It looked like Todoroki was about to take 2nd place, with Bakugou right behind him.
Killua knew he could easily pass both of them.
He also knew he probably shouldn't try to be an asshole.
However, the temptation of simply squishing between Todoroki and Bakugou, running backwards, and giving the explosive teen a cheeky wink as he steals 3rd place just a few inches away from him was way too strong. So, he did exactly that.
He wanted to have fun, right?
"CAT FACE, YOU BASTARD!"
After an eruption of expletives passed between each other, a timid congratulations from Midoriya, and a hard pat on the back from Kirishima (as well as him shaking his head in disapproval for what he did to Bakugou, which honestly hurts more than Aizawa's agitated stares ever will,) it was finally time for the second part of the sports festival to commence: the Cavalry Battle. Killua scanned the area as students formed teams with each other, trying to find an empty spot. Unfortunately, Kirishima had teamed up with Bakugou, which automatically meant that asking to join him was going to be met with straight up rejection; not like he wanted to join a team with him on it, anyway. He couldn't join Midoriya and Uraraka, either, since some girl with pink hair and goggles beat him to it. Iida's team was also full...
"Hey."
Turning around to the voice, he found... a purple-haired mini Aizawa. Just what he needed.
Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Hey?"
"You're Zoldyck, right? Join my team." His tired eyes peered into his, as if he was carefully studying his reactions.
"Why should I?"
"Well," he said, slightly turning his head to search the arena, "it doesn't seem like you have much choice in the matter."
...He walked right into that one, didn't he?
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he grumbled, "Fine... what's your name, anyway?"
"Shinsou Hitoshi."
Walking back to the rest of the team, he noticed the other two members were from his own class: Aoyama Yuga and Ojiro Mashirao. He remembered Ojiro from his second day upon waking up in the infirmary, when he watched him spar against his classmates. Skilled guy. Aoyama, on the other hand... he'd rather forget about watching his matches that day.
"So," Ojiro started, "what's the plan?"
"There's no plan," Shinsou immediately answered, confusing his other teammates. "Just follow your instincts."
Killua scratched his head. There was something off about that statement, but he couldn't tell what.
After getting into their positions—Aoyama on his left, Ojiro on his right, and Shinsou sitting on top of him because of how surprisingly strong he was despite his light frame—he heard the General Studies student speak to him.
"By the way, what's your quirk?"
"Ah," he started, "I'm actually quirkless—"
And then, the world turned into a blur.
It went on like this for a while.
Killua felt like he was floating. It was a surreal experience; he watched the world go by him, but it felt as if he was watching it through someone else's eyes. His mind was difficult to traverse, every thought dissolving into static.
Was he losing his memories again? No, that wasn't it. He was in the sports festival, working with two of his classmates and someone from General Studies. Their goal... steal other headbands for their points before the 15 minutes were up. That was what he was currently doing, and it seemed his other teammates were doing it, too, even if they were all working in silence.
Working in silence... that was odd. But, as long as they won, there wasn't any problem—
No. I'm being brainwashed.
The abrupt thought left as easily as it came. The only thing that stayed, however, was the minuscule area of immense pressure that suddenly developed on his forehead. It wasn't like it was painful, no, it didn't even feel real. It was... like a ghost. His hand itched to pull out whatever it was from the inside of his head, but he held back because his only focus was to win.
He had to win, for the team. Fighting through the growing pressure on his forehead, he tried to let himself go, once more. Recapture the feeling of floating.
Let him take control.
Run away.
Killua thrust his hand to his forehead and clawed, nails digging into his own flesh.
"What the hell...?"
The world instantly cleared as he finally snapped back to reality. First, he glanced at his palm, checking to see if anything was there; there wasn't. Then, he looked at Shinsou, whose face was scrunched up in both confusion and disgust.
"You're a brainwasher?" he asked, though, it was more of a statement.
"...Yes."
Before he could speak again, Present Mic had already started announcing the placements. The Cavalry Battle was over, already...?
"In first place, Team Todoroki! In second, Team Bakugou! In third, Team Tetsu... Huh?!" After a double take, he corrected with, "Team... Shinsou!"
...And he got third place, only because he was brainwashed.
Something about that made him clench his jaw, muscles tensing up in fury.
While mini celebrations went off one by one around him, he couldn't help but stare at his hand again. Double checking it, the only thing on it really was just his own blood. Why had he expected something to be there, anyway...?
