1 - Behind His Visage

Who am I? You sure you want to know? The story of my life is not for the faint of heart.

If somebody said, it was a happy little tale about an average guy, not a care in the world.

That person probably lied to your face.

Sounds familiar? I got that from one of the best superhero origin movies to be ever conceived. Well, that is just my opinion, opinions can be biased. But that line, personally, perfectly describes what I am going through way back.

If you think I am the type of person who is a goodie two shoes, a knight in shining armour, boy, you are wrong. Well, I am not particularly proud of the person I used to be, but it has its own ups and downs.

If I told you, an arrogant, snob, and a selfish rich boy could ever become a hero, would you believe me? I hope you won't be flabbergasted by my question.

How could an unworthy person such as I, take the mantle of a hero who fights for justice?

Now, let me tell you the story of a boy who would become a hero, by accident. Technically, more of by force beyond my comprehension.

It all happens naturally. Not what you expect from the birth of a hero, nothing epic such as thunderstorms was on sight. It all happened under the beam of pale serene moonlight.

Let's dive into the story of Midknight Breaker, a tale of suspense and heroism that will forever change my life, into the man I am now.

[YEARS AGO]

Sleeping on my comfy bed will forever always be the best feeling ever for me. Imagine, you are dead beat tired from last night, after partying so hard to booze, you are bound to rest your ass somewhere right?

Enter the bed. My bed, worth more than your average car. It is made from the finest of materials, designed exclusively for the Curtains family, my family. Springs of my bed are made from the springs that you would typically find being used as the suspension system for that of monster trucks'.

Superb quality! Enough about my bed. Let's get back to the topic at hand.

I was there laying down on my bed, completely worn out, like a dog who ran for miles just to chase that car who had cat stickers for decoration.

I was about to sleep for 5 more hours until the sound of my mom raised me from the deep slumbers of my dreamland. I swore that while I am in the state of subconsciousness, instead of my mom's shout waking me up, I heard that of a roar of a giant monster lizard who is constantly terrorising Tokyo to no ends if you catch my drift.

Mom: PETER! GET YOUR ASS OFF FROM YOUR BED OR I WILL GET MY BUCKET OF COLD WATER!

Peter: Try it. You wouldn't dare...

Oh, how wrong I was.

Splash! Stream of cold water began to encase me. It was cold as arctic winds. I was shivering down my spine, down to my core! All of the hair on my body stood to its ends.

Peter: Okay! Okay! I get it!

I quickly go to the bathroom to take a bath, getting ready for school… WAIT.

IT WAS MONDAY MORNING?!

I quickly took a bath, oh glorious! Exalted you are hot water! The best part of waking up is indulging yourself under warm water! Oh shit, that sounded wrong. Forgive me.

What I mean to say is, if someone doused you with cold ass water, hot water would help a lot. You get me? I mean, who in the world would use cold water to shower after waking up? That's out of the ordinary right. Right?

After I am done with dressing up, I go downstairs, passing by my adorable 5 little sisters. Playing around as usual except for Sora Curtains, who was busy with her chores as usual by the kitchen. Aquamarine and Matsuri were busy watching anime. The other two? Not sure. My guess, the two are busy setting up traps to prank Sora, Aquamarine and Matsuri. Ironically, in the end, the trap always ended by setting off by themselves, Fubuki and Pekora.

Quickly passing by only, leaving them disappointed because I failed to interact with them before leaving out to school. My heart melted as I heard they are calling the name of their almost non-existent, introverted older brother. I wish I could answer back or play with them for a while. Sadly, that is not how the work works. You have to study until the top of the world, to unlock better career positions that will furthermore, grant access to better rewards for your hard work. That is the fact that I will learn to mould to. Thanks be to our dad, who is always working so hard for us. I strive to become that man, though the outcome seems unlikely.

As for our mother, she is also the same as our dad, or maybe more. Since she has to take care of her spawns, make sure they are cherished with enough tender love. She holds most possibly one of the most prominent roles in the family. She is the moral compass for my dad and for the entire family, guiding us with compassion and serenity.

I began to get carried away there, I know. It is something so simple yet so complicated for us to see. We will never know what we have until we lose it. The Curtains household sees how this feels like, we experienced it once. It hurts like Hell. It is something that we would like to forget about, live on. In my opinion, bullshit. How can we live on with such massive scars across our hearts? No way! I, Peter Curtains, am determined to not forget about it at all.

Instead, I swear...

I swear that I will bring an end to it!

