The first round was finally over with, ending with an arm wrestling match between Kirishima and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Saying their quirks were similar was an understatement; Killua was pretty sure the only difference between them was what color they turned when they used it. Still, he rooted for the redhead, yelling out encouraging words from the crowd along with his other classmates. Immediately, the crack of an iron arm shortly ended the match, signaling Kirishima's victory and establishing his spot in the next round.

Over Present Mic's and the audience's cheers, Killua decided he'd try and find Kaminari before the second round started, since he probably should have gotten out of his... confused state, by now. Earlier, he'd asked some of his classmates where he could possibly be, and, to his slight disappointment, he'd been taken to the infirmary. Well, as long as he paid no attention to the hag, he assumed he'd be fine.

Saying a quick goodbye to his classmates in the stands, he squeezed through to the aisles, making his way to speak to Kaminari. This was something he absolutely did not want to let go. Just like when he reached to grab Midoriya's shoulder the first day, he was now reaching at the slightest sense of familiarity in that electrification quirk. Still... what would he even do once he got there, though? Ask him to electrocute him? Electrocute himself? There was a reason Midoriya listed him as having barely any control over it, and he didn't want to freak the kid out any further.

Finding himself at the door of the infirmary, he turned the handle and immediately entered. His eyes searched the room for his target, pointedly ignoring Recovery Girl's presence from a hard left. Unfortunately, she hadn't made the same decision and promptly spoke to him.

"Zoldyck," she addressed.

Killua barely made a noise of acknowledgement. "Is Kaminari here?"

"He just left a minute ago."

A quick nod, and he hastily spun on his heel to head back out the door and look for him.

"Wait," she called out, stopping him in his tracks.

What did she want, now?

Shoving his hands in pockets, he impatiently huffed. Recovery Girl, however, didn't seem to have her usual look of annoyance plastered on her face. Inhaling deeply, she said, "Do you know what my quirk is, Zoldyck?"

Raising an eyebrow, he answered, "Yeah, you kiss people and they heal. Really weird..."

Ignoring that last mumble of a comment, she said, "Yes, but there's more to it. It works by speeding up your own body's process of healing."

"And?"

"And, the more someone needs healing, the more of your own life energy gets used up."

Life energy? He scratched his cheek, silently repeating the words back to himself. "So?"

She narrowed her eyes. "So. Considering how deep that wound on your forehead was—I wanted to mention it at the time, but I had to attend to other students—you should have at least felt a little bit tired, after. But, were you?"

Recalling the way he, after getting healed, immediately ran off without breaking a sweat, he answered with a short, "Nope."

"That's what I figured," she sighed. "If you haven't noticed, your skull was cracked. Mending bones only takes a few seconds for me, but it takes a lot out of the patient. You... have an incredibly abnormal amount of life energy."

Before Killua could respond, the door busted open, revealing a flustered Kaminari scratching at the back of his head. "Recovery Girl! Sorry! I left my pho—"

He immediately made eye contact with Killua. Then, Recovery Girl.

Awkwardly laughing, he shuffled over to one of the beds. "...Left my phone. Sorry." Picking up the flat object from under the pillowcase, he hurriedly made his way out of the room, slamming the door as hard as he opened it.

For just a second, the last two in the room stared at each other, processing what had just happened.

"Gotta go!" Killua blurted, wasting no time at all to race after Kaminari.

Ignoring her indignant calls back, he shut the door and found the electric quirk user down the hall.

Although he was certainly interested in the fact that he apparently had a large amount of life energy, the entire reason he went to the infirmary in the first place was to meet up with his classmate. Besides, if he really wanted, he can just go back and ask her about it again; there wasn't anything telling him he couldn't.

Mentally filing it for later, he called out to Kaminari, the soles of his shoes skidding to a halt from just a few feet behind him.

"Huh?" he exclaimed, slightly arching his back to look over at him. Gazes meeting once again, his eyes widened as he realized who was chasing after him. "Oh! Zoldyck! Uh... hey? What's up?"

"I..."

Silence.

He... actually still hadn't planned on what he'd say to him. As they uncomfortably stood across each other, waiting, internally begging for the other to say something to break the awkward tension, a light bulb in his brain finally went off.

"Let's... train together."

His head somehow tilting at nearly a 90 degree angle, his eyebrows furrowed as he loudly exclaimed, "Huh?"

"I was just about to ask you about your quirk, but... we're kind of in the middle of a festival. Mind showing me some other time? Maybe tomorrow?"