Their one hour lunch break started, and the first thing he absolutely wanted to do was confront Shinsou, because what the hell. Spotting the purple tuft of hair in the crowd, he immediately stomped over, grabbed him by the shoulder, and left him no room to look anywhere else but into his eyes.
"Shinsou."
"Look," he started right away, tone way too nonchalant for Killua's liking, "I'm sorry you didn't like the whole brainwashing thing, really. I just did what I had to."
"You did what you had to?" he mocked, letting go of him. "Stupid. I don't even care about the fact I can't remember what happened; I've been dealing with that for a whole week. I just... you had the nerve to brainwash me?"
Sighing, he said, "Okay, I won't ever brainwash you again. Happy?"
To that, Killua couldn't say anything. As the anger slowly began to fade, he realized that brainwashing literally was the only thing he could do; it was the guy's damn quirk, and quirks were meant to be used. Still, he should've at least said something about it, rather than leaving his teammates in the dark. Although, he did get the feeling that, even if he asked, there'd be no way in hell he'd let him do that to him (which made this all the more worse.) Not having control over his own actions... the thought of it made his skin crawl.
"Fine," Killua murmured, turning away.
He didn't want to waste any more time around this guy. But, before he could walk off, Shinsou called out to him. "You broke out of it, though. Even though you're quirkless."
Stopping for a moment, he considered whether he should reply. Instead, he gave a shrug, and made his way towards the dining hall.
Or, he tried, because Uraraka caught the sight of him and immediately shrieked at the blood still dripping down his forehead.
"Zoldyck! We need to take you to Recovery Girl!"
"That old hag?!"
Any protests he tried to make were instantly rebuffed, even more so once Iida joined the conversation. Thankfully, Recovery Girl wasn't too far off from the arena, so all he needed was a quick kiss (which still seriously disgusted him, but he'd rather be healed than expelled for attacking U.A.'s staff) and was promptly sent on his way to the dining hall along with Uraraka and Iida.
"What even happened out there for you to get a nasty wound like that?" Uraraka asked, eyebrows knitting in concern.
"Well..." he started, mulling over how he should explain it in a way that won't make him sound crazy. "You know Shinsou?"
"The General Studies student?" Iida answered. "Your teammate, correct?"
"Yeah. He has a brainwashing quirk. He used it on me without asking, so I broke out of it by doing this," he said, pointing to his forehead.
Conveniently, he left out the part where he felt like there was something stuck inside, which was the whole reason he did it anyway. He also left out the part where a voice completely different from his own told him to run away; he got the strong feeling that it was something he needed to figure out on his own, rather than troubling his classmates about it.
"That's really... painful."
Iida nodded in agreement.
The rest of the conversation consisted of the trio congratulating each other on making it this far, even if Killua had to learn what happened during the Cavalry Battle through their perspectives. However, at the mention of Iida's reason for choosing Todoroki's team rather than Midoriya's, Uraraka's eyes widened.
"Have you seen Deku anywhere, Zoldyck?" she questioned. "I swear, he was just here."
"No," he answered, eliciting a slight frown on her face. "Maybe he'll turn up later?"
"We hope so," Iida added, adjusting his glasses.
From then on, they spent the rest of their time eating and chattering in the dining hall. Kirishima actually came over to congratulate him on 3rd place, Killua doing the same for him getting 2nd (and then he ignored the way he walked back to his table where Bakugou sat.) He wondered what the next part of the sports festival was going to be; some students speculated it was going to be some sort of a 1v1, just like how it was every year. If so, it was going to get really boring. He could basically win the entire thing just by knocking every single person out with a chop; that wouldn't be fun at all, then. Taking a bite out of his sandwich, he internally grumbled.
This festival was way too easy. He really wished something interesting would happen sooner or later...
The lunch break ended seemingly as soon as it started, and the students spread back out to the field to listen for Midnight's announcement for the next section of the festival: A tournament. How fun.
Before they could draw lots, surprisingly, Ojiro dropped out of the tournament. It was unfortunate for Killua since he wanted to watch some more of his fighting style, but, considering they were both brainwashed on the same team, he definitely understood where he came from. That didn't stop himself from going on, though; Aoyama, too.
"And here are the match-ups!"
Midnight revealed the bracket on the gigantic board. All competitors' eyes were glued to it, searching for their names. Killua, of course, joined them.
