In case of investigation by cyber police or any federal government entity, I want to say in my defense that Imagine Dragons, Daft Punk, AJR, Linkin Park, The Weeknd, Michael Jackson, OneRepublic, Queen and Eminen are the best bands and the best singers in the world.
0O0O
Merry christmas filthy animal.
Anyway.
Now that you're reading this and I have your attention like the fanfic slave-monkey that you are, I want to run through a few things with you before you start the chapter.
Look, I've been thinking a lot about what the next arcs of this story could be, before starting with the current arc I almost skipped some canonical things, which I should have remembered before they happened and if I hadn't remembered it in time I would have sucked at the don't do it xD After thinking about it a lot, researching and rereading some parts of the manga, I have come to the conclusions of what the next stories to tell that will be seen throughout this fic would be.
In order not to lengthen any more, I am going to tell you what will be the next arcs that this story will have at once, also reviewing those that we have already seen and are living.
Chapters 1-12.
A Hunter's Life arc.
It focused more on seeing how Kishibe and Hiro fared in their first months and years of living together. In addition, it also showed the meeting of Hiro and Makima and how it created a new story.
Chapters 13-?
Hunters Training Arc
(what we are currently seeing)
Hiro and Makima training and developing their powers and abilities at a young age to enter in the Public Safety Devil Hunters
And here comes the new thing that I have in mind.
Gun Devil Arc Act 1.
Hybrid Experimentation Arc.
Control Devil arc act 1.
Arc of Infernal Love.
Arc of the promising future.
Sentence Devil Arc
Bomb Girl Act 1 arc.
That would be all from me, after that the other arcs of the manga would come, only these two had to be modified:
Bomb Girl act 2 arc.
Arc of the Gun Devil act 2.
And of course.
Control Devil Arc Act 2.
Some of these arcs may be short or long, it will always depend on how much you want such an event to develop.
I don't want to be the captain obvious but I want to say that there will be considerable time skips between each arc, some more than others. For example, by the time the gun devil arc starts, Hiro will be 14 years old, and in the next one he will be 15, and in the next one he will be 17.
Yep, that's how the time skips will be, some more fucked up than others where they will be seen... Nasty things like the hybrid experimentation arc. And no bro, Hiro is not going to be a hybrid. That is reserved for someone else.
But beautiful things will also be seen as in the arc of infernal love.
But also really badass things like the arc of Bomb Girl act 1, I don't even know how Hiro will survive the tremendous massacre XD (which I'm going to cause myself Jajaja), but Reze's appearance will not be on a whim, her early appearance in this story will be necessary, I won't say why, but it will be important to give the arcs of the canon a little more sense.
The way I've written this story is to try to take some canon stuff from the manga and adapt it to my story, while at the same time getting some canon details from the manga out of the way. For example the fact that Kishibe has trained more people in the past, that and other details will not appear here but I will always keep the same storyline until the last canonical arc.
Basically I barely remember some things and I may skip a few things about the manga in the course of writing chapters, if so you guys don't pay attention to it and remember that at the end of the day this is all fanfic and anything can happen.
Ignore those little details like when you go down the street and see a live murder, just ignore it and carry on as if nothing happened.
Do you know what happens to potential witnesses? They are the first to die.
So then don't feel weird if I skipped such bullshit from the manga or what do I know. At such times I would have so many ideas in my mind that it would be inevitable not to skip something by accident.
It is an excuse to tell you that: Fuck me, I barely remember a few things from the manga and I have to read it again to remember and adapt them to my story even when I have skipped a few things xd.
At the end of the day let's say that it's Fujimoto's fault, the bro barely explains some of the history of certain characters and we are forced to create or invent it but in a way that sounds real and that is not so out of the ordinary from the original story of Chainsaw Man.
Maybe that's why this story is considered good?
I don't know but you will see that at the end of this story everything will be very Alternate Universe, much more alternate than it already is by adding an OC character like Hiro.
But I really consider that the whole story stopped following the canon in the moment Hiro hugged Makima.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
0O0O
Chapter 16: We better ask first
Perhaps this was not the most suitable place to sit and have a conversation, actually, it looked very similar to the place from yesterday, the chairs were in fact the same as the ones near Dr. Nishimura's office, the only notable differences it is that to his right there was a large entertainment field protected by a huge glass, and for some reason to his left near the door a rotary phone was attached to the wall.
Something strange, he hadn't noticed it before the first time he came here, maybe it was because when you enter you don't notice it until you turn around. His mind tends to be very strange on rare occasions, when he tries to concentrate on something his mind can wander into absurd or insignificant things.
