I don't know what I was expecting.
Thrown into a match on the twentieth floor with my only experience occurring, like, twenty minutes ago, what happens next is inevitable.
I lost.
I'll spare you the second-hand embarrassment of the details for both of our sakes-just know that by the time Kurapika and the rest find me huddled up just outside the 20th floor bathrooms, I have a brand new black eye decorating my face and all of my insides feel more shaken up than a Wendy's Frosty.
"Hello there." I say glumly, peeking up at the posse which has arrived to greet me. They all look in remarkably better shape than I-Killua and Gon haven't even broken a sweat. Kurapika and Leorio have shed their outer layers (Leorio's unbuttoned the top of his collared shirt and don't ask me why I notice), but otherwise they look in decent shape.
"How did you do, Bella?" Leorio bends down to take a better look at my face. "Hey, your eye-"
"I did amazingly." I say and push off my feet.
"Really-?"
"No, not really." I counter glumly and gesture heavily at my blackened eye. "Take a wild guess at what happened."
"Bella, are you sure you want to continue?" Kurapika asks after quickly appraising my injuries. "If you don't want to keep going, you don't have to. What are you even fighting for?"
What am I fighting for? I feel like I've been asked this question before...
"I told you. I want to get stronger, and I don't want to be a burden on all of you."
It's the truth-I don't want to be whiny bitch Bella anymore. I want to be… slightly-stronger-but-still-somewhat-of-a-whiny-bitch-Bella.
"I understand." says Kurapika, and then he gestures towards the elevator down at the end of the hall. "Well, shall we?"
"Shall we… what?" I stare at him blankly.
"Let's go. Aren't you hungry? We should get something to eat."
"Mmm… yeah, you're right." I say, almost surprised. As someone who once considered food to be the ultimate love of my life, it comes as a bit of a shock that I can hardly remember the last time that I ate. Is Bella's small body less needy than my old one?
Anyway, food sounds amazing right now. I'd like to eat away all of the embarrassing memories of the losing match I'd just stumbled out of.
"Okay." I say, only to remember my current monetary situation. "Wait, hold on, I don't have any money-"
At this, Gon cheekily grins and holds up a small yellow manila envelope. Killua follows suit a moment later, and then suddenly all four of the boys are showing off their identical envelopes.
"You got one of these when you passed the first floor, right?" Leorio says, an excited gleam in his eyes.
"I did?" Now that I think about it, I remember receiving a little yellow envelope packet when I registered on the 20th floor-my winnings. I retrieve it from my pants pocket and shake it open, and a few coins tumble out into my small palm. It's hardly enough for a drink at the vending machine...
Not even one of the good drinks, like peach juice. I think this could only get me one of those miniature water bottles that kind of taste salty and just end up making you more thirsty…
"Uhh, I don't think I have enough for anything…" I mumble sheepishly.
"I mean, I guess I'll have to treat you." Killua says, puffing up his chest as he shakes his own envelope. "Since Gon and I made it up so many floors, we've got plenty of money."
What a show-offy kid. I'm not sure if I even want to be in his debt.
"Don't worry about it, Bella. We'll split the costs." Kurapika assures me. "And unless you want to sleep on the floor of the bathroom, we should go and find a place to rest for the night, too."
"That'll cost more money, though…" I say cautiously.
"You worry too much, Bella!" Gon tells me. I kind of awkwardly nod towards him. I guess my past life's penny-pinching tendencies are beginning to seep through.
"So what're we gonna get for dinner? I could really go for some YFC." Leorio chimes in, waving the envelope next to his ear with a gleeful expression gracing his face.
"Yeah, YFC's good." Killua says, actually agreeing with Leorio on something. "I want a whole basket to myself."
"Hey, Killua! You should leave some for me!" Gon huffs. "I want a basket too!"
"Wanna race eating chicken?" Killua's eyes light up as he gets excited. "Whoever loses has to pay!"
But all the while, I'm just confused. What are they talking about? YFC? YFC? What the hell is YFC?
"Let's head out then." Kurapika interjects. He slips into the role of leadership naturally, and without thinking too much about it, the rest of us oblige, following his lead.
