~ Chapter 27 ~
Black, pitless eyes stare up at him.
"I'm… sorr… -y… Killu… a…"
Blood droplets run down Illumi's lips and chin, falling into jet-black hair in tangled tentacles around him. Illumi's limp body beneath him, Killua's stained red hands still hold the hilt of the dagger. Unable to do anything but watch, the knocking in Killua's mind increases in tempo and volume as Killua sits over his dying brother. When Illumi's bloodied lips part again, the pale green skin of his cheeks sinks into the hollows of his skull. Illumi's face and body melt away before Killua's eyes, until only a crimson-stained skeleton remains, surrounded by a cesspool of flesh and blood.
"H-how could you…?" Illumi's voice echoes as his body melts away. Killua's stomach lurches from the sight.
"I only wanted the best for you… I loved you, Killua… Killua…!"
Sweat cascades between the roots of Killua's snowy hair as he shakes, until he wakes up in real life, shaking. With a hand on his bare chest over his palpitating heart, Killua sits up, glancing momentarily at Gon. He swipes the sheets aside and stands, and walks. By the window, his empty and fatigued silver-blue eyes mull over the city before them. No longer in the motel by the countryside, they wait for Kalluto to make his move.
Leaning against the window, Killua gasps for breath, grasping his head. His fingers interlace in snowy bangs. Shit…
The needle is no longer there.
Now, even Illumi is gone.
But the images and sensations won't leave him.
Makes sense, Killua sneers. It's not like a few days of freedom from Illumi can erase it all… everything that I've done, or all the people I've killed… all the things that have happened to me.
Feeling the pattering of his heart, Killua glances back at Gon, who sleeps soundly in bed. Gon's arms are stretched out to the dent in the cushions where Killua had been sleeping moments before. Forcing out a calming sigh out, Killua runs his hands through his hair more slowly and massages his scalp. Nothing I do can change the past, he tells himself, as he's told himself many times before. All I can do is focus on the present, and the future…
It was so hard when the past kept making itself known, though…
Eventually, Killua moves toward the bed, and climbs back underneath the sheets next to Gon. Closing his eyes, he tries to get his mind off the horrific images of the dream – it proves difficult, especially since most of it had happened in reality. Illumi really had stared up at him with a dead cloudiness in his eyes, whispered his apology as he was dying beneath Killua's hands.
Killua knows what the others want to ask: "Do you feel remorse…?"
No…
The answer is almost immediate. He does feel guilty, though, full-well knowing it could have been him laying dead on the dungeon floors. If not for his position in the family hierarchy, Killua very well could have been the one assigned to teach one of his younger brothers the art of assassination. He could have believed the same things as his older brother, followed the same path, and suffered the same fate…
Kalluto…
Though he is nowhere nearby, Killua can feel his younger brother's emotions from miles away – at least, he thinks he does. He knows all too well the anger and betrayal Kalluto must feel, seeing his entire world crumble before his eyes – and at the hands of his older siblings no less. Being faced with the truth that your reality is wrong is the hardest thing to accept, and especially crushing the younger you are.
Burrowing his head into the pillow, Killua feels Gon's breath behind him. Turning around, Killua wraps his arms around Gon, presses his forehead against Gon's warm chest. Gon, a little lucid now (his snoring is quieter), places his arms around Killua in turn.
Trying to drown out the memory of his mother's cries, resonating between the cavernous dungeon walls, Killua focuses on the warm body in front of him. Doing everything he can to convince himself, This is all that matters right now.
. . .
The next morning, Killua and Gon come out of their hotel room to see Bisky, Palm, Ikalgo, Canary, Amane, and Alluka in the hallway waiting for them.
Bisky's brow furrows in concern. "You all right?"
Mentally sighing, Killua nods. Gon had asked the same thing when they awoke, feeling Killua still clutching him and shaking like a frightened child. Gon had stroked his face to ask what was wrong, only for Killua to awaken with a start, not realizing he'd been that way the entire morning.