For example, why were the walls painted that color? Why was that color chosen in the first place? Who liked that color? What was the need to choose that color among many others? In the end, did people regret choosing that color? Would they tear down that wall just to remove that color?
They were such silly and insignificant questions that ordinary people wouldn't ask and didn't have to have an answer.
But he did them, only when he was bored, it happened often at school when a class was not to his liking or was very boring.
But now? Why wasn't it working? Maybe thinking about something else was better so all the awkwardness and embarrassment wouldn't get to him. For once Hiro wanted to be intentionally distracted by something instead of having his mind do it for him, all this so he wouldn't feel so embarrassed or look like a fool while trying not to be
But… Damn, being so close to her made him feel so nervous, especially now that she's hugging him. So it was impossible to be distracted by anything other than her.
But in the end, it was he who asked for it.
At what point had he started trying to be socially active? Before all this he would never have tried.
It was probably because of this new life, which led him to a series of unusual events that ultimately entangled him in this situation that, partly, forced him to be the friend a somewhat strange girl.
No, who was he trying to fool? She was very strange.
Hiro didn't know that much about physical strength, but he was pretty sure no one her age could squeeze as hard as she was doing with her poor body. He wasn't exaggerating as he could feel that at any moment one of his bones would make a strange noise that he was pretty sure they shouldn't.
The calcium in his body would not help him survive Makima's arms.
"Hey wait, not that strong!" Hiro tried to wriggle out of her grasp but again found himself chained in a strong stone grip that kept him there for as long as she felt necessary.
It was nice at first, but when she began to squeeze harder and when he began to feel that the air was insufficient, he found it necessary to escape from this prison.
A nice strong prison, what an irony.
Feeling a bit considerate, Makima loosened her grip a bit to stop Hiro from complaining, if she was realistic she really wasn't putting much force into her embrace, perhaps Hiro wasn't resilient enough? She would have to check it out at some point. But it's not like she could make exact calculations since they had never stopped to measure his physical strength.
"So it was your scent that was being blocked" it wasn't a question, more of a statement and that's why she wasn't surprised when she saw the boy's confused look, it was clear now more than yesterday that he knew so little about the world around him , or that hunter was so useless that he didn't bother to teach him anything.
Self-learning should be a technique that he should master if there was no one else to teach him, or maybe she could try to teach him some things that she had learned in these three years. Though the last time she tried to do that, things ended inappropriately.
His scent felt more familiar now that they were close but she still felt that block that confused her, it was as if the scent was more uncomfortable to feel.
It was disgusting.
"What are you talking about?" Hiro asked taking a deep breath now that he wasn't being crushed so hard, but still feeling uncomfortable as she kept holding him.
Makima closed her eyes as she rested her head on his neck, it was warm and comfortable "I mean your scent was being blocked, barely actually"
blocked? Smell? Now that he thought about it, since yesterday Makima had been acting weird, well actually she already seemed like that, but it was much weirder when it came to smelling things. He remembered the way she approached his neck and gave him a big breath as if it were an aromatic candle or something, it was strange and uncomfortable but at the same time very curious, what was wrong with her smelling that way things and people?
"I don't know what you're talking about but…" Hiro finally felt like he could get some space as he broke free of the hug, sitting properly in the chair with Makima staring at him "Do you have a thing for strong smells? I mean , from the things that happened yesterday I'm starting to believe that your nose can detect things that I can't. Am I correct?"
Makima rested her arm on the back of the chair without taking her eyes off the boy "Yes" she answered calmly.
"..."
"..."
Silence.
There was nothing but silence after that word, she had a blank stare as they looked at each other and Hiro felt like an idiot when he realized a little late that she wouldn't give him an answer.
He felt self-conscious when she didn't explain anything else and just stared at him in silence, as if she just wanted to leave it up to his interpretation.
"Can I know why?" this was a good time to find out more about her, as well as having incredible strength and apparently an uncanny sense of smell.
She finally smiled "It depends"
"About what?"
"How much do you want to know" even though they could hold a conversation and knowing that they were about to get to know each other better than yesterday, Makima was not willing to tell him everything. She felt it was better this way.
Hiro thought about it for a few seconds, Kishibe had told him a few times that it's better not to delve into other people's knowledge, especially when that knowledge could be detrimental to your mental health. Your head could explode or you could find yourself more confused than before. This was partly how the hunter's mind was shattered over time.
Well this could be a good way to start for Hiro, doing some research and knowing how Kishibe and Quanxi were on a daily basis, it seemed that there was no devil hunter who wasn't crazy or with a corrupted mind.
