"Sekihara Jun will be disqualified in ten seconds," Kymaera announced. "Which means we will have a new floor master, Odin!"
The arena grumbled with discontent; they'd paid a hefty sum to be able to see some bloodshed. Tanaka sighed, shaking his head. Jun had so many fans, but she was so unreliable sometimes. Kymaera started the count.
"Ten! Nine! Eight!" she cried, as Tanaka glanced back at Jun's tunnel. Still no sign of her. Was she really not coming this time?
Shalnark sighed, running a hand through his hair as the announcer continued her count. "Man, I was really looking forward to this fight!"
"We paid quite a lot for it," Shizuku commented, her lips curving into a slight frown. "I could have bought some sweets with that money."
Hisoka and Machi hadn't paid a single cent, as Jun had left them both tickets, but neither of them bothered to say, as it didn't matter anyway. Machi stood up and sighed. "Well, looks like it's over," she said as Kymaera got to five. "Move," she told Hisoka, who was still seated, his legs crossed, face resting in his palm as though he were watching a particularly interesting show on TV.
"Believe in her," Hisoka said simply, a thin smile tugging the corner of his lips. He tilted his head towards her seat, encouraging her to take it. There were a million words Hisoka could have used and Machi was stunned that he had chosen that combination. It took her a while to process, and she looked to the arena as Kymaera continued the countdown.
"Three! Two!" Kymaera called, and everyone heard her take a breath to say the last number, but at the very moment, Jun burst through the tunnel. She dropped her sword for a second, went back and scooped it up before racing to the arena, hopping up onto the stone tile.
The arena was quiet for a moment, the audience in disbelief. Then, all at once and all together, they erupted into a series of cheers as Jun let out a breath of relief.
"Oh, thank God," she laughed, putting her hand on her hip as she looked towards Tanaka. "I still get to keep my house."
Tanaka rolled his eye as Jun gave him a tiny low five. "Keep it PG," he reminded her.
"We'll see," Jun laughed as she stepped towards the center of the ring, Odindoing the same. He crossed his arms, looking down at her. She waved. "Yo."
"You are likely the rudest woman I have ever met," the man said flatly. "You are disrespectful to both your opponent and your audience. I believe that you owe everyone an apology."
"I don't want to," Jun said simply, pulling out her hair clip and flipping her hair over to catch the loose strands. She turned to Tanaka. "Tan-san, let's get started."
Odinknew that Jun tended to favor this referee, as he let her do whatever she pleased. However, despite this, he also knew that this referee was fair; just because he tended to let Jun do what she want in the ring, didn't mean that he didn't award points against her. Odin himself was fine with this referee.
However, he knew that he had gotten fed up with Sekihara Jun. In one swift motion, he pulled his arm back and launched it straight at Tanaka Shun. He felt a collision against his fist, but when he looked down, Jun was standing in front of Tanaka , both her hands on Odin's fist as she blocked the punch.
That punch should have had enough raw strength to shatter all the bones in her arms, but Jun pushed him back, glowering darkly. "How dare you attack Tan-san," she hissed. "I believe it is you that owes him an apology. He's the referee. If you have any gripes with me then be a man and take it up with me, you bastard."
Odinlooked down at the small woman. "You first."
"Just because you're a butt and I don't like you, I'll make your death quick," Jun told him, taking a stance. "Thirty percent."
Not a moment after the words came out of her mouth, she leapt into the air and launched a kick at Odin's head. Machi knew it was over. Jun's kicks to the face had ended many lives before; no one could stand that skull-shattering blast.
However, this time was different. Odin raised his arm and caught her leg, spinning around and swinging her out of the ring. She flew across the arena and crashed into the wall so deeply that none of her body was even visible. Odin glanced at Tanaka, who stared at him, unafraid.
"Critical, knockdown, three points," Tanaka said.
Gon and Killua couldn't believe what they'd seen. Jun had never gone over thirty percent while fighting in the underground arena, yet this man brushed off that amount of power without even breaking a sweat. How many lives had Sekihara Jun's thirty percent ended?