"Okay," Killua says, pushing the thoughts aside, "let's do this. Palm, you keep an eye on us with Wink Blue. Alert Bisky, Canary, Ikalgo, and Amane if things start to get out of hand. Alluka, Nanika, and Gon, you're with me."
"Are you really sure Kalluto will attack us in broad daylight knowing it's a trap?" Ikalgo asks.
Killua shrugs. "He doesn't really have another choice if he wants to get revenge."
The others murmur in lackluster agreement. Killua tries not to let it get to him. Yet again, he knows this isn't their affair. It's about him and Alluka now.
Trying not to make it look too obvious that they're keeping watch, they venture around the city. "You see anything?" Bisky asks from her cellphone on the opposite side of the marketplace.
"Nope," says Killua. He's borrowing a phone Palm gave him. Beside him, Gon and Alluka scan the area for any signs of residual Nen or shifty movement. They turn and shake their heads at Killua.
"Nothing," says Gon.
Back to the phone, Killua says, "I guess we'll just have to wait a little longer."
"Aw man, how long is this going to take?!" Bisky complains. "We've been out all day! He didn't even attack us during lunch, when we were most vulnerable!"
"I know, we've just gotta be patient."
"Uhg."
Killua ends the call.
Pointing at something, Gon says, "Killua, there's a takoyaki stand over there. Let's get some!"
"Yes!" Alluka chimes.
"Eeeeh? But we've already eaten so many snacks since lunch," Killua says, pocketing the cellphone. "You can't be serious."
"C'mon, please!" Gon says.
"Please, please!" Alluka chants.
With the two of them crowding his vision with their shining, innocent faces, Killua feels he has no choice. "Fine, fine. But I get extra this time!"
"Yaaay!" they cry in unison, prancing toward the stand together.
"Better not let Ikalgo know," Killua mutters, looking over in the direction of where the octopus peruses the stands with the others on the other side of the marketplace. Among the people rushing to and fro in the plaza, Killua catches glimpse of a hunched over, grey-hooded figure. Something about it seems familiar – but Killua loses sight of them the moment he sees them. Searching the crowds again, his silver-blue eyes are rapt with attention when Gon nudges his shoulder, startling him out of his trance.
"Here it is! One full order of takoyaki all to yourself." Gon notices Killua looks shaken up by something he saw in the crowd. "What is it, Killua?" He stares into the mass of moving people as well, trying to find out what it could be.
Taking a deep breath, Killua claims the proffered white-and-red tray of takoyaki from Gon. Stabbing one octopus ball with a toothpick and popping it into his mouth, Killua assures, "Nothing. Probably just my imagination."
Blinking into the marketplace center, Gon and Alluka don't believe him.
"Was it Kalluto?" Alluka asks.
Killua hesitates, chewing slowly. "…I don't know. Let's keep moving."
After a while of nibbling on the Japponian treat, covered in white Japponian sauce and bonito flakes, Gon seems to remember something. "Ah –!"
Killua and Alluka look at him, their cheeks bulging with food. "Mwhat?"
"I just remembered!" Gon leans over to look at him. "Killua, I got you something a long time ago, when we went to a festival."
Killua gulps his food down. "Oh? What is it?"
"That keychain that I mentioned a long time ago? I gave it to Alluka to protect. Do you still have it?" Gon looks at her.
Swallowing her food, Alluka clarifies, "Oh, you mean the gift you left in your hotel room the day we split?"
"Yeah, that one."
Reaching into her pocket, Alluka pulls out the cat keychain with sharp eyes that Gon saw on one of their first dates so long ago – before either of them admitted to it being a date. Bashfully, Alluka says, "I kept it on me these last few months as a good luck charm, in the hopes you guys were safe."
Killua asks, a little sorrowful, "Man, I really worried you that much?" He sets down his tray of takoyaki to take the keychain from her hand and inspect it.
"Yeah, but I also knew you were doing it for both of our own good. I knew you needed space and some time alone with Gon."