And Kishibe had told him that to survive in this kind of work he needed to be crazy or with a loose screw, he didn't quite define being crazy in what way but maybe that was something he had to figure out on his own.
Kishibe wanted him not to save people and let them die, so he could only focus on killing demons in order to survive as a hunter? What a bad joke, that was how Hiro had understood it and he still didn't like the idea. Speaking of which, Hiro still hadn't figured out why Kishibe had let him do this when he didn't want to train him at first, had he seen something in him? But according to him, his mind was still intact and not so corrupted, what could it have been then? The change in attitude was very rare.
Well, he would find out another day, right now he had to figure out how to corrupt his mind, or in other words, how to go crazy.
What better way to start by hearing some things about Makima.
Yes, he was literally studying to go crazy.
"How about I ask the questions and you try to answer them?"
"Hmmm" Makima thought about it for a second, as long as they were within her reach she could answer his questions, though if they were too much for her she would try to avoid them.
"Sure, but on one condition" she raised her hand and drew five fingers "You can only ask me 5 questions, okay?" She saw how he nodded in agreement, she smiled being happy that he accepted her conditions.
Hopefully he wouldn't get any further today.
Hiro sighed and thought about what his questions could be, he was limited and they would have to be ones that would remove him from all doubt. Now that he thought about it, it was very strange in the way they were meeting each other, normally people become friends by eventually meeting through one or many events that connect them.
An example was his friend Kenji at school, 3 years ago they began to get to know each other better and he always accompanies Hiro at school lunches. The way they met was normal, but the way he met Makima was not normal, so it shouldn't be so strange that the way they are knowing more about each other is by directly asking.
It was like when you are at a bus stop waiting with another unknown person and you directly ask them what they are doing tomorrow or what their favorite color is, as if they were friends.
He was going to try to get to know her better anyway. After all, he already told him that she was his friend, it seemed like there was no going back, it's not like he wanted to do it in the first place.
Well... Maybe a little.
"How many times have you come to this place? I say that because you seem to know this place better than I do" Hiro had literally only come here once and he was already lost, well they lost him rather. Someone who knows this place better and doesn't seem afraid of it like Makima probably knew a lot of things.
"I've lived here for 3 years, I really can't remember anything before I was 7 years old so most of my memories are based on this place. That's why I know it like the back of my hand" Makima replied calmly, in fact the the oldest memory she had (in this life) was of Dr. Nishimura giving her a name, beyond that, everything was very blurry.
And it was partly a lie, she didn't fully know this place, more precisely what was below it, the S level was proof that she still hadn't seen everything in this life, why did she lie to him? Some kind of feeling of superiority arose in her which in the end turned into wanting to impress him even a little.
Hiro was surprised by her response "Do you live here!? I thought you only came once in a while!" it was too much for him to be here for an hour, he didn't want to imagine what it was like to live in a place like this.
There was no TV.
Makima shook her head, amused by his reaction "No, doctor Nishimura has been taking care of me since then, studying me and doing tests of all kinds"
Hiro raised an eyebrow "Wait what? I don't get it, she's like your caretaker?"
"Does that count as another question?" she asked slyly watching the boy nearly fall out of his chair. She smiled amused.
"N-no, stay in the first question, I want my 5 questions to be better"
The girl shrugged her shoulders "If you say so, but I couldn't tell you, I've never had what you call a 'caregiver', the doctor is more like a teacher"
Makima spoke sincerely, she did not know how people who were in charge of other people acted, she knew that they cared for others, she was able to verify it yesterday when the hunter took Hiro protectively even when she did not want him to, in Instead, Yuna treated her as if she were her student or test item. It could be said that her relationship was only reduced to that of teacher and student, and sometimes test subject.
Hiro already understood everything "So she's the one who taught you everything about devils?"
Makima nodded "Yes, she taught me everything I know so far, I've also learned many things from the books in the library; but if you want to expand on a topic you can ask her directly, she knows many things"
"I see" the explanation made Hiro have a new perspective of doctor Nishimura, she really seemed to be a demolosil expert, or was demoloti? He didn't remember what the word was like.
(A/N: it's demology, asshole)
"Okay, my second question..." Hiro thought it again as he looked into Makima's eyes, that gave him an idea but he would save it for last. The fourth and fifth questions were special, at least to him.
"Makima is your first name, or do you have another?" Normally, the people he knew usually have at least one first and last name, except for the hunters he knew. He honestly had no idea why they all introduced themselves with only one name.