Jun climbed out of the hole in the wall covered in dust, her hair falling out of her clip. She'd gained a lot of surface injuries, scratches on her face and limbs, her clothes a little tattered from the force at which she'd been whipped into the wall. She trudged back to the arena, climbing into the ring. Instead of attacking him directly, she reached in her hair and pulled out her hairclip. She inspected the white piece of jewelry and let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God it's not broken," she said brightly, swinging her hair up again. She turned to Tanaka. "How many points did I lose?"
"Three," he told her, and she shrugged. No matter what, Jun always respected Tanaka's refereeing. It was why the arena continued to let him oversee her matches.
"How many should I let him have?" Jun asked, pointing to Odin as though he weren't standing three feet away from them.
"Should you really be asking me?" Tanaka asked, unaffected.
"How about I give eight?" she pondered, tapping her nose. "Maybe it will make for good entertainment. Nail biter and all, you know? There are people watching."
"You lose if you get ten on you," Tanaka reminded her, the concern on his face giving way to the fact that he really did feel like that he needed to remind her. He knew Jun probably had nowhere else to go; losing her house wouldn't be something on her to-do list.
Jun opened her mouth to speak, but Odin was already rushing her, whipping out his sword. She shoved Tanaka backwards and out of the line of the attack and leapt back, a light gash opening up on her stomach. Odin thrust the sword forward, and Jun dodged it by a hair, leaping back again as he brought the sword down to slash across her shoulders.
Jun continued dodging each blow by an inch, Tanaka keeping a moderate distance away in case the fight came back towards him, watching carefully. Odin didn't even seem to be exerting much effort into his attacks, but Jun, on the other hand, seemed to be working quite hard to dodge; she wasn't dodging by a thin margin to mock him. It was simply because she couldn't keep up.
Jun landed after a dodge and made a move to dodge again, but Odin slashed a feint, bringing his sword back up to decapitate her. Jun quickly tore out her sword and held it up to block. The force, too strong for her, sent her reeling backwards. Odin closed the distance between them, slamming his fist into her gut so hard that Tanaka saw her lose consciousness for a moment before snapping back to reality. Tanaka knew Jun was never great with feints, and fell for them all the time.
"Clean hit, one point Odin," he called as Jun thrust her sword forward, attempting to stab through his heart. He deflected her sword with ease, and slammed his palm into her forearm, shattering the bone before crushing his foot into her side. Jun hurtled across the ring, denting it with the impact as she landed in a crumbled heap.
"Critical, knock down, three points Odin," Tanaka said, awarding the points. He glanced up at the scoreboard, swallowing a lump in his throat. As a referee, he was supposed to remain neutral, but the only thing he wanted to do now was slap Jun across the face and roar for her to get serious. Enough games!
"Oh! And Sekihara Jun goes down for the second time today!" Kymaera cried as the crowd erupted in roars. "Odin is already up seven to zero, but Jun has yet to pull her trump card!"
Hisoka watched the match with a blank expression. Watching Jun get tossed around like a rag doll used to be so beautiful and poetic, but for some reason, now it was unnerving. It made him sick. He resisted the urge to swoop down to the arena to tear out Odin's throat himself.
He turned to the rest of the troupe that had decided to come to the match, vaguely wondering what was going through their minds. Shalnark was watching intently, Shizuku looked bored and Machi had closed her eyes, most likely to not see Jun get broken. Normally, it was Jun that did the breaking, but when she didn't take fights seriously, this sort of thing began to happen, and it was never pretty to watch.
Jun pulled herself up from the ground, wiping her lip. Her hair was a mess, her clothes torn and bloody. She pressed her ribs gently and examined her arm, arching her back and twisting around to check what was broken.
"Seven," she said, vaguely hearing Kymaera talk. She turned to Odin, smiling brightly. "Alright, you get one more, okay? So try to make it a clean hit. If you get three again, you win and I'm out of a home, so I'm gonna kill you anyway. If you get one more point and then surrender, or forfeit now, then everyone wins."