Grinning furtively, Gon and Killua exchange a glance. Neither one of them is in the mood to deny it now.
Looking over the keychain, its white, plasticky complexion, "3"-shaped mouth, sharp, diamond-shaped eyes, and small front paws held up as if begging, the others flat to the ground, Killua can't help but smirk a little with his eyes narrowed himself. "I like it."
"I hope so, since you're the one who pointed called it 'cute' in the first place," Gon teases, nudging him.
"Well it is!" Killua remarks, slipping the keychain into the pocket of his black pants. "Don't shame me for only speaking the truth."
Gon snickers.
"I didn't expect you to be into that kind of cute stuff, Brother," giggles Alluka.
"Well, maybe there's a lot you don't know about me," Killua retorts, chin in the air, which only makes them laugh more.
A few hours later, the sun sets. The lights in the street turn on, white and ghostly in the fading orange light. By the time Killua gets another call from Bisky, the sky is almost completely dark, and she suggests they turn in for the night.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Killua says. "No use waiting for something to happen. He'll ambush us when he's ready."
As Killua takes the phone away from his face, the others blink at him in confusion. He conceded so effortlessly after being so adamant that Kalluto would attack today. But it's something Killua can't explain. Something to do with the feeling he got from the hooded figure in the marketplace gave him a hunch…
On the way back to the hotel, the group stays split up just in case Kalluto decides to attack. On the street of the hotel, Killua and Gon pick up on an enveloping bloodlust, but it's too diluted by Zetsu to be able to pinpoint the source. Gon leans close to Killua. "Do you think it's Kalluto?"
"…I don't know," Killua admits, a little ashamed not knowing the aura of his own brother. "I think it is?"
The bloodlust hasn't dissipated in the slightest by the time they get back to the hotel, so Gon and Killua suggest they stay out a little longer. "See if he wants to attack us," Killua says.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bisky asks, her expression sympathetic. "Purposely putting yourselves in harm's way just to lure your vengeful little brother out of hiding… Isn't that what we've been trying to do all day?"
"Yes," Killua says bluntly. "There's no other way we can resolve this. I think he isn't attacking us because he sensed you guys following the entire day. So, this time, stay in the hotel, and only come if you see trouble through Wink Blue." Killua sends a nod Palm's direction, and she understands, nodding in return.
Taken aback by this, Bisky looks like she wants to further protest. Palm takes the lead. "Got it. Let's go." Everyone else follows her to wait in the lobby.
With a wave of distorted energy around the young Zoldyck's body, Nanika emerges and hums, "Killua, which way should we go?"
"This way." He points to the left.
They aren't walking for more than ten minutes when Killua turns into an alleyway, somewhat catching Gon and Alluka off-guard. They follow him, only to see him halted at a brick wall blocking their path.
"A dead end," Alluka voices. "Let's go back for now. If he wanted to attack us, Killua, he would have by n –"
"Hey, Kalluto."
Back still turned, facing the brick wall in the alley, Killua stands with his hands in his pockets, the sleeves of his blue plaid jacket rolled up. Caught again by surprise, Gon and Alluka turn around. A small, slender figure bars their exit.
Killua turns. His expression is something of remorse, and pity. The motionless assassin's fingers twitch. None of them can see his face as he stands against the ghostly streetlights, feet spread apart, hands at his sides. Kalluto isn't dressed in one of mother's kimono, but instead wearing long, bell-bottomed pants, black with swirling purple designs. On his torso is a loose black blouse embroidered with maroon roses around the collar, his jet-black hair covering some of them, reaching around his shoulders, wavy at the edges. From one hand, sliding down the inside of his forearm, a white paper fan appears. Suddenly, the slender figure dashes forward. "YOU BASTARD!"
Unable to react from the speed of his appearance, Kalluto runs straight through Alluka and Gon, raising his fan to height with Killua's throat. Many shards of paper rise with him, and Kalluto sends them at his older brother. Killua lazily dodges to one side, hands in his pockets, but instead of being fazed, Kalluto circles around him. His heeled black leather boots skid across the concrete, and he sends the army of paper triangles at Killua's back and half-turned head.