He was surprised when she shook her head "No, Makima is the only name I have, I don't have a last name either if you wonder"
"Oh" Hiro didn't know what else to say about that, Makima didn't seem to make the list of people who used only one name because they wanted to, she just didn't have a choice.
"And before you ask, Dr. Yuna was the one who gave me my name, before that I don't think I had any" Makima was beginning to predict Hiro's questions, it wasn't that difficult seeing how he seemed to think for a few seconds .
Hiro gave her a look before thinking of another question, then remembered how he had started all of this.
"My third question, what's with your nose? Can you smell things that others can't?" It really was one of the questions that interested him the most due to the simple fact that she had been acting strange with the whole smell thing.
Makima looked at him carefully with her golden eyes, he almost felt that she could see through him "I thought I answered that question a moment ago"
Hiro nodded "You did, but you didn't go as far into that topic"
"Do you want to know that much?" she raised an eyebrow.
Hiro looked both ways "Emm, yeah? I mean after you smelled my neck yesterday and today you say my scent was blocked, I think I have a right to know what's up with you and the smells"
Makima knew that at this point it was useless to try to hide that fact, perhaps she should have been a little more careful with how she acted in front of him but the mistake was already made anyway. He was interested in knowing where she would take him if she answered him, would it fill any doubt in his mind? Would he connect one thing with another?
A small fear was rising in her and she knew very well what it was due to.
If he wanted to know about it so much then she would try to answer him, it was herself who aroused his curiosity with her nose so it was better to end this in the most natural way possible without raising suspicions "It's not that I can't smell things that others can't" Hiro paid a lot of attention to it "It's just that unlike many people, my nose is more precise or sharp, that's why I can smell many things with more precision"
"I knew it!" Hiro cheered, raising a fist in the air, as if he had just won an imaginary battle.
Makima was confused "I don't understand, if you already knew why did you ask?"
Hiro lowered his fist slowly "Eeeh, I didn't mean that literally, I mean, I just had a little suspicion that your nose was different from the others and I just needed you to confirm it for me"
"I see" she leaned back in the chair, now looking at the ceiling, she seemed thoughtful.
Hiro was beginning to consider that maybe Makima would take some things quite literally, then what she said to him earlier left him thinking a bit. If she lived here, how much did she know about the outside world? To all of this, with each question he asked of her and with each new answer he received from her, the main points he had about her became more and more connected.
That she lives here, that her nose is different from the others, that she has a lot of strength, the color of her eyes and the shape of her pupils, the way she appears out of nowhere, that she knows so much about devils...
There seemed to be no more doubts, she was what for a long time was synonymous with his nightmares, a devil.
But just in case, and to make sure there were no more yellow-eyed people in the world, he would ask her directly.
It was time to get this doubt out of his head, since yesterday she had been making him curious, after all the words she said to him he couldn't resist learning more about her, if possible he would try to help her in whatever way, as long as it was within her limits, but to be honest he with his abilities couldn't do something very big for her to fix her problems.
Would sitting here chatting be enough for her? He hoped so, it didn't seem out of place and the conversation was going very well for now, Hiro felt like he was doing a good job being friends with her even though he was just asking random questions about her.
He didn't have much experience socializing, he literally only had one friend in school, but he would try to do his best for Makima even if neither of them had much experience socializing with people.
Therefore, if he wanted to be a better friend to her and help her, he would have to find out once and for all if she was a devil or not.
"I have a fourth question," Hiro announced as if it wasn't obvious. He was smiling, he felt excited to know the truth, despite the fact that it could be a truth that would scare him terribly in part, and that would clear up his doubts on the other.
The irony was making him smile, the devils always caused him fear and a nightmare, one of them was actually to blame for him being an orphan.
But if Makima was a devil he wouldn't be scare at all. He didn't know why, and it made him laugh and fear not knowing the answer to a question that for many should be easy to answer.
Perhaps he had already become so accustomed to his presence and company that he was no longer terrified. Except for when she appeared to him out of nowhere, that was still disturbing.
He imagined what it would feel like if they did that to him in a dark alley.
He would definitely give him a heart attack.
Makima smiled back, she liked to see him smile "I know, I'm counting them, don't worry"
Hiro took a breath before asking the big question.
Makima was listening intently, just concentrating on him and whatever he was going to ask her, she would answer any question he asked. The mere presence of him pleased her and she couldn't help but think that this time she was doing a good job making him have a good time.
It was quite a contrast to the way they hung out together yesterday, he seemed out of place and she was the one that she always wanted to keep going showing him what she liked to do, she only took as a reference what she saw in the movies. Now he was the one who wanted to go ahead with questions.