It looked like his first match was against Kaminari. In his mind, he was the electricity guy who gets bad grades, so... immediately, he didn't feel too threatened. After winning that, he was either going against Iida or Hatsume Mei, whose name he honestly didn't recognize at all. Glancing at the other competitors' matches, he noticed Midoriya was going up against Shinsou. There was no doubt in his mind that, as long as they were just fighting, his classmate would win. However, he was going up against a brainwasher. It didn't seem that was common knowledge, so he made a mental note to warn Midoriya before his battle started.
Turning his head to find the freckled boy, he found Ojiro standing next to him.
Wrapping his tail around his mouth as soon as Shinsou walked by.
Well, he thought, looks like he's doing my work for me.
Knowing Midoriya was in good hands (or a tail?) he strolled over to the stands as the festivities began, relaxing and leaning back in the seats. Most of the students were either taking part in them or simply warming themselves up for the upcoming battles, so he sat alone, waiting for it to end.
His mind traveled back to his experience being mind controlled. It was still so odd to him; not the brainwashing, but the effect it had on him. Even if Aoyama and Ojiro snapped out of it, they didn't have as violent of a reaction as he did. For what reason, though? Holding his head in his hands, he let out a low sigh. He knew thinking about these sorts of things would lead him nowhere, but he couldn't help it. It's been seven days since he woke up without a shred of recognition of anything, and it was a miracle his own name came to him on the first day. It just... felt like he had made no progress at all. Sure, he may see hints of a questionable upbringing in himself, but it didn't matter if he couldn't specify exactly what happened.
Every night he spent at Aizawa's was a night spent away from his real home. But where even was his home? What was he doing before he got transported to some hero high school?
More than anything... he wanted to have a purpose again.
But, in the current state he was in, it was impossible. He'd had this conversation with himself countless, countless times over the entire week, and he was absolutely sick of it. Sure, he can keep distracting himself through participating in school activities and getting along with his classmates, but that could never change the fact that he wasn't Killua. He was merely a shadow of his true self, floating from one place to another, just like how he felt when he was brainwashed. Who's to say he'll stay the same person when he regains his memories? If he regains his memories?
Picking his head up, he ran his hands through his hair in an attempt to massage his skull. Well, if it really was pointless thinking about all of that, he needed to stop. At least, for now. The only thing on his mind should be the damn sports festival; he shouldn't be moping in the stands like this.
As the festivities ended, his classmates slowly started joining him, waiting for the first match between Midoriya and Shinsou to begin. Uraraka sat to his right, Iida on her right. Funnily enough, Kaminari was on his left, but only at first. He barely glanced at him, but it was apparently enough to make him choke on his words and accordingly switch seats with Kirishima, who happily accepted.
Looking forward to our match, too, he snickered to himself.
"Ready...!" Present Mic blared over the speakers.
Looking down on the pair, he noticed Shinsou speaking. He couldn't make out what he was saying, though. The audience was way too loud for his ears to pick up on it.
"START!"
He'd said the same thing as Shigaraki to All For One when he revealed his plans, too. How could Freecss kill the other without remembering everything on the spot? But, once he dived further into it, he realized his Sensei was more calculated with this situation than he'd originally thought. As he still mentally reprimanded himself, he watched as the white-haired boy named Killua Zoldyck sped through the race, despite actually starting extremely late. He watched him win 3rd place in the Cavalry Battle, as well. As underwhelming the second event was, he couldn't keep the image of him running backwards and still getting 3rd place in the obstacle race out of his mind. Such power...
What a shame that they couldn't take both Freecss and Zoldyck in. However, it was futile to dwell on impossible fantasies. He just hoped the child would take Shigaraki's bait.
Suddenly, the television flickered, and, in a second, All For One's masked face filled the screen. Kurogiri instantly bowed as he called his name.
"Sensei," he greeted.
"I see we've found our target."
"Yes. Shigaraki is currently convincing Freecss to get a quirk, as well as gathering any information that would assist us in dealing with him."
"Good work," he praised. "Remember, we must gain the child's trust. I'm counting on you and Tomura to handle this well."
"Yes, Sensei."
A pause filled the room. Then, the speakers once again crackled to life as All For One spoke. "When you are ready, bring him to my quarters. I'll be waiting."
