As the final day of school wrapped up, Raito started the walk home when he spotted his group of friends. Assuming they were making plans, without including him as usual, his powers started to act up.

“This party will be epic!”

“I’ll be surprised if we don’t get laid.”

“All the hot girls will be there. We just need a ride.”

It was common for them to only invite Raito if they couldn’t barrow their parent's car as a last resort. He had always just dealt with this kind of treatment but had finally reached his tipping point. He thought maybe after school was over, they would change and treat him like a real friend. Just as he was about to turn around, they looked up and spotted Raito.

“Yo, Raito! Over here buddy!” One of them shouted.

Raito clenched his teeth and grabbed onto his backpack strap tightly. Not wanting to make a scene, he reluctantly walked over to them. They started to tell him about the party and if he could give them a ride.

Trying to avoid eye contact so he wouldn’t cave in to their request. “I can’t, my mom wanted to go out and celebrate today. My dad won’t be home tomorrow so it’s the only time we can celebrate my graduation. I’m sure I can stop by the party around ten though.” Some of what Raito said was true but most of it was a lie. They acted calmly and were itching their necks as if they had a rash. His friends were clearly annoyed.

“The party should still be happening by then….” one of them said while turning his head to the side. The rest of them started to pull out their phones and just stood there with silence.

“Sooo?” Raito asked.

“So what?” One of them said while his head was still deep into his phone.

“I can’t exactly get there without the address. Text it to me, you have your phone out already.”

Not wanting to expose themselves yet, “Oh yeah right….um here,” one of them slowly texted Raito the address. As they walked away, Raito could still clearly hear them saying horrible things about him.

“I hope he doesn’t show up.”

“What a loser to choose family over us.”

“We won’t need his help with rides soon anyways.”

“This will be the last time we see his ugly ass face.”

Rage continued to build up inside of Raito, a type of rage he had never felt before. And yet. He could feel tears rolling down his face. High school was over and at the end of the day, he never had a single true friend.

“Those are some crappy friends.” Raito quickly turned around to see Flight behind him wearing a masquerade mask with wings on the side of them. “Bet you they won’t amount to much after school and only talk about how cool they were,” he continued. Raito was so busy dealing with his friends that he didn’t even hear Flight popping up behind him. “Cat got your tongue their mate?” Flight laughed as he removed his mask, “This is my mask I use when I go out using my powers. When you’re a Gift you got to have one just in case you have to use your powers out in the open.”

Raito just stared at Flight, unsure what to say. Flight, seeing how red Raito’s eyes were, tried to cheer him up the best way he could. By giving him a shoulder to cry on.

The two started walking with Raito leading the way. “I’ve never really been good at making friends. I don’t know what to say or how to act at times. So I spend most of my time working on my mangas and watching anime for inspiration on how to make my stories better.” Cried Raito while trying to wipe away his tears.

“That’s not a very good reason to let people treat you like dirt. Besides, you’ll have the last word because you’re a Gift!” Flight said as he spread his arms wide into the air. “You can probably make yourself into a world-famous musician.”

“I still don’t think I can use my Gift to make money. It just doesn’t feel right to me. Besides, I still haven’t been able to properly use my powers. The only thing I’ve accomplished is reduced my super hearing from happening five times a day to two times a day.” Without realizing it. They had reached Raito’s house after talking for about fifteen minutes.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you. If you have your own car, why do you even walk to school?”

“I like having some time alone to just think, that’s how I get my best ideas. The radio is always on and I’m too busy concentrating on driving. But when I walk, it’s peaceful to me. I can look around my surroundings and just turn my brain off. Not thinking helps me think more. Kind of like how when you forget the name of a tv show or actor but suddenly remember it while in the bathroom. But now, with you here, it’s kind of nice having someone to talk to outside of school. I don’t feel as alone anymore.”

“I know how it feels to feel like you’re alone. I lost both of my parents when I was five and was picked on a lot in the orphanage I was in.”

“You were in an orphanage? None of your family members took you in?” As soon as those words slipped threw his lips. Raito quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

Flight just gently smiled over at Raito, “How about I help you learn to better control your Gift?”

After having dinner, Raito quickly ran into his closet to look for something to wear as a mask. That’s when he got the idea of wearing a costume instead. After all, superheroes need to have a costume to hide their true identity. Raito found an old white shirt and a blue hooded jacket that he decided to cut up to make his outfit. He cut off the hood, torn up the white shirt, and sewed up pieces of the white shirt with the hood to make a hooded mask. For the final touches on his costume. He sewed on some patches onto the back of the jacket with the leftover pieces of the white shirt. While looking at himself in the mirror, “My name shall be Sound Wave- No! That won’t work, it’s way too predictable.” While tapping his lip with his finger his eyes began to wander over to his computer which was playing synthwave music. “Synthwave...synth...wave…. I got it! I shall be known as Wave The Master of Sound but please- just call me Wave.” Seeing that it was almost time for the meetup, Raito took off his costume and stored it in his bag.