Last time she had doubts about her but now he seemed to have fun in his way, that made her happy, seeing him smile or seeing his face become vulnerable for a few seconds was a delight for her sight .
If asking things was one of his ways of entertaining himself, she would help him, in return she hoped that he would also answer the questions she had about him, yesterday they hadn't managed to socialize much, so she couldn't wait to find out more about Hiro.
"What else do you want to know?" she asked, her easy smile not faltering as she watched him, adjusting her ear so as not to miss a second of her voice and leaning a little closer. She liked everything about him and she wanted to have a better view of everything; His eyes, his hair, his voice, everything about him seemed to entertain her.
Even though she didn't know why she had started to notice those things, she would continue to do so because she liked.
He moved closer to her, ready to ask another question.
If there was no one else there for him, she would dissolve him of all his doubts, no matter what they were.
"You are a devil? "
'Fuck'
0O0O
"No, no, no, no and no"
"We haven't even said anything"
"This letter already says it all, go somewhere else"
"There is no other place around, the letter specifies that you have to go to the closest training center, and to my knowledge, this is the closest to my residence"
"You can always go live in another house, or in another state... Or in another country"
"Fuck you"
"Fuck you to"
"Dr. Nishimura" Quanxi intervened between Kishibe and Yuna "With no respect..." Yuna looked at her as if she wanted to hit her.
"Tch, bitch" Yuna growled, her patience was wearing thin, the letter in her hand was wrinkling.
"...We need you to accept the boy here to train him"
Yuna looked between the two of them with a questioning look, not knowing what she could be behind all this show but being very curious how two of the best hunters in Japan had come to this.
The context was very necessary.
"What's with you and that kid? What makes him so special?"
"I can tell you that, if you let me" Kishibe was the one who spoke, Yuna needed to hear part of the story so that she could accept Hiro, maybe it would work.
Yuna looked at him with a stern expression "Of course it would be you, you were the one who brought him yesterday to cause a mess"
"Define mess" Kishibe almost lost his mind yesterday just like Yuna, but he had to take any opportunity to annoy her.
Yuna's expression didn't change "Like approaching the girl I was keeping in secret" she said "If you're going to breed dogs, you better put them on a leash"
Kishibe knew that he should be a little stricter with Hiro when it came to some of the rules, but Yuna wasn't going to tell him what to do.
A guttural chuckle escaped the hunter's throat. "Maybe you're right, but in his defense, what kind of idiot lets one of the strongest devils in the world roam around unguarded? It's like letting a hungry lion loose in the city"
"And what kind of jerk brings children to these kinds of places?"
"That's a stupid question coming from you" Quanxi scoffed at how stupid her comment sounded.
Yuna growled "I'm referring to the fact that even though you knew the control devil was here, you decided to bring a child here. Also, I ordered Makima to hide, but before she did she managed to capture the two of you, the child apparently captive"
Kishibe and Quanxi shared a look before looking back at the doctor "In what way?" asked the hunter.
Yuna sighed, once again she had found herself entangled in this kind of thing that only took her time and patience "She had never seen a boy her age in person, only in movies, I want to believe that she just got excited and acted recklessly causing this disaster"
Although she didn't like the boy, Yuna would admit that most of the blame was borne by the young Makima, her recklessness nearly ruined this project.
"I think it's your fault" Quanxi suggested cheekily.
Yuna frowned giving her attention to the one-eyed hunter "What are you hinting at?" Kishibe also looked at her wanting to know where she would go with all this.
"I'm suggesting that thanks to you that girl represses several of her emotions, and when the time comes they just flare up in a way that she can't control and just leaves her confused.""
Yuna looked at her confused "How can you know something like that? You have no evidence to refute something like that" Yuna couldn't believe that, for the last three years she had taught Makima that social ties didn't work, and she had understood.
But then... Why didn't she obey this time? Hadn't she fully understood? Had she failed to educate her better?
But how? If the project to study and train the control devil was similar to the same ones Kishibe and Quanxi underwent. From her point of view nothing was going wrong.
Until that boy came.
Quanxi had a sly smile as she looked at the principal "Oh, she didn't tell you?"
Yuna narrowed her eyes "Tell me what?"
"It turns out that my nephew-"
"For the record, he's not her real nephew, the idea just went to his head" Kishibe corrected before receiving an elbow in the ribs from her partner. A small crack was heard in the room, probably some Kishibe bone.