Before a single piece of paper can hit him, Gon crosses in their path. With one swing of his fist, Gon sends the murderous shards of paper flying up into the air from the force of his Ren-enforced punch. It isn't long before the paper redirects its path, though, drifting slightly, and about to rain back down on Killua and Gon when a projectile sweeps them all away.
Nenless, on the ground behind them, at first Killua wonders if Gon used his Nen-enforced projectile Paper, but both Gon and Killua turn back to see Alluka, her arms outstretched and body alight with aura. At the same time, they exclaim, "Alluka, you can control Nen?!"
"Yeah, you didn't think I just lazed around the entire time I was with a Nen master like Lady Bisky, did you?! I'm not very good yet, though," she says more humbly.
Unfortunately this isn't the time to ask for details, for then Kalluto brings their attention back to him. Crouched with one hand on the ground, his face lifts. Lines of anger form around his acidic pink eyes, dark and fraught with fatigue. His limbs are erratic but controlled, focused with rage. "HOW DARE YOU!" Standing, he slaps the fan on his heart with one hand, pointing with the other, like a devout patriot. "You've betrayed our family! Both of you! After everything they've done for us, you ran away! Only caring about your own selfish desires!"
Unmoved, Killua steps forward. "I did."
Baffled to hear him accept it so readily, Kalluto demands, "Do you have nothing to say for yourself?! How dare you act like you don't care about our family!"
Killua says nothing. He won't apologize for running away or killing Illumi, for helping Alluka out of her situation, or destroying his father's and mother's hopes of continuing the Zoldyck bloodline. It had to happen. Even if it pained him – or Kalluto – to deal with it alone, there was no way he could stand by and let the burden of the Zoldyck Family be passed onto him, or anyone else, for that matter.
"Things couldn't stay the way they were, Little Brother," Killua says. Opening his arms defenselessly, Killua approaches his younger brother. "Believe it or not, I know what you're going through."
"Yeah, right!" Kalluto lashes out, flicking his hair out of the way, refusing to believe Killua wants this to end in a truce. He knows better than anybody, having tried to live up to the image of him, how masterful of an assassin Killua is. "You killed Brother Illumi, because you wanted to prove that you were the best! And now you're even trying to undermine Mother and Father with your skill! How dare you?!"
"Our family used to be my entire world," Killua continues, completely unfazed, which only frightens Kalluto more. "It was impossible for me to imagine what life was like outside of them. I blindly followed their orders for all those years, not caring to think about the consequences, because I convinced myself that was the best I could do, and the only way to survive."
Hearing the words come from Killua's own mouth, Gon can't help but stand straight and listen. After all this time, Killua is facing the truth… The truth that he ran away for a reason that wasn't entirely selfish: because it was his only choice.
If I had stayed, I… Killua sucks in a sharp breath. "I ignored the pain inside me that told me it was wrong. For too long…" He says the last bit forcefully, only a few feet away from Kalluto now. He stops, trying to look his brother in the eye, like an equal, as he slowly lowers his arms. "Kalluto, you don't have to do this. You don't have to take their path."
Conflict crosses over his younger brother's smooth features.
The sincerity in his older brother's voice, the calmness in his stance – it's unlike everything he thought he knew about his brother. The master assassin that his mother constantly raved about – the trickster his grandfather reminisced about – the child who needed to be made ready to take on his responsibility as the Zoldyck heir that his father bided his time for – or the capable older brother who was led astray by indulging in his own selfishness – all of them were wrong. Who is the person standing in front of him now?
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Waving both arms, Kalluto strikes up a whirlwind of paper all around him.
A transformed Bisky, Palm, Ikalgo, Canary, and Amane run onto the scene at the end of the alleyway.
"No! Don't interfere!" Killua yells back at them, despite being pelted with hundreds of tiny paper triangles as powerful as a tornado in a vortex around his younger brother.