If Odin were annoyed, he did not let the emotion show on his face. He remained neutral. "I don't appreciate your arrogance, Sekihara Jun."
"Just Jun is fine," she piped, pulling her hair clip out to fix her hair. She smiled after she was finished and took a fighting stance, hands up as though she were going to box him. In a second, she rushed him, but he easily dodged, taking a fistful of her hair as she whizzed by, whipping her out of the ring for a second time.
However, this time, she landed on her feet, and Tanaka didn't call a knockdown.
Shizuku sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I thought this was supposed to be interesting, Shalnark," she commented. "It's pretty obvious this 'Red Queen' is all washed up. That's what you get for not fighting in a year."
"She's supposed to be one of the best fighters!" Shalnark insisted, pointing at the program. "Her stats as far as the arena goes are off the charts!"
"What are stats when she can't live up to them?" Shizuku asked innocently. She stood up to leave, but Hisoka kicked out one of his legs, blocking her.
"You should be a little more respectful," he advised, looking up at Shizuku with a dangerous glint in his eyes and a mischievous grin.
Jun's ebony hair fell loose and her hands flew up to her head, touching for her clip. Her eyes shot back to Odin, who was holding her precious gift between his fingers.
"Give it back," Jun said quietly as she stepped back into the ring.
"You've been fidgeting with this the whole match," Odin commented. "Is it important to you?"
"Give it back," Jun repeated, and dashed forward wildly. Odin saw it coming from a mile away and grabbed her hair again, cleanly slicing its length before leaping backwards. He held up the clip.
"Is it important to you?" he asked again. "You don't need it anymore."
"Give it back!" Jun roared so loudly that even with all the other people in the arena, her voice still echoed off the walls.
And in a tiny, effortless motion, Odin snapped his fingers together, shattering the white hair clip. It crumbled to dust and he wiped his hand on his pant leg.
A thin smile curled Hisoka's lips. "And so it has begun," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. Shizuku opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, everyone in the arena felt it, a wave of aura so thick and suffocating, it felt like standing at the edge of a volcano, singing the skin off their bones. Shizuku sat back down in her seat without another word.
"You bastard," Jun growled, her gaze completely darkened. "Odin," she hissed. "Berserker Queen."
Odin grinned, holding his sword out in front of him. "If that's all I needed to do to get you to fight seriously, I should have done so earlier—"
"Sixty percent."
Odin opened his mouth to finish his sentence, but Jun had already crushed her foot down into the side of his face, sending him flying towards the earth. He slammed into the tile, causing the stone to burst up in rubble, but as Tanaka awarded Jun a point, he tried to attack her, shooting his sword out.
Jun deflected it with ease, like she was swatting a fly, and sent a right hook towards is face, shattering his nose. He flew out of the ring.
"Critical, knockdown, three points, Jun," Tanaka said.
"Oh, ladies and gentlemen, this is what we've been waiting for! The match between Odin and the Red Queen Sekihara Jun has only just started!" Kymaera called into the microphone. But to Jun, it was all white noise.
She stalked towards Odin's body as he stood up, wiping the blood from his face. When Odin looked up to match her gaze, he could have sworn that the woman standing before him wasn't the same as literally two seconds ago. She walked with elegance and grace, radiating a strength he'd only heard about in stories. He clenched his fist over his sword. This was the Red Queen.
He charged her, roaring, and Jun dodged easily, spinning around and drop kicking him to the earth so hard he bounced back up. She slammed her elbow down into his spine and he bellowed in pain as she crushed her foot into his back. Tanaka called out a knockdown.
"Oy, oy, oy, is that all ya got? Ya think ya can talk a buncha shit to me, break my fucking precious gift, and all ya can do is lie there and scream? Bow down to the queen, you fuckin' hound," she asked in a rough accent that did not match the elegance Odin admired. She crushed her foot deeper into his back, the heel of her boot piercing through his skin and he cried out.
Odin put all his strength into lifting himself up and whirled on Jun, but was thwacked in the face with Jun's bare hand. She'd only slapped him, but it'd felt like he'd been hit by ten steam ships, and flew back into the ring, hitting the tile.