We pile into the elevator that takes us down the levels, with me all the while thinking in my head.
What on earth is YFC?
xXxXx
It's chicken.
Fucking Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Or as the sign affixed to the top of the building describes it, it's "Yorknew Fried Chicken." But the name change doesn't alter the Colonel's familiar face leering down at me from the building illuminated in the darkness.
"What. The. Hell. Is. This." I speak through my teeth, trying to perceive what I'm looking at. It's KFC, but it isn't… KFC, but it isn't…
"Don't say you've never heard of YFC?" Leorio sounds aghast at the suggestion.
"Stop lazing around, Porty." Killua says, already pushing open the glass doors. "Come on."
I take a few steps inside, but the interior is just… too normal. Everything in the Hunter x Hunter verse that I've seen so far has been so not-normal that this almost one-to-one replica of an average suburban KFC joint is genuinely shocking me.
It's also so weirdly normal for us to stand in line, musing over the menu.
"What do you guys want?" Leorio asks eagerly, salivating at all of the chicken in front of us. "Should we share a bucket?"
"I'm not sharing with you." Killua argues back. "Aren't Gon and I paying? Since we're much higher up than you."
"Why, you little-"
I almost have to laugh. How have we veered so off canon that we're standing in a bootleg KFC arguing over which chicken to get? God, this is so weird.
"Gon and I are racing chicken baskets, so get one for each of us." Killua orders Leorio, acting as if he's the elder one in this situation.
"Chicken tenders for me, please." Kurapika says.
"And I guess I'll go for some wings." I add, peeking up at the menu. It's been a hot minute since I last went to a KFC, and some of the menu items look a little different.
I mean, what am I saying? This is YFC, not KFC.
"So… two buckets… some tenders…and some wings..." at the moment, Leorio sounds like a dad wrangling his kids at an amusement park. "Okay, I'll order."
"Let's find a seat." Kurapika says.
I point out a booth in the corner of the room. "How about there?"
We cram into it, with me shoved into the very corner, Kurapika on one side and Gon on the other. Killua sits on the other side of Gon and the two immediately engage in a conversation, retreating into that little world of their own that no one else can penetrate.
As I settle into my cramped seat, I gaze around at this weirdly nostalgic interior.
Sure, this place is odd, but the more I think about it, the less I'm surprised. All the time in anime you see "WcDonalds" and other off-brand companies to avoid copyright… hell, in Hunter x Hunter's Greed Island Arc we had the JoyStation, which was a clear allusion to the PlayStation… so maybe a "YFC" really isn't that far off.
Who knows what other kinds of bootleg brands I'll run into next.
Soon enough Leorio carries over a tray of our meal, and the smell is so nostalgic that I have to do a double take. The scent of all eleven of the Colonel's secret herbs and spices invade my nostrils, taking me back to my childhood. Never did I think the day would come that I would feel nostalgic over a bowl of KFC-err, I mean, YFC...
Actually, I never thought the day would come that I would be in the freaking Hunter x Hunter universe. There's been a lot of firsts for me lately, that's for sure.
It takes me a while before I even start eating, since it's quite interesting to watch the others eat. Gon and Killua shovel food into their mouths like there's no tomorrow, faces strewn with sauce as they compete in a little race. Meanwhile, Kurapika eats his chicken tenders carefully, dignified. If there was a way to eat fried chicken gracefully, Kurapika's got it down.
Well, I should probably dig in already. I move to grab one of the chicken wings...
Chicken wings.
Chicken-
"THAT'S IT!" my companions at the table freeze, chicken in hand at my sudden outburst.
"What's it?" Leorio asks, a chicken tender hovering near his mouth.
"Wings! Chicken wings! Mr. Wing!" It's hard for me to articulate my newfound revelation.
"What?" Killua, uninterested, resumes eating.
"Who's Mr. Wing?" Leorio asks, lost.
In my head, I sort out the timeline of the anime that I remember. Some things (actually, a lot of things) have changed with my intrusion in the canon, but I think this part has still remained the same. "Killua, you fought a boy named Zushi on the 50th floor, didn't you?"