"I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER!" Kalluto screams from within, voice distorted, hair and clothes whipping around him. Paper fan positioned downward, ready to give the order, another voice calls out in the scene.
"No, Little Brother!"
At first believing that Alluka's cry was for Killua, Kalluto's eyes widen when he sees Alluka's pleading stare directed at him instead. "WHY…! ARE YOU…! LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?! YOU NEVER CARED BEFORE!"
The paper triangles on Killua start digging into his skin. He grunts from their persistence, unable to shake many of them off even with his pulsating Ten. Blood starts pouring from the cuts they've made.
Teeth clenched, Kalluto's expression amid the vortex of paper is something between glee and anguish.
"Killua!" Gon cries, trying to get closer, when he's threatened by a gust of murderous paper sent his way. "Guh!" Before it reaches Gon, Killua uses his lightning reflexes to pick every triangle of paper out of the air in front of Gon. Fingers singed and bloody from razor papercuts, Killua glares at Kalluto, eyes and white hair alight in Godspeed, though a few paper triangles remain in his own skin.
A little fearful now, Kalluto's storm decreases, and he backs away. "You…!"
About to make a rash decision, having Gon threatened once again, Gon steps in front of Killua, arms spread. "Kalluto, stop!"
All at once, the vortex of paper triangles comes to a stop, frozen in midair; Kalluto is in complete control. "You! You don't have a say in what happens here! You're the reason all of this happened to begin with!" Even as he's saying it, Kalluto knows it isn't the truth, and the insecurity starts to show in his increasingly panicked stance. He's looking for an escape now. At this, the sympathy in Gon's and Alluka's faces only becomes more apparent. The young Zoldyck can't help the heaviness in his heart.
"Kalluto…" Alluka steps forward, but the serenity is interrupted by a blinding rage. Kalluto sees his older brother's nonchalance before he hears it.
"You can't keep believing in the lie," Killua portends, devoid of feeling. "Is this what you like doing, causing others harm and toying with their lives?"
"Brother!" Alluka calls desperately, as if to say, "What are you doing?!"
"What, you know I'm right!" Killua calls back at her. "What do you have to say for yourself?!"
There are tears of rage and confusion in Kalluto's eyes now, and Gon understands what caused Killua's outburst: He isn't berating Kalluto for enjoying causing others pain. The words are directed at himself.
With a wave of his fan, Kalluto orders the paper triangles embedded in Killua's neck, cheek, and arms to dig deeper. Killua glares at him darkly.
"Go ahead. I dare you."
A shiver travels down Kalluto's spine, having never been on the receiving end of a mad killer's malicious intent before. He rethinks his next move, and a thought hits him. I have to take him out before this murderous aura can get to Mother or Father…! I have to protect them! That's the last thought in his mind before he opens his mouth, ready to speak the magic words of dismemberment.
A powerful force knocks him into the air. All remaining paper triangles fall to the ground, as he falls from the brick wall onto the ground, and blacks out.
When Kalluto wakes up again, breathless, he's on his back in a warmly lit room.
Vaguely, he hears someone exclaim, "Oh, he's awake!"
Opening his acidic pink eyes, Alluka's face, squared by a topknot and black bangs, pink sweatshirt, and rolled-up jeans come into view.
"Hi, Kalluto."
Freaked out being in the enemy's lair, Kalluto sits up in a panic, almost knocking foreheads with Alluka in the process, as he scrambles back on his hands. "Wh-wha…?!" On a red couch in a hotel room, he and Alluka are alone.
"I'm sorry," Alluka apologizes, seeing the confusion and fear spread across her younger brother's feminine features. "Nanika and I decided to deescalate the situation by knocking you out in the alley. I hope I didn't hit you too hard?" She shrugs a little with her hands open to ask for forgiveness.
Not sensing any of the others around, Kalluto can't help but ask in curiosity. "N-Nanika…?" He peers at her strangely.
"Yeah."