Quanxi composed herself before continuing "As I was saying. It turns out that my nephew and the girl shared a nice moment in the library" she saw how Nishimura's eyes widened slowly in surprise "To be more precise, they hugged each other" she finished, as if she were proud of what Hiro did.
Yuna was speechless "T-that... It can't be" she didn't know what was surprising her more, the idea that that little interaction was much more than just small talk, or the fact that Makima had hidden something from her.
A simple secret like hiding a hug was meaningless.
But knowing what Makima stood for...
That was not a good sign.
"But let's not talk about it right now. Right now we just want you to let Hiro train here. It would also be better if Kishibe tells you how he found him."
Yuna tried to compose herself and reluctantly gave her full attention to Kishibe.
Kishibe took out his typical gray hip flask from one of the pockets of his jacket "Three years ago I was commissioned to kill a devil in a residential area a bit far from the city" Kishibe walked around the room, the doctor's calculating eyes and Quanxi's disinterested people looked at him carefully.
"I found the same scene as every day, people killed and dismembered by a devil. When I finished the job I found the boy passed out in a shed on the stairs, incredibly he was still alive thanks to his parents who hid him from the devil, unfortunately the boy's parents were not as lucky" he drank from his flask again, looking up at the huge ceiling that loomed over them as he continued his tale.
"Consequently, the child was orphaned, I took the trouble to investigate if he had more relatives to take care of him, I asked the agency if they could investigate more about the child's parents, but the results were not useful at all; Turns out his poor wretch of a father was also an orphan, so his biological grandparents are a mystery, or they died or abandoned his father when he was a child, it doesn't really matter."
"Are you going to finish yet?" Yuna asked as she looked at her nails but was somewhat interested in the story.
Kishibe frowned "I listened to your boring lectures for several years, listen to mine now"
Yuna sighed tiredly, she had only gone downstairs to do her work and now they had her here listening to something that she shouldn't have been interested in in the first place, but these two were forcing her to listen.
"As I was saying" Kishibe drank again, but this time in small amounts, he needed to keep his mind as stabilized as possible this day "The same case for his mother, the difference is that she did have parents, but they died in a devil attack when she was 15"
"What's next? The child's grandparents have also been orphans?" Yuna scoffed, but she knew very well that this happened very often in Japan, the mortality rates in previous years were very high and rose to alarming numbers that it was almost impossible to control all of them. Several people lost their families every day, several children were orphaned, several women became widows, men lost the love of their lives, etc.
It was a massacre no matter where she saw it, Japan was too dangerous, luckily today it has managed to reduce death rates by devils to less alarming numbers, but it still wasn't enough.
But for that they needed to improve the human hunter. They had to do it before another nation beat them to it.
Kishibe shrugged "No idea, like I said that's not really important; what I'm getting at is that with no other choice, I had to send him to an orphanage, before that I told him everything about hunters and devils"
Yuna raised an eyebrow "Why the hell did you do that? That information is not easy to process"
"I thought it convenient, I thought it was a good idea for the child to know how his parents died"
"Did you tell him about the contracts and everything else?"
"Yes"
Yuna didn't make sense of it "Why did you tell him all that? You could have easily told him that his parents died from a devil instead of going too far"
Kishibe smiled "Maybe, or perhabs..."
"Or perhabs you just wanted to show him another way of life, right? Convince him not to go to an orphanage and stay with you" Yuna crossed her arms, understanding everything at once.
Quanxi also looked at Kishibe being slightly interested in the conclusion Yuna came to.
Kishibe ran a finger over the mouthpiece of the flask "Well, it worked better than I expected. But in the end the boy had the right to choose whether he wanted to stay in the orphanage or live with me. In the end, he chose what seemed best convenient to him." "
"Convenient? What's convenient about living with a hunter, especially one like you?"
Kishibe's smile grew bigger "Guess"
The doctor looked at Kishibe's eyes, trying to discern what was beyond all this story, after a few seconds she came to an idea, she was a bit surprised.
"Is the boy's dream to be a hunter?"
Kishibe drank from her flask while with her other hand he pointed a finger at Yuna "Bingo" he said between pauses.
Yuna had a blank look as she looked at Kishibe "Did he ask you to train him?"
"Yes"
"Let me see if I understand" Yuna put two fingers on her chin as she analyzed the whole situation and tied some threads together "You told so many stories to the boy to the point where you made him reconsider his own life, then from one moment to the next his dream is become a public safety hunter, you adopted him and now he lives with you and wants you to train him"
Kishibe shrugged. "Yeah that's one way of saying it."