The confusion left his face and was instantly replaced with a look of dread behind his eyes. "But... you're super strong, man," he sniffed. "I don't know if I can handle that again, I mean, you completely crushed me in our match! I was scared you were gonna knock me out with that freaky chop!"

It doesn't even hurt that much, he internally grumbled. "If you're concerned I'm gonna beat you senseless, you don't need to worry. Just ask Kirishima."

"Oh," he said, gaze floating towards the ceiling. As it landed back on Killua, he pouted. "I remember him telling me about that. But, he said you went easy on him, so you're probably gonna go even easier on me!"

"Eh? What do you want? For me to hurt you or not to hurt you?"

Defeatedly throwing his arms up in the air, he said, "I don't know!"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I... don't know!"

Killua impatiently tapped his foot. This guy...

Clicking his tongue, he said, "Whatever. Do you want to, or not?"

Kaminari's arms crossed. "I... gotta think about it. I'll let you know after the festival."

"Fine. Come find me when you're ready."

With that, Killua strolled past him on his way back to the stands, as if they weren't going the same exact direction (to which Kaminari decided to stand still for a few seconds, and then slowly follow from behind.) He might have been a little annoyed by the conversation, but there was no way he was going to let something that petty impact his decision on whether he wanted to revisit his strange experience in the arena or not. Besides, it was either asking him to show off his quirk or having himself just pour water on an electrical box he'd find somewhere. Maybe throwing a toaster in a bathtub would work, too. It almost did feel like he was going to get the same effect whichever method he tried, anyway...

Shaking his head, his eyes fixated on the growing light at the end of the hallway. Among the brainwashing, abundant life energy, and maybe training session between him and Kaminari, he already had a lot to take away from the sports festival, and the last third of it wasn't even over with, yet. Right now, he just hoped he'd get back in time to watch Midoriya's and Todoroki's match all the way through.


As Shigaraki waved him off after Gon told him he needed to use the restroom, he became curious how the sports festival was going. Kurogiri had sent him a text earlier that confirmed their plan was going along perfectly; he had found the second interdimensional. A kid in 1-A named Killua Zoldyck, who was apparently really fast. Sitting down at a nearby table, he pulled his phone out, making sure he was facing the bathroom door so the brat wouldn't be able to sneak up on him.

Typing in 'U.A. Sports Festival' on some free streaming service website, he easily found it at the top result. Unfortunately, because he didn't think he'd need to bring earphones to an obnoxiously loud arcade, he had to turn on the automated subtitles, which were, of course, complete shit. Either way, he needed to satiate his desires somehow.

'...engines on his legs, we have Iida Tenya! Versus... Killua Zoldyck, the quick, late-bloomer! Wow! Check out that oxymoron!'

...was how Shigaraki interpreted the subtitles that read, 'engines on his legs we have eat a ten yeah versus kill who a ball sick the quick late bloomer wow check out that oxymoron.'

Huh, he thought. Just his luck he'd turn it on as soon their target stepped in the spotlight. And then, he shortly remembered who this 'Iida Tenya' was. That damn brat who alerted all the Pro Heroes to USJ...

Letting out a scoff, he wondered how this matchup would go if both of them were supposed to be extremely fast. Was it simply a battle of speed? Whoever got to either one first, he supposed would be the winner. Part of him rooted for glasses kid because then that meant defeating this interdimensional would be easier than initially thought, and another part of him rooted for Zoldyck because it would confirm his strength, which ultimately equates to Gon's. Either way, this seemed like an interesting battle.

'START!'


The two opponents stood still—Iida ready to rush in at any moment, Killua with his hands in his pockets—waiting for either one to make a single move. Killua remembered Iida's last match with Hatsume, and, well... there wasn't too much he could actually say, combat-wise. However, he did know that Iida's quirk definitely allowed him to move extremely fast. Curiosity took over; thoughts such as whether the engines only affected his running speed or his overall speed rushed through his mind (as well as how close they'd be if they were to go against each other in an actual race.) Though, it was more likely that his kicks were faster than his punches, if it really was only his bottom half that was affected by his quirk. His opponent might primarily fight with his legs, then.

Alright, Killua thought. So far, he'd mostly used speed as an upper-hand "tactic" against the competitors. Perhaps he'd try to go on the offense, this time...

"Recipro Burst!"

It happened in what seemed like a millisecond; Iida had just stood a good distance away from him, and right now...

Killua stood face to face with an incoming kick.

Bringing his hands up out of his pockets to block it, he grunted upon the force of impact. Whatever move Iida just pulled, miraculously, brought his speed up to nearly—no, maybe even exactly—Killua's own level. If his arms weren't so busy taking a hit, he would've let out an actual laugh.