To Kalluto's astonishment and fear, a dark cloud of aura erupts around Alluka, transforming her face into three holes of gaping darkness. Having only heard the stories about Nanika, too young to remember the Zoldyck Family before she was locked away, Kalluto is frightened by the sight of her. Yet he can't help staring from intrigue.
"'Hi." Nanika holds up a hand in greeting.
"Hi," Kalluto says, holding a hand up in return. Still breathless, he isn't sure what to make of the situation. Scanning the room, he sees high risers past the balcony outside the windows. They're many floors up. If he decided to make a run for it, he would probably have to go out the door behind him, and escape through the hallway –
Alluka's crystal blue eyes reappear, figuring that Kalluto must be overwhelmed by everything. "Don't worry, Killua is nowhere near us. The others are in the lobby."
Without speaking, Kalluto looks at her. Surprised she understood his plans for escape, he sees the blatant worry in her youthful face.
"Gon and I told Killua to cool down," she continues, "so it's just us. But if you try to escape or hurt me, I'll have to use force on you again."
She's sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch as he sits up, gradually, putting his back against the back of the sofa. More relaxed now, he says, "M-Mom and Dad said… you guys were traitors. Are," he corrects boldly.
Alluka's lips tighten. "Yeah, we are –"
"Then how can you tell me what to do!" Kalluto shouts, leaning forward in ire. His Nen is riled up again, which makes Nanika request to reappear.
Hold on a sec, Alluka says. "We're traitors to the Zoldyck Family," Alluka agrees, starting again. "But that doesn't make us wrong. You've lost faith in the family too, haven't you? Staying there all this time with nothing changing, and Mom and Dad only waiting for Killua to come back in the hopes that things will go back to the way they used to be… unable to see that everything has changed, and will never be the same again. You see that, don't you?"
Looking down at his slender, bony hands, Kalluto says nothing.
"I don't expect you to accept it in one day," she says. "It isn't easy, realizing the family that you thought was there for you and had your best interests in mind doesn't care about you at all, but instead an ideal you. And if they can't have that ideal you, then they'll erase your existence."
The way her tone shifted from empathy to terse pain strikes a chord in Kalluto. He wasn't the only one who had been brought into this world and then thrown away the moment their parents realized there was someone who could meet their expectations better. Killua, as central to the family hierarchy as the presumed heir, couldn't understand such a feeling.
It was cold comfort, finding similarity between himself and the sibling that had been locked away from most of his life due to the parents he'd trusted for most of his life, but he had to admit… running away wasn't just Killua's or Alluka's choice. Kalluto hadn't had faith in their parents for a while… He'd known Killua was constantly trying to run away and that their parents hardly did anything about it, only relying on Illumi to make things right, ever since he was young. Hardly lifting a finger, they'd just let Illumi and Kalluto go to the Phantom Troupe for all that time…
Illumi…
"I still don't understand why Killua… murdered Brother Illumi," Kalluto admits. Sobs rise in his throat, and suddenly he can't control himself. His face is buried in his heads, lurching from sobs. With his wavy black hair covering his shoulders, Alluka rests a hand on him.
"I'm not sure either. Why don't you ask him?"
. . .
"Killua, what were you doing back there? Weren't we supposed to stay calm when we confronted Kalluto?" Gon asks. Walking home after grabbing something to eat, hours later, Killua's hands are in his pockets in front of Gon.
"I know, I handled that badly," he says. "I'm fine now."
Shaking his head, Gon isn't sure what to say. Stepping forward, he places an arm around Killua's shoulders, remembering how shaky he'd been that morning. "I thought – I thought I could help you understand that what happened while you were with the Zoldyck Family wasn't your fault."
"You can't."
Hearing Killua say it so candidly makes Gon's heart skip.
"What do you mean… I can't?"
"I mean –" Killua looks at him. So close to his face, Gon sees the tiredness in his silver-blue eyes. "– some things can't be fixed simply by talking about it. And there's nothing you can do change that, Gon."