Yuna rolled her eyes 'And they say the control devil is manipulative'
"Does the boy know what he wants to get into?" Yuna honestly couldn't help but think that the boy's dream sounded very stupid, wanting to be a devil hunter was a very silly dream if seen from a civilian point of view, knowing that most in this profession die young it would make them reconsider the idea more than once.
But she felt that there was much more to what was being said here, not only because she felt that Kishibe and Quanxi were hiding something, but because she had yet to hear the boy's point of view.
Kishibe finally put his flask away, in fact he finished all of it so he didn't have any more alcohol for the day "He knows, I told him myself that his dream was stupid, but he still wanted to go ahead"
"That's why we come here. The government is willing to accept the boy without having to go through the previous exams, we will be his coaches, you don't need to do almost anything, you just have to accept the boy and everything will be over" Quanxi said, feeling that this in sometime it would end. Or maybe not.
Yuna looked at the two hunters who in turn were looking at her expectantly, then she looked again at the letter that was in her hand; She knew that they could easily order her to be forced to accept this re-entry application, but they hadn't tried yet and brought the subject up, they seemed to want to convince her somehow before going any further from her. The influence that Kishibe and Quanxi had was not great but the government owed them some favors, doing the dirty work had its benefits.
Even though she already knew the whole story, even though they only wanted the facilities, she wasn't willing to accept the child, she didn't need a distraction and she knew Makima didn't either. It was better this way, if she wanted her project to succeed, then she just needed Makima's full dedication, but that kid… She had an intuition that he would only bring trouble.
It is for that reason that she always told her that social ties would only harm her.
Yuna tossed the letter to Quanxi with her fingers quickly, the younger woman caught it with the same speed "Take my advice one more time and go somewhere else. I've had enough of you for 10 years, I don't need to see you here for another ten"
The doctor turned and headed for the exit door. She wasn't sure what Makima would be doing right now, she just hoped that she wouldn't do anything so harmful, they had already taken a lot of her precious time and God willing they didn't take more of her. If she wanted to finish the annual report today then she should start right now, hopefully she would finish it before dinner time.
In the worst case, something else would happen.
Her hand was already on the doorknob, but before she could turn it, what Kishibe said caught her attention once more.
"The boy is not mentally good...Doctor" she heard his comment, clear as clouds.
Quanxi's bare eye widened a little at the sudden revelation, for her it was not a surprise, but what surprised her was that her partner was willing to share that fact with Yuna, apparently now he was willing to go very far. But still, almost everything was going as she planned.
She suppressed the urge to smile, she needed to keep up appearances for now.
Yuna didn't turn around, but she still had one ear on the conversation "Oh, in what way?" she questioned "In itself wanting to be a public hunter is already a reason for insanity, what else could there be in the boy's mind to consider him fit for the job?"
She couldn't deny that now she was more interested than before, a ten-year-old boy showing the most important quality to be part of the hunting corps? For her it was not something strange, she had seen it before in the past and the proof was right behind her, but it was still fascinating, at least for her.
"Well how to say it?" Kishibe began to think about how he could best resolve this situation, if he was honest with himself at worst he didn't want to go to these extremes, but damn it, Yuna was a stubborn son of a bitch.
"I think the best thing would be if the kid explained it to you"
This time, Yuna did turn to look at him, her face disagreeing "Can't one of you say it?"
"It sounds better if you hear it directly from him. Look, we don't like you, and we know very well you don't like us either, but regardless you have to accept this request, because we are very sure that the boy will not disappoint you" Kishibe said with as much confidence as possible, his gaze showing no sign of lying.
He clenched his fist undecided if saying the following would be a good idea, but he had to give it his all here if he wanted the stupid kid to fulfill his damned suicide wish "Besides, if you ever had hope for us, I think you'll find it again in that kid."
Kishibe knew he was risking Hiro too much pain in the future, but that was what he and Quanxi were for. He can be a shitty person at times, he may not necessarily care about the greater good, but he would do what's best for the kid, for once in his sad life he would do something good, he would do anything to turn the tables on life of the child so that he does not end up like him.
Yuna thought about it for a good minute, they really were doing whatever it takes to convince her without using influence from above. She had known these children for many years and knew their every aptitude, after all, it was she who helped shape them. So this case was... Very peculiar, the two strongest hunters she knew were trying to convince her to accept the damn child, what was the need to go this far? Was the boy really that special?
That was something she had to judge for herself.
Yuna didn't say anything as she headed to the other side of the training ground, in one of the corners attached to the wall was a rotary phone, she turned the dial a few times until she dialed a desired number.
The doctor looked at both hunters blankly as she listened to the dial tone, waiting for the other line to pick up.