"Yeah…"
"And did you happen to see his master?"
Recognition clicks in Killua's eyes. "The four-eyes." he says.
"Four-four eyes?" asks Leorio, and his eyes focus self-consciously on the little glasses that slide to the end of his nose.
"Yes… he's Mr. Wing… ah, why didn't I think about this before!" I sigh.
Next to me, Kurapika takes a breath and deposits a chicken bone into a disposable napkin. "So, Bella, what about this Mr. Wing person is so important?"
I dart eyes across each of my companions. Is it still too early? I mean, in the anime-
Eh, screw the anime. Considering the amount of changes I've already made, surely it doesn't hurt to push nen into the narrative a little ahead of schedule.
With my decision made, I speak.
"He's the secret to giving me-and all of us-tons of power. We can make it up to floor 100-hell, we can go all the way to the top."
"Really? He just seemed like a four-eyes to me." Killua says, but he seems interested, since he ever so slightly slows down his chicken-eating crusade. "But then again, Zushi…"
"The one with the eyebrows?" Leorio asks, clarifying. "I watched that match on the monitors! But you still defeated him, didn't you, Killua?"
Killua drops a chicken bone on the table, his expression transforming. "Yeah. If you can call it that. But I couldn't knock him out. Still-I'm much stronger than him. He's just target practice. I can throw him around easily."
"Well-if you'll just trust me-I promise you that Mr. Wing can make us all stronger." I say to the table.
"He'll make me stronger?" Gon ponders, staring at his own hand with a momentarily blank face. "Then let's go meet him, right now!"
"Whaa-hey, not right now!" Leorio quickly cuts in as Gon stands up at the table. Just as always, determination sits in his wide eyes, and a weird chill goes through my spine.
"Yeah, calm down-we'll go and find him tomorrow…" I trail off. "Well, I'm not sure if he'll really teach us. We need to convince him."
"I can do that." Killua says confidently. "I'll get him to teach us. Whatever he taught Zushi."
"Shouldn't Bella speak to him? She brought this up." Kurapika suggests. "Although, I'm unclear what you say he will teach us. What kind of strength?"
"Zushi called it Ren, I think." Killua says. "It made him have… a really threatening aura. Kind of like…" He trails off, and I know he thinks of Illumi from the way his face darkens.
I clear my throat. "In any case, let's go and talk with him tomorrow."
"But, Bella, how do you know about Mr. Wing?" Gon inquires.
"That's true. How do you know that this-Ren thing is gonna make us stronger?" Leorio adds.
"Uhh…" Oops-I've wound myself into another corner.
"So, you see… Um… Ahh… Err…"
"The same way she knows anything else, probably." Killua rolls his eyes. "Porty, I'm starting to think you're a stalker or something."
"Don't call me Porty!" I screech.
"Oh, but you're not denying the stalker bit?"
I can't think of a response, and instead stuff a piece of chicken into my mouth.
Killua laughs, and then so does the rest of the table. I know they're laughing at my expense, and I hide my face as I cram in some more chicken into my mouth. Ah...
"So, tomorrow, before our matches." Kurapika says decisively. "We'll go and speak to Mr. Wing. Where can we find him?"
"The 50th floor." Killua interjects. "Zushi's definitely made his way back up. Four-eyes'll be there too."
I nod in agreement. "Tomorrow it is."
"Now that we've got that sorted out, can we go back to eating?" Leorio says, a little grumpily.
And so we turn back to the food at hand, stuffing our stomachs with chicken until we can't eat any more.
xXxXx
Leorio surprises us all by managing to find us a cheap motel room for only a couple thousand Jenny. Sure, it's a little dingy, and it's only got two queen-size beds, but it's a much better alternative to Gon's earlier proposal of sleeping on the floor at Heaven's Arena, or Killua's absurd 'Let's just stay awake the whole time.'
Seriously, these kids are crazy.
Anyway, the boys divide up the motel room's limited space naturally, with Gon and Killua taking the bed closest to the door and Kurapika and Leorio claiming the one near the window. It seems like a situation straight out of a fanfic, but they don't seem to think sharing a bed is a big deal at all, to my great dismay...