Jun flicked the hair out of her face, making her way into the ring. Before she could do anything, from his place on the ground, Odin threw his sword at her like a lance.
"Jun!" Tanaka called on instinct, but Jun didn't even bother dodging. The sword hurtled through the air and pierced straight through her shoulder, the edge protruding on the other side of her body as blood dripped down her torn clothes.
She glanced at the weapon as though a bird had landed on her shoulder and actually burst out laughing, her dry cackle filling the arena. She hunched over to catch her breath and wipe the tears from her face. "Oh, my God, ya really think this shit would hurt me?" she asked, tearing out the sword as though she didn't care if it damaged any muscle or bone. She licked the blood off it and then snapped the blade with her teeth, tossing it aside like trash. "This is fuckin' child's play, ya dumb shit!"
Shalnark chuckled, and Shizuku looked to him, confused. "Her accent is different," she commented. "And her fighting style is different as well. She was hiding her true strength?"
"I guess," Shalnark said, and Hisoka turned, wondering what Shalnark would say next. As the strategist of the troupe, Hisoka wanted to hear Shalnark's analysis on Jun; he wanted to see if Sharlnark, just from watching Jun fight this one time, could figure out Jun's power. If anyone could do it, it was him. "It's not really hiding her true strength, as it is hiding another part of herself," he started.
"Isn't that what I said?" Shizuku asked, confused.
Shalnark shook his head. "Sekihara Jun wasn't hiding her true strength; she was hiding her personality."
Hisoka smiled, turning his eyes back to the arena. He figured that out quickly.
"She has multiple personalities?" Shizuku asked.
The blonde nodded. "From what I've observed, it seems like she can only keep in control of one personality up to a certain percentage of her strength," he said, pulling out a pen and drawing on the program. He drew a bar and a line, pointing to it as he wrote. "So, let's say that percentage is thirty percent. She's that bubbly, arrogant fighter that Odin scored seven points on; we'll call her Jun One But anything after thirty percent—" he said, pointing to the rest of the bar, "—increases the likelihood of the Jun One maintaining control of that personality, so she would go into the second personality, Jun Two. I'm guessing that at sixty percent – which she's at now – means that there's a sixty percent chance that Jun Two will take control. It also seems to depend on her emotional state."
Machi couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew that Shalnark was smart, but Jun having multiple personalities? Machi had known Jun for years! How could this have never come up? "How would you even develop a multiple personality?" she asked.
Shalnark hummed for a moment, thinking. "Well, there are a lot of ways someone can develop another personality. Considering how she made use of it, I'm guessing hers has to deal with something that happened when she was younger. Maybe some kind of abuse? Torture? She probably developed Jun Two to cope with the pain of being tortured or something like that."
Machi didn't want to believe it, but everything Shalnark was saying made perfect sense. That was why Jun didn't ever seem to feel pain; because someone else felt it for her.
"So, there are two of her," Shizuku summarized. "Which one is the real one?"
Shalnark grinned. "I think that's the beauty of that ability of hers. They're both her real personality; but like two sides of a coin, there is still only one coin. They're both her."
Bingo. Hisoka was actually impressed. It'd taken him a few months to figure that out, while Shalnark had done it in half an hour. He glanced over at Machi, who looked uneasy, and smiled. It seemed like even Machi hadn't known any of that about Jun. But then again, it wasn't like it was something Jun necessarily showed off.
"So, she'll retain all those memories, no matter what personality is out?" Machi asked.
Shalnark shrugged. "I'm guessing yes. It's a pretty complicated ability, though, factoring in percentages and her second personality; she must have thought long and hard about it. The stat book says that it's been over a year since she's used the ability in the ring, and I can see why. The conditions to even use it must be incredibly insane."
"She seems like an enhancer type, though," Shizuku commented, pointing to the ring. "She's a close combat fighter. Housing a second personality hardly seems like an enhanced ability."