Once Raito reached the park where Flight and he agreed to meet at, he changed in his car before getting out. As he started to walk up to Flight, Flight couldn’t help but burst out in laughter from seeing Raito’s costume. “I said to wear a mask not your Halloween costume. Did you come up with a superhero name too? Wait. Don’t tell me. Its Sound Wave isn’t it.” Flight said while trying to catch his breath.

Raito defended himself. “Jokes on you, it’s Wave and besides I might as well go all out.”

For the first time in years, Raito felt like he had made a real friend. Someone you don’t have to hide your personality from and is even a little weird too. The rage and loneliness he felt during his entire high school year seemed to no longer matter. The training started once Flight stopped laughing and caught his breath.

“The trick to learning how to control your powers starts off with seeing what you can do. There are somethings that you can do but at the same time, there is a limit on what you can do. For example, I can fly. Give things the ability to fly they’re around me and take away the ability to fly. What I can’t do is travel at high speeds, give a large object the ability to fly, and my influence radius is about 30 feet. All Gifts have a limit and we’re going to test what your limits are,” Flight explained. Flight instructed Raito to close his eyes and instead of trying to suppress his hearing, embrace it instead! “Explore just how far you can hear someone talk and continue to do it until you can’t go any farther.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” Raito said as he closed his eyes.

At first all he could hear were the sounds of cars that were nearby.

“I can see you’re not relaxing. You’re thinking too hard,” Flight commented.

Flight was right. Raito’s shoulders were tense, his teeth were clenched, and he was squeezing his eyes shut. So he started to relax his shoulder, loosen up his mouth, and relaxed his eyes. In his relaxed state does he finally hear some people talking that were in front of a nearby house. All of a sudden, he started to hear car noises again. But they sounded different.

“I-I-I think I can hear things that are about a mile away. I can hear some cars being turned off or turned on and some faint pumping nose. I remember there being a gas station about a mile away, so I think that’s what I’m hearing. A mile must be my limit!”

Excited to hear about this, Flight reminded Raito that super hearing is only a scratch on what his true abilities are. As the Gift of Sound, he could also create and manipulate sound itself.

“Our powers are also instant which is important when mastering your powers. There is a trick us Gifts do to help with that part. What is something we can do that can represent something being done quickly or instantly?”

Raito thought about the question for a few seconds before answering with “Finger snapping.”

“Correct! People use snapping all the time as a visual when explaining that something happened in mere seconds. First, think about what you want to happen. Next, envision it. Third, turn on your powers like a switch. To do this, you snap your fingers and pretend it's like flicking a switch on.”

Flight snapped his fingers and a basketball that was left at the park started to float in front of Raito. “And like a god. Gifts can create,” Flight again snapped his fingers, “and destroy.” The basketball flops back down to the ground.

Destroy and create. These words echoed in Raito’s ears. He was starting to realize that these powers are a bit more complicated than he imagined. In comic books, superpowers always had an origin point on how they work. Magic, ancient technology, supernatural beings, or biology are some of the reasons behind how someone can use their superpowers. But Gifts. They’re different. They happened instantly with no source or reasoning other than the Gift had the ability to do so.

Flight gestured over to Raito for him to try for himself. Raito thought about what he wanted to do. “Big sound burst, big sound burst,” Raito whispered to himself over and over again. Feeling confidant, Raito snapped his fingers, but nothing ended up happening. Raito tried one more time and again nothing happened. He then turned over to Flight, “You made it look easier than it really is.”

Determined to gain control of his powers, he realized that the finger-snapping trick won’t work for him. He thought to himself I’m in a position to be a hero and to be a hero you have to think like one. Instead of snapping, Raito envisioned himself as Hiro. Raito closed his eyes again and took in several deep breaths to calm his nerves.

Raito then slowly opened his eyes and pulled out his right arm in front of him with an opened hand. “Sounds of Justice!” He shouted. A large sound pulse shot out of his hand and sends the basketball near him flying.

“Or you can do that.” Flight chuckled unsure whether to laugh or congratulate Raito.

“The problem was I wasn’t thinking like a hero! Snapping your fingers might work for you but I like my way better. Heroes always name their attacks, that’s what makes them soooo cool,” Raito explained as he looked at his hand. This was the first step into being a hero.

As time went, they eventually stopped practicing to just sit down and relax. Raito was starting to get pretty tired and was ready to leave until Flight started to talk to break the silence. “I used to have a best friend; he was in the orphanage with me. He was the only friend I had; I was picked on a lot because I never defended myself. He would beat up anybody that dared laid a finger on me,” Flight said as he looked up in the sky and continued to tell Raito about his past. “We planned on leaving the orphanage once I turned thirteen. The plan was for us to use my Gift to travel from Nevada, all the way to Florida. That’s where I was born but me and my parents moved when I was five. When I turned nine, my friend I decided to leave then and now. We got tired of being in the orphanage. So, we traveled to Arizona first and things went downhill fast. A guy wearing an all-black suit tricked us into going into his house. I was nine and my friend was eight, so we were stupid enough to think he was trying to help us. My memory of what happened is blurry, but I do remember one thing. He was planning on selling us to traffickers. The next thing I knew I was working for this powerful Gift and the guy in the suit was gone. I worked for this Gift for several years until I learned the truth about him. I left and as for my friend...he stayed, and I never saw him again. He was no longer the same person I once knew.”

