Chapter 48: unReal

Shoot X reader

Genre: 4th Wall break

Requested by: (a long time ago) Makomarisan


I was coming back from the comic-con, in my best hand-sewn and impeccably perfect Illumi Zoldyck genderbend costume. Although I attracted a couple of weird looks, but I didn't care! I personally prepared my hair by going into a beauty salon, getting black extensions and dying them, straightening them, my costume was made of chord, jersey, coarse cotton and leather: I was freaking proud of my cosplay: hell, if they made an HxH live-action movie, I would be the perfect adviser for costume designing: even my make-up was on fleek (which usually, in day to day basis, doesn't happen). I looked at the subway watch and then stopped in my tracks by the storming train: it was the last train, and I was quite lucky.

Luckily, it was an empty carriage, so I took a seat beside the sliding door. Before the door could close, another person blocked the door from his right hand, and slid in and sat right across me.

I was shuffling through my iPod, and wasn't quite satisfied with my songs, however, when my eyes drifted towards the man who was sitting right across me, T couldn't take my eyes off him: I mean, how could I! He was impeccably perfect. He was all tall, sculpted, perfectly V-cut jawline and the killer outfit was the pinnacle of—

The pinnacle of a perfect cosplay of Shoot McMahon.

I have seen many cosplays in my countless visits to Comi-cons, professional cosplayers are the best to bring the characters into flesh-and-blood, hands down! But he was utterly on point! Or to my bewildered opinion, more than being on point. He captured every detail, every aesthetic of Shoot McMahon, exactly how Togashi-sensei wrote and exactly how he is portrayed at the anime! His looks, his face, his slight slouch and in fact, his endless toned legs that was strapped with cloth bandages. A thing that always bothers the manga fans, the choice of fabric of the clothes that our character will wear: but this guy! Oh my god, the texture of his clothes was...

'Perfect...' I blurted out aloud and the scattered population of the carriage looked at me with a queerly judgemental vibe! I was already in a cosplay, and this was just too much. 'Your costume is perfect.' I addressed to the guy next to me, 'You are Shoot McMahon, right?' I moved towards him and sat beside him.

'How do you know who I am?' he asked with an anxious vibe, which looked a little out-of-the-place for me, 'hey... it's obvious by your costume... you are Shoot McMahon.'

'This is not a costume, this is my apparel young lady!' he called out, and looked at him warningly 'I don't know who you are and how you found out about me, but I will find out soon—get away from me!' he visibly cringed, which made me a little mad 'ooh, touchy touchy!' I added sassily, 'but I gotta admit, you got the character real good. My god, are you an actor!'

'Will you please keep your impertinence to yourself? I am not some—' he raised his voice then cautiously toned it down 'I think you will be very comfortable at your former seat!'

'Aw, c'mon... which store you got your costume? Or is it handmade, like me?' I asked enthusiastically and he simply rolled his eyes on me and looked away. I pouted, but did not refrain myself from saying 'by the way, the purple dreadlocks are really cool.'

He did not made any rude comments on that, but smiled, as I looked at him from the corner of the eye. 'unfornately-' he stood up abruptly, 'that is my stop, I must go-'

'wait... that's my stop too, let's get down together...' I got to his left side and stand side by side in front of the door, suddenly, the train gave an ominous jerk and I tried to grab his left arm, instead I found none... it was long flowing sleeve all along. I was impressed by his cosplaying ability—he was a disabled person that was cosplaying another disable person. 'That is really cool... how you portrayed Shoot's armlessness...' I commented him as I descended the train.

'How. Many. Times. I. Have. To. Tell. You, I am Shoot Mcmahon!' he almost shrieked under his breath.

'I know... how cool is that!' I commented joyously.

'what I can so to make you believe that I am not some cosplayer you speak, young lady?' he finally cracked.

'Well... you could show me your floating hands... with Nen of course!' I said enthusiastically, and for two reasons. Firstly, there was no such real thing as Nen, secondly if it were true (lol, not really) he could not just show me, because I am a non-nen person.

'Okay... if you must!' he threw his jacket at one side and exposed his left shoulder and along with a cage, three free hands appeared in the air and shot against me, to save myself, I covered my face and fell off my butt. When I stood up and looked around I saw nothing at all, as if he vanished.

'Strange... where did he go?' I looked around me and then pinched myself. 'Did I dream the entire thing? Was I asleep in the train the entire time?' I asked myself 'maybe, maybe I was microsleeping-'

I walked away with half confusion and half sadness. If the guy was real, I could have met him.

Extended ending

While she left, she left behind an unnoticed torn page on the ground, a page of manga that depicted the last pose struck by Shoot McMahon, drawn by the great mangaka, Togashi Yoshihiro. Little did she knew what she left behind.

The characters may be conceived by one, the author, but they do come alive when the reader loves the author and conceive the flesh and blood persona. Some sketchy figures that scatter themselves on the paper like some offshoot are wombed inside the readers mind and those sketchy figures gain body, feelings, conscience through the passage of the reader's imagination.

Never let any character die, those are the passionate offering by the author to you.


4th Wall Break: a term used by Deadpool (marvel comics) where the characters of the comic/anime/tv show directly communicate to the reader/audience with the full knowledge who and what they are. Here the thing is a little unknowing. Hope you like it.

This is I tried, something different. I was doing 'Feminist' symbolism in Novel in class and lots of cool stuff they taught us today. The last concept was sort of a jumble up of that lesson. I was really touchy-feely when I wrote this story: didn't we all imagine, at some point of the life, that the characters will jump out of the manga/comic to our real life and interact just the way they are? That's what my story is all about.

I definitely had a writer's block back then, but seems like changing fandom really helps while you are writing such stuff. So I explored a few other fandoms: Death Note, Marvel Avengers, K-Pop, and then I am back again.

Inspired by: J'y Suis Jamais Alle (I have never been here before) by Yann Tiersen.

It's a soundtrack from a French Movie Le Fabeaulax destin d'Amelie Poulain (The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain) it's a really nice movie too. Any French reader out there, I shout out to you.

Thank you so much, more coming...

R&R&R