Shalnark hummed in response, pondering. "I personally don't think housing another personality is her ability. I think her real ability has something to do with releasing the pain limiter in the brain," he explained. "For humans, pain is a device that lets the body know what its limits are so that it doesn't retain any permanent damage. That's why humans tend to be limited to certain boundaries of strength or speed; because the body physically wouldn't be able to handle the consequences.
"But Sekihara's ability seems like something that releases the pain limiter. That's what developed that personality. Just because Jun One can't feel pain, doesn't mean something like that just disappears. That's where Jun Two comes in; she shoulders all that pain, whether it be emotional, or physical," Shalnark explained.
"You're right," Shizuku said, turning her eyes back to the ring. "The conditions to use that ability must be crazy."
Hisoka thought that Shalnark explained that even better than Jun did. Hisoka actually hoped that Jun never got tangled with the spiders; Shalnark's intelligence and observational skills had just proven that Jun was no match for them. If Shalnark had told that information to any of the stronger members, like Uvo or Feitan, then it would be the end of Jun. If he could understand how her ability worked in a matter of minutes, then he no doubt could think of a strategy against it.
Hisoka smiled. He had certainly gotten involved with the right people.
Jun stalked over to where Odin had pulled himself off the ground. He charged her, reeling back a punch and Jun easily side stepped out of the line of fire and closed the distance between them, knocking his arm aside with a flick of her wrist. With his other hand, Odin launched a second punch towards her face, but she flicked her wrist again, deflecting the attack, and thrust kicked him in the stomach, sending him hurtling backward into the tile.
"Knockdown, one point Jun," Tanaka said, gesturing to her.
Violence. Over the years, Hisoka had noticed that after she had shifted personalities – or upon activating Berserker Queen – she actually tended to be less violent, which he always found a little strange, considering this Jun had a rougher personality; less maiming and more raw, graceful combat.
"And in a turn of events, Sekihara Jun has managed to gain six points back from Odin!" Kymaera announced.
The fight continued this way, with Odin making attempts to strike her with punches, or kicks in any way possible, and Jun deflecting his hits, causing him to shift off balance, ruining his rhythm. She fought with an almost cat-like grace, flicking her wrists to deflect attacks, hopping over his body and landing on her feet without even breaking a sweat. Odin was getting visibly frustrating, crying out as he tried to pick up the pace and do more damage. Jun knocked him back with a right hook to the jaw, gaining another down, and another point.
Jun took a breath, drawing her sword. "That's gonna be about enougha me fuckin' around," she said darkly, stalking over to where Odin was bringing himself to his feet. He didn't waste a moment and rushed Jun again as though hoping that his persistence would take her off guard.
She deflected his kick with a sharp jab from her palm, and swiftly slammed her hand upwards on his chin. Odin stumbled backwards, dazed and felt a sharp pain in his chest. He gazed down to see that Jun had stabbed cleanly though his heart, blood trickling down his chest.
She shoved the blade in deeper, looking up at him through blackened eyes. "That's how it felt," she growled. "When ya broke my fuckin' hairclip, ya dick."
She ripped out the blade roughly, opening his chest as blood sprayed over her small figure. Odin was dead before he hit the ground.
"Winner by T.K.O., Sekihara Jun," Tanaka said, pointing to her.
"And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! Defending her title once again, the Red Queen, Sekihara Jun!" Kymaera called, and the audience screamed and roared in approval as Jun looked over Odin's body.
Machi turned to say something to Hisoka, but to her surprise, he was already gone. She hadn't even felt or heard him leave. He had been sitting there the entire time, not saying a thing about the match, or about the secrets that Shalnark revealed on Jun's personality. Did that mean that he already knew? Machi had so many questions.
Jun cleaned her sword on her haori, Tanaka noticing that her hands were shaking. She sheathed the blade quietly and stepped out of the ring without another word, heading towards the tunnel. She had never been one for celebration after a fight.
"Wonderful fight, Jun-chan," Hisoka praised in the tunnel, reaching his hand out to pat Jun on the head.