Looks like this match's gonna be pretty fun, after all!

Soles skidding across the cement, Killua watched as Iida went for another high kick. This time, he was prepared. Instead of blocking again, he cleanly ducked under it, sweeping Iida's single standing leg from under him. His opponent fell over, and, as he flew mid-air, Killua turned around and reeled his arm back for a punch...

There was nothing in front of him. Instead, Iida had already dashed forward, far away from where he stood.

Three seconds. It had only been three seconds.

"You're fast," Killua called out.

No response other than a single nod came from his opponent who was currently panting, irises shaking from behind his glasses. Upon closer inspection, Killua noticed that his engines were actually emitting blue flames, rather than the regular orange-yellow. Even more striking was the fact that the flames seemed to be sputtering as time crawled on. Did this mean his 'Recipro Burst' had a time limit? If so, Killua wanted to spin back into action as soon as possible; for once, he felt that this was an even battle (at least, the most even battle he's had, so far.)

Time to go on the offensive.

Killua immediately bolted forward. Iida wanted to get the most out of his ability before it ran out, didn't he? With that in mind, as soon as he came close to him, he jumped. Below him, Iida had attempted a kick at the exact same time, completely missing him. Quick reaction time, Killua noted. However, that didn't make up for the fact that he was able to simply think one step ahead of him.

And, this time, Killua finally landed his punch.

It was almost like an explosion. A giant dust cloud materialized in the middle of the arena, a trail of it following Iida as he hurtled out of bounds, towards the inner walls, loudly crashing against it.

The dust dissipated, leaving the scene of a short, white-haired boy standing alone, a scratch found nowhere on his body.

For a while, a hush fell over the whole audience.

"Zo...Z-Zoldyck moves on to the next round!"

So much for an even match.


Killua didn't know much about Todoroki, save for the words exchanged between him and Midoriya during their battle. Something about him not wanting to use his left side...

As soon as the match started, Todoroki immediately cast out his gigantic wall of ice spikes. In the time it took to cover the entire arena, however, Killua easily climbed it before it grew out of bounds, reaching the top and looking down at his opponent. Assessing him, he presumed he could easily run up and knock him out with a single chop. But, at the same time, he wanted to see him use his fire, just like how Midoriya did. It didn't feel fair if he didn't.

Jumping back down to the ground, he watched as Todoroki lifted his hand up in his direction, releasing yet another gigantic ice wall. It crackled as it grew, but Killua was able to dodge it. He dodged another, and another, and another, until his opponent's skin looked near frostbitten. Brute force couldn't beat his agility.

"Stupid," he started, staring Todoroki in the eye as he stood only a couple feet away from him. "You're gonna lose if you keep being this stubborn."

"Stupid..." he softly echoed, the insult seemingly entering one ear and exiting the other.

Killua clicked his tongue. "Don't you wanna win?"

"...Don't you?"

"I'm doing this for fun," he shrugged. "I can't do that when you're obviously not giving your all."

"That's hypocritical," he said, "since you're not giving your all, either."

"No, I'm giving all I can for the sake of fun. Duh."

"It doesn't matter," he said, narrowing his eyes. Slowly beginning to lift his right hand back up, he continued, "You don't know me at all. You have no right telling me what to do."

At that, his opponent began rushing towards him. However, due to the sheer amount of ice he'd produced without a heat source to balance it, his movements were even slower than before—easily traceable for Killua.

'You don't know me at all.' Of course he didn't. He was just able to recognize when someone was in pain. That, he thought, is definitely not fun.

Todoroki threw a punch, which Killua easily dodged. Then, he landed a kick on Todoroki's torso, sending him propelling across the arena. Sharp eyes honing in on the way his opponent's right hand moved behind himself, Killua pounced towards him. Shortly after, a wall of ice appeared at the edge, most likely to keep him from flying out of bounds. However, Killua had already caught up to Todoroki, and, as soon as his ice wall was built, he punched him through it, shattering the ice and securing his victory in the finals.

Present Mic's and the audience's cheers indeterminately buzzing around in his ears, he stared at the unconscious boy, watching him as he got carried outside the arena.

Killua sighed, shoving his hands back in his pockets as his eyes traveled to the ground. The shards of ice had finally begun to melt, and the next match was already being announced. It was time to move on.


Somewhere in Hosu, Kurogiri and the Hero Killer meet on top of a rooftop.

Somewhere in Hosu, Pro Hero Ingenium had been attacked. Calls were made to his family.

In Kamino Ward, the biggest threat to society was currently losing in a game of Smash Ultimate to All For One's sole successor.