As for me, I end up on a dingy futon placed on the floor. The futon smells a bit of sweat and something else, but the sheets are clean, I think. At least, there's no stains that I can see, and I'd rather not look too closely.
There's also a bathroom connected to our room, which I rush for once the futon is made. The water in the shower is barely even warm, but I relish in the clean feeling and take my time to scrub all the yucky dirt out of my body and hair.
After my shower, I run my only set of clothes under the faucet to clean them and use a loud blow dryer to get it as dry as I can. Killua is yapping through the door as I do this, complaining about how it's his turn next, but I drown him out by upping the noise level on the blow dryer.
After I shimmy back into the shirt and pants, I note that I should probably buy some more clothing soon. Maybe when I get more money from Heaven's Arena. Financial freedom in this universe… I wonder how the sales tax is here.
But all that's if I get more money from Heaven's Arena. At the moment, things aren't too promising-but hopefully learning nen from Wing will improve my chances.
"Took you long enough." Killua grumbles as I finally step out of the bathroom with clean clothes and clean hair. He whizzes inside and slams the door rudely behind him.
Ahh, kids and their attitudes.
I return to my futon and flop down. What a weird day. Weird week. Weird month. Weird however-long-I've-been-here. Ahh, I miss my old life…
It's best to shut these thoughts away before they snowball more, so I instead turn my attention to Leorio-but at the wrong moment, because he's currently changing. Ah, he looks nice shirtless…
I realize what I'm doing and turn away quickly, holding back a blush.
Gah, I'm an idiot.
"I'm going to sleep now!" I announce to no one in particular and slide into the sheets, pulling the covers over my face in embarrassment.
"Oh, g'night, Bella!" Leorio calls out.
"Sleep well." Kurapika says.
"Good night!" Gon chirps.
Good night. And within moments, drowsiness pulls me away.
xXxXx
Things are hectic in the morning.
I wake up to a shoe being flung at my face and the sound of Kurapika and Leorio arguing over something.
"It's not my fault you took up so much space-"
"No, you're the one who was taking up space-!"
Another shoe hits me squarely in the face and I pray that I haven't just received another black eye. It's a green boot-I eye Gon with narrowed eyes.
"Whoops!" Gon says gleefully, prancing over to retrieve his shoes. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and push out of the futon.
"What time is it… we should head to the arena…" I hold back a yawn. Gah, it's early. From out the window, there's the faintest glimmer of sunshine on the horizon. The others seem to be in varying stages of being ready to go.
I braid my hair, passively observing the others. It's not the first morning I've woken up in their company-I've spent most, if not all, of my time with this group since the moment of my arrival. And yet-there's a level of comfort I can observe right now that wasn't always there. The chemistry in this group is so clear in front of me, so comfortable and warm. I don't remember it being this way in the anime, but here it is.
And I'm gonna protect this feeling for as long as I can.
"Alright, let's go." Leorio says, his voice bringing me out of my thoughts. He grabs his briefcase from the nightstand and slips on his shoes, a small pep in his step.
"Yes, sir!" I say with some matching enthusiasm.
And with that, we're back on the street. Daylight creeps up on us as we take on the small walk to the towering Heaven's Arena, bypassing the freakishly long line with a few quick flashes of our match tickets.
"So, where are we gonna find this Wing guy?" Leorio asks once we step inside the now-familiar building. As it's the morning, there's far less people in here than there were yesterday, and we aren't given so much as a second glance from the others.
"I told you, stupid. Floor 50 or something." Killua mutters.
"Don't call me stupid, you-" Leorio waves his fist a bit. In turn, Killua sticks his tongue out, and I laugh a little.
It's interesting to see these two react to each other. Come to think of it, I can barely remember any of their interactions from the 2011 anime. Did they even? From what I remember, Killua had mostly stuck around Gon.
"We'll start at floor 50, and keep looking until we find him." Kurapika says, thinking logically as always.