With that, the television immediately switched back to the channel he was watching the Sports Festival on. Kurogiri sighed. Once Freecss gained his quirk, Shigaraki and he were the ones supposed to help him train. Still, despite the description he was given of the quirk, he had quite a difficult time wrapping his head around it. Not because it was confusing, but... he was curious how someone who couldn't use their initial powers would handle another one that held this much overwhelming potential. Because, no matter how sure of a plan they may have, they still cannot predict the future. And, of all the uncertainty in the world, he felt that the most of it was held in the form of a 16 year old boy stripped from his memories, as well as his own dimension.
Before he knew it, he was in the arena with Kaminari. There actually wasn't much he knew about his quirk, just that he uses electricity, but, it didn't faze him. He got the feeling he'd easily hold his own against a quirk like that, plus, it's a given that his combat skills excel past his opponent's.
"And here we have the sparking, killing boy, Kaminari Denki! Versus..."
Killing boy? Present Mic's descriptions sure were weird...
"1-A's brand new, mysterious speedster, Killua Zoldyck!"
A couple feet away from him, he could easily tell how nervous his opponent was in going against him, fiddling his hands and chattering his teeth. He probably assumed it'd be a test of speed, as everyone in his class watched the way he knocked out Bakugou and zoomed past nearly everyone in the Obstacle Race, but doing the same thing over and over again was boring. Even then, he didn't want to hold back just for the sake of enjoying his time a little bit more.
So, what was the play, here?
"START!"
Instantly, Kaminari let off a gigantic surge of electricity, volts wrapping around the stage and enveloping Killua in it in a blur of white and yellow. He could feel it everywhere; it crackled over his skin, in his ears, even within his teeth. It was painful.
"And Kaminari continues to electrify the entire arena! But folks, Zoldyck is still standing in the midst of all of it?! Is he just taking it all in? Has he already passed out?"
It was painful, but he could still move. Taking a couple effortless steps, he aimed to simply push him out of the arena. Not every match had to end in a knockout, he supposed.
"What's this?" Present Mic started. "Zoldyck is walking through Kaminari's electricity?! What endurance! There must be thousands of volts there, but he treats it as if it's nothing! Wow! Perhaps he's blocking it, somehow?"
Oddly enough, something about the sparks dancing over his fingertips felt extremely familiar. Almost as if he could reach out and take control of it...
Immediately, before he could even reach his opponent, the electricity ceased, leaving behind a defunct Kaminari lazily holding two thumbs up.
"ZOLDYCK ADVANCES TO THE SECOND ROUND!"
Well, that went by quick. The roar of the crowd filled his ears, unable to tell any actual words from it. As he was led off of the arena, his stare lingered on Kaminari. He couldn't ask him anything about his quirk right now, of course, but... eventually, he would. Breaking his gaze, he looked down at his hand, remembering exactly how the electricity crackled over it. He almost longed for it. It didn't make any sense. He was quirkless, right?
Making his way back to the seats, he found his spot between Midoriya and Uraraka. Right, he thought. Iida's match was up next.
"Wow, you were so cool, out there!" Uraraka beamed, clapping her hands together.
Killua said a quick thanks, peering over at Midoriya. The guy was mumbling away, writing in some kind of notebook. It didn't seem like he noticed him sit down next to him, so he waved a hand in front of his face while he drawled a low "hello."
"Huh?" he said, startled. "Oh, Z-Zoldyck! Sorry, I was just writing..."
"Yeah, I can tell." Head tilting in interest, he glanced over the pages. "Woah, you've been writing about our classmates?"
"Um... yeah," he laughed, forcing a smile as his cheeks heated up.
Before he could explain further, Killua prodded, "Can I see Kaminari's page?"
Incomprehensibly stuttering over his words, he handed the book over to Killua, page already flipped to the requested student.
KAMINARI DENKI
QUIRK: electrification
generates electricity & covers entire body w it. can go a far distance, but barely has control over it. exceeding wattage limit causes brain to short circuit for an hour, leaving him vulnerable.
can possibly control outside sources of electricity? possibly cause a lightning strike...? holds great amount of power, but ultimate downfall is control. equipment that can ma...
Alright, that was enough. He was basically just a human battery, since, at least for now, there was no real way for him to properly channel his quirk. Closing the cover, he'd just noticed Uraraka reading along with him from over his shoulder.
"Huh, he really goes all out in his analyses," she said. "It makes sense, though. He's pretty observant of others' quirks, so much that he mumbles about it non-stop..."
"Uraraka! You're reading it too?" he yelped from a seat away.
"Duh. Don't worry, Deku. It's cool!"