I stopped daydreaming. I have a school to get to and scores I need to ace. I began to recollect myself. Breathe in, breathe out. Done. I am putting on my custom made shoes.

Sora Curtains: Onii-chan!! Wait up! You forgot your lunch break!!

Sora screamed on the top of her lungs to gain my attention. Well, it did work.

As she arrived near my presence, I swear I feel so guilty of not interacting with the rest of my family. How could you reject such cinnamon rolls? I really wish I could spend time with my family more, but I am the type of person who is afraid to be open, even with my family. Especially not after the recent series of unfortunate events that befall on my family, I fear that I will worsen the atmosphere of the Curtains household even more. All I can do is silently watch or sometimes interact with my family from a distance.

Surprisingly, the oldest of my cute little sisters, Sora Curtains, understood why my exterior nature is as such. It is like she can see pass through the outer shell of a person, straight to your heart. She seems to inherit the motherly nature of our mother the most. It seems she did not share any of those traits with the others at all.

Moving on, the food that she handed out to me turns out to be handmade by her. This can be proven by the amount of excessive "diabetes magnets" located everywhere. Ranging from cheese slices to honey syrup, she definitely works so hard to prepare for me said beauty. I am incredibly thankful for it.

I thanked her and patted her head, giving out my sign of affection and thanks. She pouted. She was demanding something else, I can sense there was a disturbance in the force. Props to anyone who understood that reference.

She began to close her eyes and lend closer to my face, blushing, red all over her face, as red as a tomato. She tilted her forehead closer to me. I fulfilled her wish, kissing her forehead.

She smiled brightly, beaming excessively with positive energy. If her happy level could be converted to electricity, it would power the entire city of Vanthene.

Mister Tango, our butler, began calling out my name to enter the car. He began to feel impatient about my lateness, but he is trying his best to hide it. The thing is, after living out your life to the best of your abilities with the same circle of friends or workers, you began to know their true nature.

How can I tell he was impatient? Easy. If he is in a state of distress, he often puts his left hand on the top of his right hand while gripping it hard. Body language is a dead giveaway. It is an art rarely appreciated by people, but it is very impactful to our society, maybe more so than spoken words.

Last time I spotted him during that distinct body language was during the time when his daughter died. A few years back, back when my dad recently hired him. After finding out about his daughter, my dad gave him extra payment, ten times his standard monthly fee.

He was so thankful and began to cry his heart out. It was a real tear-jerking moment for us as well. Since that day, he began to feel like a part of our family, not just a butler. He is super loyal and extremely hard working ever since.

Though everything is not sunshine and rainbows. I can feel Mr Tango dislikes me. I wouldn't blame him, my attitude is pretty rotten, so it is reasonable. His favourite new generation Curtains? You guess it. It is Sora Curtains.

Mr Tango honked the car to gain my attention. Quite strange for me today it is. I seemed to always daydream and be super sentimental more than usual. I have to keep my thoughts clear next time. I could not afford to let those thoughts cloud my education.

As I entered the car, I began to admire the beauty of the bright blue skies. Clear skies, no clouds to be seen. Also, I really admire the citizens of Vanthene. There is something about them I really like. I just could not put my finger on it. Quite possibly, I think it has something to do with being really hard working workers, but also having the ability to spend time socialising. You know? Spending your time with friends and family. I have a lot of money, but I do not think I could ever learn how to juggle work and socialising. Trust me, I learn from experience.

As we were en route to my high school, my phone rang. It was my teacher. She called me because I have not arrived yet.

Teacher: Late to class again are we?

I quickly ended the call. My brain at that time could not think of any excuses to dish out than usual. Trust me, I have used many types of excuses before, even outlandish ones just to get myself out from deep waters. At first, she bought it. But now, she began to develop an antibody to counter my tall tales.

This time, she texted me. She sent a photo of my report card, which was very good! I ranked first place amongst my fellow classmates of 100 or more heads. I am very proud of myself. Ecstatic beyond imagine! I could not wait to tell my parents about it.

Today, I began with a high note, looking all good and jolly. I share the news with Mr Tango. Likewise, he also shared my happiness, but is rather more disappointed with my habit of always waking up late to school. Do not blame me, last night beverages were a real kicker!

As for today, what could possibly go wrong?

As I said those words, a helicopter crash landed on the streets, not too far from us. The explosion then flashbanged our eyes and deafen our ears. To make matters worse, the whole area began to be covered by ash and smoke.

Great!