all the good you are supposed to do and think of no one helping all the people you are to help."

"I really don't--"

Lebechi sighs, "Lets do it this way, if things go bullock when you try again, we'll let you be."

"Speak for yourself," Kitan frowns in her direction but I am already on par with the idea.

"Deal."

"I am not in on it," he grumbles.

"You are not in the team yet," I remind him, "So what else do you have because it cannot be only this."

Just then, we hear the signal of the end of break, Irekitan smiles at me. I hand him the outfit for safe keeping."After school, and get ready to begin your Hero duties. . .Earth-Girl."

•••
Kitan is definitely the voice of logic they both need. Plus he speaks the Korean language, although occasionally. And he can design, so, fall in love, will ya, if you haven't. (So I can break your heart).

Vote if you enjoyed the chapter ;)

How do you like the new hero name Kitan is going to force on them?

How do you like Kitan?

Now the team is complete, what do you think is going to happen?

Up above is a rough sketch of Amadins official outfit. Don't laugh (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Take care of yourself
Ciao
Omo