Killua sat alone in the contestant prep room, considering his upcoming battle with Bakugou. There wasn't a doubt in his mind he'd be able to beat him again, quirkless battle or not. So, why exactly did he feel so... apprehensive?

The slam of the door suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

Killua cocked his head. "Huh? Bakugou?"

Red eyes widening in shock, he said, "What're you doing here?!" Doing a double take at the sign, he gawked, "Oh, shit, this is room two!"

A silence fell over the room. In a slight motion, Killua brought his hand to his mouth and giggled.

"Stupid."

"Oi, what'd you say?" he seethed, stepping closer to Killua's spot at the table. Instead of instantly lashing out at him like he did normally, he shot him a silent, murderous glare. "I don't know what the hell your deal is, but I'm sick of your cocky ass attitude."

"My cocky attitude?" Killua laughed. "I wasn't the one who pledged he'll be 'number one.'"

"That's because I will be. I didn't come to this school just to get beat up by some fuckin' amnesiac brat who thinks he's better than everyone else!" Hitting his palm on the table, he knocked it over with an explosion. "You came out of nowhere, and people are acting like you're just another normal student. I don't fuckin' get it!"

A frown formed on his face. "I didn't ask to just appear at this school. I didn't even want to be a student, but there's nothing better they'd let me do. Why don't you just deal with it?"

"You're telling me to just ignore the brat who walks by my desk every single day? The brat who always gets brought up in some shitty conversation I'm in? Hell no." Scowling, he made his way back to the door. "We'll settle this at the arena. You better not go easy on me, or you'll fuckin' regret it, cat face."

The door loudly shut, leaving Killua behind, sitting with a singed, toppled over table.

Soon enough, it was time for the match to start.

"The best of the best among U.A.'s first years will be decided!"

Killua, hand in pocket, coldly stared into his opponent's eyes from across the arena. Bakugou did the same, only, there was a burning fire behind his.

What's wrong with you...

"It's the final match! Zoldyck versus Bakugou!"

You can't keep your damn anger in check?

"START!"

Bakugou charged forward, mini explosions propelling him towards the white-haired boy. Immediately, he reeled back his right arm...

Landing back on the ground, he looked behind him and found Killua on the complete opposite end of the arena. Gritting his teeth, he blasted off, dust swirling around in the air. This time, his focus was entirely on where his opponent would end up. As soon as he closed the distance, Killua disappeared, which was his cue to look around the arena. There, on the other side of the arena, was where he stood yet again.

Clicking his tongue, he yelled out, "Stop running, you shitty brat! Fight me! Don't give me that 'If I went all out, I'll kill you' bullshit!"

...He still remembered that exact sentence?

Killua's eyes shifted as he scrutinized his opponent. Exactly how badly did he wound his pride...?

And then, in that exact moment, it all clicked. It wasn't just pure anger that caused his fists to shake; he was afraid.

Every time he told him he didn't belong at U.A., it wasn't to simply just get a rise out of him. Killua was basically just a giant walking reminder of his defeat—of his vulnerability. If he could, he'd bet money on Midoriya being an even bigger one from what he'd already seen and heard from his classmates. Needless to say... Bakugou's got some major issues, more than what Killua initially thought.

Shaking his head, he let out a short laugh. Some inferiority complex didn't excuse the guy from being an asshole, though. Still, he admitted to himself that there was one thing he admired about the angry porcupine, because, despite already knowing how much stronger he was, he still egged him on in the prep room. Someone who only wanted to win wouldn't do that.

"What's so funny?!"

"Nothing," he said, freeing up both of his hands. "I'm ready now."

Bakugou wanted victory, fair and square, even—in this situation, at least—when it wasn't certain.

That was something... Killua greatly appreciated.

A devilish smile stretching his face, Bakugou ran forward, quirk crackling in his palms. He jumped up in the air, circling Killua to form a dust tornado around the both of them. Blasting towards him, he let off a final explosion.

"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

Unfortunately for him, Killua wanted fun.

An explosion rivaling that of a missle burned through the arena, sending currents of hot wind against the audience's faces.

Once the dust cleared, Bakugou stood alone in the arena.

"Now, where the hell are you, cat face...?"

Red eyes locked onto blue ones. Killua stood, smiling and waving at him from just outside of the arena lines.

"Congrats on the win, classmate!"

After all, he did still think it was fun to tease him.

"YOU DAMN BASTARD..."

Bakugou then ungracefully collapsed on the ground, Midnight using her quirk from right behind him.

"Bakugou is the winner!"


"It's time to go, Gon."