Gon's arm falls from Killua's shoulder. Abruptly, Gon feels the wall between them again, like he will never understand Killua's world and that he knows nothing about him. Every time, it awakens the darkness in his heart, the one that tells him he will never be good enough – that he will never be enough for the people he loves, and can never truly help them, or be there for Killua because he's only selfish and ignorant of the world, in the end. "Then what should I do…?"
Catching onto the dissociation in Gon's voice and stance, Killua takes him by the shoulders. He leans close. "Listen to me, Gon. What my family did isn't your fault. You can't change what happened. Nobody can."
Gon says, smiling stiffly, "That's what I should be saying to you."
Killua chuckles a bit, and then looks down, knowing and feeling – something in there hadn't been the entire truth.
"Killua?"
Killua lifts his hands from Gon's shoulders. "It's nothing." Taking Gon's hand in his, he guides them back toward the hotel, where hopefully Alluka has calmed Kalluto down. "Let's go."
And all the while, a hooded figure with purple-grey eyes watches them from up above. Atop a spire in the city, viewing the inevitability of yin and yang, once again, the relativity of space and time become apparent to him, creating and destroying in its ever-present stable instability. In all his years, the elderly assassin has hardly held a manipulative role. He has only been the witness to the unfolding. To go against the ebb and flow of the times was against his beliefs, and only led to pain – of which he was very well acquainted. The few times he had gone against it, perhaps that was what caused things to begin to change to begin with.
But then again, perhaps that is why humans were created – to go against the flow of the Universe, and to mold things to our own design – even if it leads to our ruin. At least it will be a glorious death.
Wow I've gotten so philosophical at the end of my latest two chapters, huh? Probably a result of being a junior "philosophy of religion" major who's gonna write a thesis next year, haha. I'm still planning to finish this story in 2020, so with any luck, given all the *dry coughs* stuff happening in the world right now, I'll have more time to write. I'll do my best with all my final projects coming up in my now-entirely-online classes!
My goodness, I got so many anonymous reviews for the latest chapter! /)O0O(\" HECK DUDES! Thank you so much! Thank you to Tibu (another shoutout!) for your review on Chapter 25! I'm glad you enjoyed seeing the aftermath of Killua's actions (killing Illumi) and Gon's self-destructive tendencies (shounen protagonist syndrome turned relevant by Togashi). I will definitely be getting back to those in the upcoming chapters.
Thank you to E, Anonymous, my Guests, nichu, and Suzanne Warhola for your reviews on Chapter 26! To E, I'm glad you enjoyed reading the changes the boys have undergone over the years~ To Anonymous, I'm happy the latest chapters have captivated you, and that you find there's a good balance in the story's conflicts and resolutions. To my Guests, I wholeheartedly agree that humanizing the Zoldycks (and most human villains, honestly) goes a long way when it comes to narrative, and I'm happy that you feel the story could be canon. That is definitely my goal, but of course we'll have to wait for Togashi to answer some of the stuff I've brought up here – well, if he does. Glad to hear that you'll be looking forward to whatever I write after TIDU as well! :D And yes, I am actually hoping to go into a career in publishing and editing after college. I find I actually really enjoy helping writers with mechanical things like grammar and character development, so it would be fine with me to do that, even if I'm never able to write and publish a novel of my own. Thank you so much for the compliment, holy crap. It's validating my dreams! *o* If I ever do end up publishing a novel, you can be sure I'll let my FFN community know, haha. Thank you nichu for your acknowledgement of my effort on this story as well! Boy, even I can't believe how much effort I've put into this sometimes. ^3^;
Thank you all, again, my registered and unregistered reviewers, followers, and favoriters for your attention on this story. I appreciate every single comment, fav, and follow. I can't wait to see who's still here by the end, and I hope to continue to fulfill, validate, and entertain before then. Let me know what you think about Kalluto's development, Alluka's Nen subplot, or anything else you notice if you so desire. Know that I accept all constructive comments and critiques alike!
And of course, regardless of its possible pitfalls, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and will leave your thoughts below ~