"Alright! Let's do it!" Gon's overly enthusiastic for some reason, and he hops around, revitalizing the rest of us with some of his energy. I'm ready to agree and follow, but there's a little problem I need to address before that…
"Er, do any of you mind if I slip off to the bathroom?" I ask awkwardly. All of the chicken from last night hadn't really settled properly in my stomach, and I need to get to a toilet ASAP.
"Ugh, then let's just go ahead, okay, Gon?" Killua turns to his green friend. "We'll find Wing first and ask him. Who needs Porty anyway."
"Fine then! Go ahead if you want, I'll meet you on the 50th floor." I wave them off, thinking that I'll catch up as soon as I'm done. Gahd, I need to shit…
Once I see acknowledgement of this plan in my companions' eyes, I spin around and beeline straight for the women's restroom on this floor, making it just on time.
Ahh. This is nice.
I relieve myself of the discomfort and freshen up at the sink. Now that I can think clearly again, I feel like a new woman. It's wonders what a simple crap can do to you.
With my newly cleared head, I exit the bathroom and brainstorm what I should say when I run into Mr. Wing.
"It's not as if I can just stroll up and say, 'Hey Mr. Wing, I think you're super hot! Teach me Nen please!" I say amusedly out loud to myself.
"Ah, did you have something to say to me?"
I shudder out of my trance and do a double-take. From the men's bathroom just next door emerges a man with glasses and an untucked button-up shirt. I recognize him immediately… what unfortunate timing.
"M-Mr. Wing!" I stutter nervously, backing away from him slightly. Shoot, did he hear what I just said? That's… extremely embarrassing. I mean, I do actually think he's quite good looking, but… No! That's not the point.
"Pleasure to meet you. You're Portabella, right?" Mr. Wing speaks smoothly and even holds out a hand to shake mine. I accept it with a slight tremble.
"Uh… how do you know my name?" Normally, I'm the one knowing other people's names before they tell me, but somehow, Wing's usurped that role from me.
"I've seen your matches on the televisions." Wing responds with a placid smile. "You have a very, ah… unique fighting style, don't you?"
I cringe back to my pancake-methods of my match.
"Yes… that's me, um…"
I'm quite nervous here, all by myself with the handsome Mr. Wing. Gon, Killua, Leorio and Kurapika must have gone up to the 50th floor while I was taking a dump, as per my request, but that leaves me here to talk to him alone.
"Where's Zushi?" I ask.
"He's preparing for his next match, on floor 50." Then, the others have probably found him… "So, was there something you wanted to discuss with me?"
"That's right! Yes. Umm… Osu!" I cross my arms in front of me, just as I remember it from the anime.
I see amusement in Wing's eyes as he watches me.
"That is… it's about, um… nen…" I trail off and watch Wing's face. His glasses do that dramatic anime-character thing where a glare hits the lenses and I can't see his eyes. I wonder what expression he makes behind them.
"When Zushi was fighting with Killua, you know… he was, um…" My thoughts are all jumbled-clearly I should have thought this through before I opened my mouth. "You see, I want to get stronger, and-"
Wing cuts me off before I finish my sentence. "I apologize, but that's not something I can teach you."
"What do you mean? I know that you're a nen teacher… a great one… so can't you take up a few extra students? Gon and Killua have so much potential. Kurapika is strong and determined. Leorio… is, uhh... a quick learner. It'll be worth the time, I promise you."
"Your friends, perhaps. But what about you?"
I freeze. "Well… if you don't try to teach me, then I'll just learn it on my own." It can't be that hard, right? It's just like… meditation. And some other things.
"That's not a very good idea. It's dangerous if nen is not learned properly." Wing says. "How do you know about it?"
It's the power system in the anime I watched before I got isekaid into its world. That would be the truthful answer, but I'm obviously not going to say it.
"That's a secret." I answer. "And like I said, I'll just learn it on my own if you refuse me. I know the basics. There's ren… ten… zetsu… and hatsu."
Wing sighs slightly and adjusts the glasses on his face. He seems to be thinking it over.
"Very well, Portabella. It seems I cannot resist the gleaming eyes of a potential student."
Elation fills me. Have I done it? Am I really going to get to learn nen now? Will the evolution of Bella finally commence?
