The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

Maple Leaf tries to think positively.

This wasn't easy for her, but with a little effort, she could manage it. Sister Sienna was very important and extremely busy.

After all, she couldn't be with Maple Leaf every day. Maple Leaf had to handle some things on her own, and it was normal that she didn't have her older sister's help. If she wanted to be a proper young woman, she had to learn to take care of herself.

The problem is, Maple doesn't want to be a big girl. She wants to be a little girl that Sienna can hold in her arms and hug, and that can snuggle up with her sisters.

She shook her head, forcing a brave expression. No. She was Maple Leaf, the brave villain working alongside the most powerful supervillain in history.

She couldn't let herself get teary-eyed just because her older sister didn't have time to spend with her.

“Hey, little guy, are you ready to go?” Aleya Iakta asked.

Maple Leaf looked up, then nodded. "Yes, I'm ready."

Today, she's going shopping with Aleia and Trinity! It's going to be fun. Maple Leaf has so many little gadgets she wants to make.

Every time she sees something, she can come up with more than a dozen ways to take it apart and remake it into something else.

So far, she has been very careful and hasn't made anything like the toaster gun, but she has still made a few small and practical items.

The toilet paper dispenser in the train's restroom is now automatic, dispensing the appropriate amount of toilet paper based on the volume of noise coming from the restroom (she's still fine-tuning the device).

Moreover, it can change the toilet paper roll itself, just like loading shells into the main gun of a warship.

The kitchen sink used to only produce warm water, but now it can create everything from ice to water-based plasma! (They just learned about the different states of matter at school!)

Also, the train used to have a large water tank that needed to be refilled, but now it has been replaced with a large water tank that can draw water from the air and fill itself up.

Most of the time, these little gadgets she makes are quite inconspicuous. Her older sister might not even notice them, but Maple Leaf feels they can make everyone's lives better.

She didn't have many materials available before, but things will change after she goes out this time.

The older sister gave Aleya Iakta a large wad of cash, telling her to buy whatever she wanted until she ran out of money.

Maple Leaf was trembling with excitement. She was thrilled. They were going to the dollar store! She could make so many things with the things there!

“Alright,” Aleya Iakta said. He put on a jacket and then a baseball cap with Sienna’s school’s name printed on the front. “If anyone asks, I’ll just say… I’m your uncle or something.”

Trinity grinned. "You can be our big brother."

“No, I don’t want to,” Aleya replied.

Maple Leaf tilted her head and thought for a moment. Why wouldn't she want to suddenly have five more sisters? She was born with four sisters, which felt wonderful. "You can be our dad," she offered another option.

Aleya shrank back in fright. "No! No, absolutely not. Please, never mention this again. In fact, just remove that word from your vocabulary."

Maple Leaf shrugged. She didn't know how to delete the words, but she was sure she could make something out of it.

Almost instantly, she had a design for a large machine in her mind that could erase everyone on Earth from their understanding of the word "father".

However, it will be quite tricky to do; she needs a lot of materials, at least from three two-dollar stores.

But it's not a weapon, so she could probably make one if she wanted to.

"Alright, are you two ready to go?" he asked with a smile. "Or are you one and a third of a group?"

Trinity gave him a skeptical look. "That's a dad joke."

“Okay, first of all, not all wordplay is a Daddy joke. Secondly, stop messing around, it just won’t do.” He looked at Maple Leaf and Trinity. “You two are really going out dressed like this?”

Maple Leaf was unaware of anything wrong with her attire. She was wearing a pretty light pink dress, paired with an even lighter pink shirt, and of course, her reliable lab coat.

"Uh, yeah?"

“Alright. Well, at least this outfit will cover your tail. Here you go.” Alea opened a cabinet near the train exit, found a light blue beret, and put it on Maple’s head. “To cover your ears,” he said.

“Oh, I found a hat in the trash heap that I can wear!” Trinity said. She reached into the bag with the dollar sign printed on it—she intended to keep the bag as it was part of her villain/hero persona—and pulled out a worn baseball cap.

"What about your tail?" Aleya asked.

“What’s wrong with your tail?” Trinity asked. She was wearing jeans with a hole in the back so her fluffy black and white tail could be seen peeking out.

“Never mind, it’s alright. Okay, let’s go,” said Aleya Iakta.

He helped Maple Leaf down the last step off the train, but Trinity jumped right through the gap, landing with a cry of "Ouch!" before immediately cheering and bouncing back up. "What have I done to deserve this?" Aleya muttered.

They emerged from the underground through a hidden passage that Aleya Iakta had found. Once outside, they walked along the sidewalk toward the nearest shopping area.

When they arrived at the first intersection, they stopped and waited for the little man-shaped traffic light to change from red to green.

“Hmm…” Maple Leaf said, fidgeting with her hands nervously.

"What's wrong?" Aleya asked.

"Um, Mr. Aleya? I mean, Uncle? I think we should hold hands when crossing the street, right?" Maybe it would be less awkward if she phrased it as a question?

Aleya glanced at her, then frowned. "Do you really want to do this?" he asked.

“Yes, old man, don’t you know anything?” Trinity asked. “Hurry up and give me your hand.”

"Fingers? You mean my fingers? No, not like that... Never mind." He put his hand down, and as they crossed the street, Maple Leaf carefully held his index and middle fingers.

As they passed by several girls around the same age as the eldest sister, the girls looked at Maple Leaf and Trinity and let out soft gasps of amazement, which softened Aleya's attitude somewhat.

“Well, maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world,” he said. “It’s like walking a dog, but more annoying.”

Their first stop was a dollar store. Aleya Iakta held Trinity tightly to keep her sister from running off and messing things up.

At the same time, Maple asked herself how much money she could afford, and then very carefully picked out a few items from the shelf.

Sometimes, she would awkwardly point to things high up that she couldn't reach, and then Aleya would take them down and throw them into their shopping cart.

She bought far less than she had wanted, but by the time they had explored every aisle in the store, their shopping cart was already half full of all sorts of things.

“Stop it.” Aleia said once when she saw Trinity reach for a piece of candy. “I’m almost out of energy right now. Half of the reason I agreed to come here was to try and get some luck from these people outside. So don’t go too far, okay?”

They paid and quickly left the store carrying bags full of all sorts of interesting things. There were universal remote controls, several toy cars that could be torn apart and moved, several water guns, and lots of craft supplies.

Maple Leaf could make a lot of things with just what she had on hand, and she still had a third of her money left unspent!

The hardware store seemed like a worthwhile place to visit, but the result was disappointing. The store had many good items, but most of them were large pieces.

Although she really wanted to buy a few generators, and the plumbing equipment would also be very useful to her, these were all far beyond her budget.

However, a craft shop was a better option. It was located on a quieter street and had many items on sale, which she bought quite a bit of. There were small tools, paints, and glue.

"Are you happy now?" Aleya asked, by which time her remaining budget had dwindled to single digits.

Maple plans to use the remaining money to buy candy for herself, Trinity, and Aleia to thank them for their great help.

"Happy!" she said as she walked out of the store.

Then, without warning, someone grabbed her from behind.

Before the maple leaves could react, they heard a whooshing sound.

A pair of rough hands grabbed her from behind, and then she heard Trinity curse loudly, followed by a muffled groan: "She bit me!"

Then, everything went black, and I knew nothing more.