"Already?! We haven't even played all the games, yet!"

"You idiot, you'd rather stay here than get your quirk?"

"Well, no..."

Groaning, Shigaraki gestured towards the revolving door. "We're leaving. Sensei is waiting."

Ignoring the way the brat spun the door around two... three... four times—did this kid really just turn 16?—he walked on his way back to their hideout, occasionally checking that Gon stayed behind him.

Shigaraki smirked. Everything in their plan was going along perfectly; all they needed to do next was train Gon's quirk, then wait for the perfect time to strike. Then, he thought, chuckling, maybe we'll turn him into a nomu, next, so he'd stop talking about that damn Aunt Mito. Once the Zoldyck brat was dead, he'd have Gon all to himself without needing to watch out for his memories coming back; he could even get him to finally kill All Might.

"Hey, Shigaraki."

Not even bothering to turn his head around, he dryly said, "What?"

"What's your quirk? I've never actually seen you use it."

Humming, he looked around the streets. Finding an empty glass bottle in an alleyway, he picked it up and held it over his shoulder where Gon could see. Placing all five fingers on it, he easily disintegrated it.

"Decay."

A sound of amazement came from behind him. "That's so cool! But... how? You've touched things without them doing that before..."

"It takes all five fingers."

As Shigaraki answered Gon's questions in no more than five words at a time, they finally reached the hideout. Knocking on the door, he called for Kurogiri.

Shortly after the door opened and the pair stepped inside, he was met with the smoky, yellow-eyed man's gaze.

"Take us to Sensei," Shigaraki ordered.

"Ah, actually..." he hesitated, glancing at Gon. "Sensei requested that only Freecss will meet him."

"Huh?" Shigaraki said, eyes widening. Ending with a scoff, he said, "Fine. Take him. Just make it quick."

As soon as Shigaraki finished speaking, Kurogiri opened up a portal.

"Step inside, Freecss."

Gon stared at the swirling black mass, jaw dropping. "What is this?" he asked.

"Sensei's exact location is kept a secret. My quirk only opens a portal into his room, however, so don't worry. Once you're done, I'll teleport you back, easy as that."

Shuffling his feet, he reflected on the situation. As soon as he stepped through, he was going to regain some semblance of his past power, quirk, Nen, whatever it was—it all blurred together. It wasn't going to be for free, however; he knew at least that much. The League of Villains had wanted him to help them with their goal of killing some hero, and, he assumed, he was going to be a big part of it.

A short-term goal for long-term power.

Gon stepped through.

"Welcome, Gon Freecss."

Whatever he expected, it definitely wasn't this.

In a small, dark room, sat a heavily scarred man in a suit with tubes attached to himself. It seemed the only light was coming from all the computer screens behind who he assumed was Sensei.

"I see you've made your decision on getting a quirk," he said. His voice was dry, but it didn't take away from its commanding nature at all. "Are you ready?"

Even while he was hooked up to machines that helped with keeping him alive, Gon could just tell how powerful this man was. The scars weren't there for show, and, as much as he wanted to ask where he got them from, he held back, instead choosing to deeply bow to offer his respects.

"Yes, Sensei!" Slowly lifting himself back up, he questioned, "...How will you give it?"

Sensei gestured for Gon to step closer. "Hold out your hand, child. This won't take too long."

Gon followed his order, waiting for whatever his quirk was to activate. There wasn't much to see when looking up at the scarred man's face, as the only thing present was his mouth (Gon wondered if there was anyone out there who only had a nose; then, Sensei, Kurogiri, and nose person could complete a whole face.) Forcing himself to keep his distracting thoughts at bay, he quickly realized he'd missed something Sensei said.

"Oh, what'd you say? Sorry."

The giant man let out a laugh. Placing his own calloused hand into the child's, he softly spoke the last words a quirkless Gon would ever hear.

"Use it well."


A/N: the more i write this fic, the more it makes me want to read the bnha manga just because of all the crazy amount of times i've spoiled the story for myself for the sake of accuracy... just the struggles of writing a fic you've only watched the anime for, i guess. also, poor bakugou. i know i write about him like i hate him, but i absolutely loveeee his character. i just don't want to rush his development since it's still early in the school year (besides, with the timeline i've planned so far, there's plenty of time for development.) anyway, thank you so much for reading! this chapter was considerably hard to write since there was a lot to keep track of, so i'm hoping it turned out well. thoughts on the story so far are really really appreciated, no matter what. see you all in the next chapter!

P.S. gon's smash main would be little mac, and, no, i am not taking constructive criticism (on the actual story, however, i totally am open lol.)