With nen on my side, I know I can do it. I can bridge that stupid power gap between my weak body and all of my opponents.
And I can prove that my existence in this world is for a reason.
"Look, it seems as if your friends are back." Wing says with an amused smile. I turn, seeing a group of people run out of the elevator and head our way. Accompanied by a little boy in a buzz cut and a martial arts uniform, Leorio, Kurapika, Gon, and Killua come to a stop next to the bathrooms where Wing and I are speaking.
"Bella! We ran into Zushi and he said Mr. Wing was down here. Did you talk to him?" Gon asks me, bubbly as ever.
I nod and beam at him. Ah, I'm so ecstatic. My brain right now is just screaming NEN NEN NEN! I wonder what nen type I'll be. Ooh, will I get to come up with my own special attack?
"This is Wing?" Leorio asks, inspecting the man in question.
"Yes, I am Wing. And you must be Leorio."
Leorio is a little taken aback, but he rubs his nose and stands up proudly. "Yeah, that's me!"
"And let's see. Kurapika, Gon, and Killua. And hello, Zushi. How were your preparations?"
"Osu!" Zushi calls in response, crossing his arms. "It was good!"
Seeing everyone in front of me, I can't hold back my excitement. "Wing says he'll teach us!" I exclaim.
"Really, Porty?" Killua says, genuine surprise on his face. "Wow, didn't think you could-"
"Forgive me for interrupting." Mr. Wing says calmly, "but I'm afraid that wasn't the agreement."
And just like that, my spirits sink.
"Huh? But didn't you say-"
"Yes, Portabella, I said I'd teach you. But as for your friends… if they'd like my guidance, I'd like to hear it from their mouths, not yours."
Killua rolls his eyes, shoots me a glare, and then steps up in front of Wing with his hands laced behind his head as if he's done this hundreds of times before.
"Then, teach Gon and I."
"And me!" Leorio hastily adds in.
"Don't leave me out as well-I'm not sure what it is that you teach, but I'd like to learn." says Kurapika. "I trust Bella's judgement."
"And I want to know it as soon as I can. This thing, it's the secret behind my brother's power." Killua continues. "Ren, or whatever it is."
"Mm. So, your brother is able to use Nen." Wing says.
"Nen, Ren, whatever. I'm going to surpass my brother, and everyone else too. So teach it to me." Killua says it, not as a question, but as a demand, hardened determination in his catlike eyes.
Silence hangs in the air for a moment after Killua finishes, and then the anime-style glare passes over Wing's glasses again and he makes a sort of grimace.
"I understand. I'll teach you. All of you."
Hello there!
My laptop broke a couple weeks ago in the middle of my supposed internet break, but luckily I managed to shake the thing back alive. Perhaps I should invest in a new one. But because of that, I've just kind of ignored Don't Leave, my apologies! (Don't I say this every month?)
Speaking of, we're coming up on the one year anniversary. Crazy, crazy. I swear it's just yesterday that I decided to sit down and write this nonsense. Actually, it's still nonsense.
Exciting things are happening in the world of Portabella. This chapter was hard to write (although every chapter is hard to write, really) but what's coming up next has got me insanely excited. No, Bella's unfortunately not going to turn OP or anything, but all the creativity that comes with the nen system is just... such fun. Togashi, you're incredible.
Now here's a curious something I learned last year. In Japan, it's become a tradition to buy KFC for Christmas dinner. I don't know why, but that's how it is. And as I was thinking about the oh-lovely KFC, inspiration struck. I assume that Hunter x Hunter is set in some parallel universe to our own (JoyStation being one example, and I remember a "Woogle" from the 1999 version). So why not throw a KFC in there?
Apologies if this decision is a little weird. I think I was just craving some wings.
Heaven's Arena's description in the anime has always perplexed me, since the world building was never really fleshed out there (and I haven't read the manga...) So a lot of the small things that the characters experience are part of my own interpretation.
So hopefully you decide to stick with me-and the adventures of Portabella shall continue as soon as I can prevent my laptop from having a stroke whenever I type on it.
Have a restful rest of your February!