Jun shot her arm out, pushing him away. "Don't fuckin' touch me," she warned, and Hisoka saw that even as her face was covered in blood, her eyes were still a sharp black. Even her shove had been with a shaky hand.
Hisoka didn't say anything about her behavior, instead letting her stalk off by herself. She was trying to revert out of her Berserker Queen personality. He decided to give her a little space. He'd have his way with her soon enough.
Jun stumbled into her room, using all her strength to make it to the bathroom. "Make it stop," she whispered, not even bothering to take off her clothes before pulling herself into the shower. Her showerhead was a waterfall type and ice cold water poured over her as she leaned against the wall. Her breathing was ragged and she shut her eyes, letting the water cascade over her, drenching everything, swirls of crimson washing down the drain.
She'd heard the praise from Hisoka and it felt good; resonating throughout her entire body. He enjoyed her fight. But she knew it hadn't been enough. She'd slapped his hand away even though she had wanted him to touch her. Jun didn't want Hisoka to see her like this.
She'd spent what felt like hours in the shower just standing there in the cold until she'd finally mustered up the strength to take real shower. When she emerged in a fresh set a clothes, the sun had already set.
Hisoka was already sitting at the island bar in Jun's kitchen, sipping from bottle of strawberry soda. He smiled upon seeing her, pulling himself up off the stool.
"Jun-chan," Hisoka greeted with a bright smile. He noticed that she'd fixed the hair that Odin had cut off, making it more or less even. He really did prefer her with short hair.
"Hey," she greeted weakly, turning her eyes down.
"Why the long face?" he asked, pouting playfully as he squeezed her cheeks lightly. He could tell that she was back to normal. "You spent the whole day in the shower; I assumed you'd come out happy. Your fight was lovely, Jun-chan. Do you not think so?"
"It was really crappy," she said, frowning. "I didn't even do anything special. I wanted to impress you."
"It's always a treat for me to see your ability," Hisoka told her.
"But it's nothing new," she insisted, looking up at him. "And the wonderful gift you bought me was broken."
"That's fine," Hisoka said, waving her off. "I can just buy you another one. On our date."
"I don't want you to spe—" Jun started, but she seemed to realize what he said and perked up. "Wait, what? A date?"
"An honest fight," Hisoka explained, shrugging nonchalantly as he stalked back into the kitchen. Jun followed like a puppy. "You fought with honesty and grace; it was truly beautiful, Jun-chan. I told you that I would reward you if you impressed me, and you very much did so."
Jun hopped into the air, clapping her hands together, already forgetting about her fight. "You're taking me on a date? When? Tomorrow?"
Hisoka smiled. "Whenever you like—"
"Tomorrow!" she exclaimed, slamming her hands on the counter excitedly.
That was exactly what he thought she would say. "Of course," he agreed.
"I'm so happy," Jun said as though Hisoka couldn't deduce that himself. "Thank you, Hisoka."
He hadn't even taken her out yet and she was already squealing like she'd won the lottery. Hisoka actually found it rather cute. "Don't thank me yet," he told her with a mischievous grin. He snatched her wrist and licked his lips, ready to toss her to bed, but Jun placed her other hand on his chest, smiling sweetly.
"We should wait until tomorrow," she suggested, but it didn't sound like a suggestion. How could he possibly not have a taste of her what with having seen her fight so beautifully downstairs? "Practice some restraint, you know?"
Restraint? Hisoka opened his mouth to argue; he was always fantastic at convincing her otherwise, but Jun seemed to know it was coming.
The smile she flashed him was tainted with the slightest hint of mischief. "And I promise tomorrow will be so much better," she added.
Hisoka chuckled. Her attempt to seduce him out of having sex with her was cute. Cute enough for him to 'practice restraint' for tonight, at least. "Fine," he agreed, picking up his strawberry soda. If he wasn't going to sleep with her tonight, there was no sense he stay. "I will come get you tomorrow morning for our date."
"Ten o'clock?" she asked, walking him out.
Hisoka nodded. "Ten. And be sure to call Machi bright and early to fix those injuries of yours." He offered her one last smile. "Good night, Jun-chan."