Handing the notebook back, Killua snickered at the embarrassed kid. Although all his journal did was confirm his theories about "sparking, killing" boy's quirk, it further motivated him to want to talk to him, even if he didn't exactly know what he wanted from him, yet.
"Oh, by the way," Midoriya said, turning to Killua, "how did you manage to get through Kaminari's quirk like that?"
"Huh?"
"Were you just... running really fast, or something? To avoid getting shocked? I don't know how that would exactly work, but—"
"I didn't avoid it," he interrupted. "I just walked through it."
"Oh," Midoriya sighed.
A silent beat passed.
Eyes widening, as if in slow motion, his jaw dropped as both Uraraka and he let out a loud, "WHAT?!"
"A quirk?" Gon questioned, tilting his head. "I thought people had to be born with quirks?"
"They are," Shigaraki clarified, "but quirks can do anything."
Anything, huh? So, it was pretty similar to Nen. Except, according to Kurogiri, it was more of a muscle that you had to train, and less of a sort of life energy. The thought of regaining some sort of power excited him, but he knew he had to stay cautious. He trusted the League of Villains—to an extent—but this sounded like something that could permanently alter him in a way he couldn't be too sure of, unless he went all in.
"How will it work?"
"Ah..." he trailed off, pausing. "You do know Sensei, right?"
Picking his brain for any sense of recognition, he recalled Kurogiri mention him in passing. It seemed like he was the leader of the whole organization. "Kinda," he answered.
"His quirk is called All For One. He can take any person's quirk and pass it down to whoever he chooses."
"And he chooses me?"
"Yeah."
The arcade bleeps in the background filled his ears as he considered the idea. "What quirk does he wanna give me?"
Sucking in a quick breath, he explained, "Summon. You basically order yourself to do something, and then you get whatever power you need to do it. Kurogiri can explain it better, but that's the gist."
...He wasn't gonna lie, that sounded really cool. Not only the quirk, but the idea that he's essentially getting some sort of power back for free. He hadn't been doing much on Whale Island to really need something like that, but ever since he lost the ability to control his Nen, he felt like some part of him was missing, even after all these years. Willingly giving it up didn't mean he didn't miss it.
So, teeth showing as a big grin stretched on his face, he cheerfully nodded at Shigaraki.
"Alright! When can I get it?"
He leaned back, Gon realizing he was staring at a clock behind him. "In a few hours, I'm guessing."
Jumping up from the table, he grabbed the now empty cardboard box that used to hold his crepe and tossed it into the trash. Rushing back to his companion, he cheered, "Let's play more games while we wait!"
He'd never actually been to an arcade before. There weren't any on Whale Island, so he assumed he bought his own game system back home for that reason. The memory of it was clear in his mind, but, for some reason, he hadn't actually used it in years. Maybe the games coming out recently just weren't that good. However, in a space where any kind of game—either dropping a claw on a stuffed animal, sitting down and racing in a "car," or working your legs out through a rhythm game—were all barely a foot away from each other, he understood why some people got addicted to these kinds of things. Especially when he was up against someone. Competition made everything better!
To his delight, Shigaraki stood up and walked along with him to find another game for them to play.
"Hey, when I get Summon, does that mean I can beat you in every single video game?"
"Eh?"
"Like, if I tell myself to win a game of Tekken against you, will I just get the power to do that?"
Shigaraki scoffed. "Even if you did do that, I'd still win. You're shit at Tekken."
"Huh?!" Gon pouted. Slowly, a mischievous smirk grew on his face. "But, at least I can still win in a real life fight against you."
That got the older boy's head turning, eyes brimming with animosity.
"You damn brat."
Summon: Upon activation, the user gives their body a command. Once given, they black out until it is fulfilled, no matter what. In place of them blacking out, they "summon" whatever power will most greatly help them in achieving it.
Its only drawback is the longer they stay blacked out, the more the summoned power will eat away at their life energy. The longer it goes on, the stronger and more uncontrollable the power becomes. Worst case, it can lead to the user's death.
A/N: there's a lot to unpack from this chapter, especially from killua's side. i hope skipping over most of the battles didn't mess up the pacing, 'cause i didn't want to rewrite every single thing that happens in bnha when it doesn't have to do much with killua (and gon, too.) also, gon's quirk gets revealed! all for one really planned this out, huh? anyway, thank all of you so much for continuing to read this story! comments and reviews are always super super appreciated, and help me view everything from an outsider's perspective, rather than my own. see you all in the next chapter! :)