“I hope this doesn’t come out as rude but your life kind of sounds like an origin story of a tragic character in a comic book,” Raito said, “I mean leaving an orphanage at the age of nine by using his flying powers sounds unrealistic.”

Flight laughed in agreement, “It’s getting dark now. You should probably head home. We can meet up here again at the same time to practice more.”

Raito agreed and headed back home to get some rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most of the time, Leech can be found in Timekeeper’s office or at home when he’s not roaming the streets. Timekeeper’s office is very plain with only his desk and a couch in it. Most offices have windows so there can be a view but not this one. It was completely shut off so no one can see what was happening inside. As Leech entered Timekeeper’s office, he saw a man wearing a black suit with a yellow tie and dress shirt to match. The sound of the door closing caused the mysteries man to look back to see Leech at the door.

“If it isn’t my favorite person in the world! Leech,” the mysterious man said.

With a slight frown on his face, Leech responded with, “If it isn’t Blight. Shouldn’t you be selling some medication to doctors?”

“I am I am. I just needed to check in with the boss over here to let him know I need another shipment of supplies. Already sold everything I had.” Blight then waved over to Timekeeper as he got ready to leave. “It’s always nice to see you again,” whispered Blight as he walked pass Leech. The door closed behind Blight and Leech quickly looked over at Timekeeper with a disgusted look on his face.

Ever since Blight joined the organization, he acted like a boy who’s having fun playing mafia. Blight always acted as if he was untouchable and it rubbed Leech the wrong way. Where all Gifts feared Leech, Blight never showed any fear towards him.

Timekeeper was busy typing on his computer when he started to speak to Leech. “I believe that Blight might be selling some of his supplies to private doctors and hospitals in order to get some extra money. Blight is very careful when it comes to doing anything that might cross me. He is probably selling weapons to people on the street as well. His need to act like he’s part of a mafia is starting to run its charm. I need you to find any proof for me.”

“You’re the Gift of Time. Can’t you just find the truth yourself!?” Leech grinned knowing the answer.

“I don’t have time to waste looking through time for something you can quickly solve for me.” Timekeeper responded while he continued to type.

“Nothing will make me happier; I’ll start tomorrow. There’s something on TV tonight that I’d like to watch.” Leech giggled as his face started to make a devilish grin. Timekeeper nodded his head to acknowledge Leech’s statement knowing that changing his mind to start now was not up for debate. Leech snapped his fingers and a black hole appeared on the side of a wall for him to use as a door and exited the building.

Leech existed out of his black hole and appeared inside his own house. The inside is very large and has a spiral staircase that led to the second floor. He made his way to the living room where a large screen TV nearly took up an entire wall. The living room is lavished in designer furniture. There is even a bar that is stocked with expensive wine and bourbon. Despite his expensive lifestyle, Leech didn’t care about money. He only lived this way because of the excess amount of money he possessed.

He made himself comfortable before turning on the TV. A woman appeared on the screen with two other men who have identified themselves as detectives from the United States. It turned out they were doing a special where they would review and talk about the murders that the Smiling Killer had done since today would be the anniversary since his disappearance. Leech wanted to reminisce about his past. He even remembered the specific murder case they were currently reporting on.

“We have reports that you have been leaking information about a money-laundering scheme that you were a part of,” the Smiling Killer said. Smiling Killer’s right hand held tightly around the neck of a soon to be dead man. The big bright smile that was on Leech’s mask when it was once whole was just as intimidating as his real smile. “Timekeeper is trying to achieve world peace and here you are, ruining his plans. Did you not think we have people in law enforcement to catch rats like you?” Smiling Killer murmured as he caressed his hand on the face of his victim.

The amount of fear was so large that the man couldn’t help but beg and plead for his life to be spared as he accidentally wet his own pants. Before he knew it, Smiling Killer’s arm went right through his chest. Killing him almost instantly. As the Smiling Killer, Leech never really tried to hide his killings since he could easily vanish from the crime scene in seconds. This was how he became well known as the Smiling Killer. A man wearing a mask with a big smile on it and killing what seemed to be a random stranger was hard to miss.

These unsolvable crimes made the Smiling Killer a legend that could compete with killers like the Zodiac Killer and Jack the Ripper. The crimes of the Smiling Killer were only famous, however, in North America and the death of the Smiling Killer slowly came. Over time, Leech ordered Timekeeper to start giving him jobs to do overseas because he was becoming too big and needed the heat to die down. Of course, the odds of Leech actually being trialed for his crimes were nearly impossible. But there was another reason why he didn’t want his identity to be discovered. Timekeeper agreed to his demand and the legend of the Smiling Killer ended and a new identity was created.