0O0O
Hiro sometimes had good ideas, especially when he wanted to invent something new to cook, his food ended up being weird but edible after all.
At school when he had some kind of school project with Kenji he was always looking for some good idea to add to the research, they used to get a 9, strangely enough they didn't get a 10, but he knew that his idea had finally worked.
The idea of being a hunter for a long time was a good idea, and only yesterday he had doubted whether he should continue to be one, but it was only for a moment that it was later replaced with his ideals of wanting to do some kind of good for society, contribute his grain of sand should be enough, if the time came he couldn't do much, that was fine, you can't save everyone after all.
He was not God.
But if he could save at least 1 person in the day, he could sleep easy. So this idea was still good from his point of view.
In general, his life was filled mostly with good ideas.
Only now they would have to add one more thing to his list of bad ideas.
Because apparently it was a bad idea to ask Makima if she was a devil.
Makima's eyes widened in surprise, it was a question she didn't want to answer and she wasn't prepared for. Her heart raced with anxiety, a horrible and not at all pleasant anxiety. It was something new that she had experienced recently but she still hadn't gotten used to it.
His body began to shake a little, her eyes did not stop looking at Hiro with fear, in an attempt to calm down her hands squeezed the free space that was in the seat, squeezing it so hard that you could hear how the metal was dented by the force.
Fear, fear of being found out, that he would know her true nature, that fear had arisen yesterday as just one possibility among many, or as a thought of hers that had very little chance of happening, but against all odds, the world had decided that fate for some reason.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Why?
Why did he have to ask that damn question?
Everything was fine until he asked that out of the blue, it didn't help much to hide the answer either when she started to show signs of fear, her face and her eyes were ahead of her along with him slightly trembling in her arms.
"H-hey, are you alright?" Despite the fact that she was still looking at him, she barely heard his voice, her mind was more occupied with how to solve this matter and at the same time ordering herself to remain calm, because if she showed how dsiturb she was, she was betraying herself.
The world tends to see devils with contempt, not for nothing institutions were created to eliminate them as many times as necessary. Nobody intentionally caused the birth of a devil, everyone came into the world to cause chaos and destruction, so the victims were innocent who suffered at the hands of cruel beings who unintentionally created them.
Everyone hates devils for many reasons, all of which were diverse, and not all of them share the same intent. But the contempt and rejection were still there, the hatred and the desire for them to be destroyed was inside every human being who hated the beings of darkness.
That's why she was afraid.
She thought that she would never care about anyone else's opinion that she knew that she was a devil, she would just ignore it and carry on with her work.
But now... So many people in the world, so many men, so many women and children...
But the only opinion that mattered to her right now was Hiro's.
What if she told him the truth?
Would he hate her?
Would he reject her?
Would he stop being her friend?
She didn't know which possibility scared her more, but neither sounded pleasant.
Makima cursed herself, she hadn't been careful enough and now she was paying the consequences. She had first shown herself to be silent, crawling to his side on more than one occasion, confirming that her sense of smell was different from the others, the strength she showed him... her eyes didn't help either to hide her true appearance. Hiro had been pulling the strings together all this time and she hadn't noticed, she realized too late...
Her first friendship and she had already ruined it.
"Makima... Are you feeling alright?" Hiro had now regretted asking that question, he didn't know if he caught her off guard or who knows, but from his point of view she didn't seem okay. She was trembling and her big yellow eyes wouldn't stop looking at him with what seemed to be fear, her breathing was also getting a little faster.
She was nervous, that question seemed to affect her and Hiro couldn't help but feel guilty. If he had known that he would make her feel this way then he might as well have made up another question.
But the longer she was silent, and the more signs of fear she showed, the more he knew his guess was correct.
But why was she afraid? he didn't understand it, a few moments ago Makima showed calm and she seemed happy being by his side just like yesterday. And now she gave a big drastic change, the answer was already in the air but now he herself didn't care.
He needed to calm her down before something bad happened.
"Hey, hey, it's okay" Hiro spoke raising her hands to try to calm her down "Y-you don't have to answer if you don't want to"
Before he could say anything else, she looked away and Hiro felt even more guilty, she seemed scared of him, that didn't make him feel good.
Makima's mind was thinking about how to explain all this, she could afford to see what could happen. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, her emotions weren't working right now and she needed to pull herself together.
After a few seconds she calmed down a bit, her body stopped shaking but the fear still persisted inside her. She had to face it now, she had to be brave, she had to risk knowing his answer, what he would think of her now.
She had to know if she could still be by his side after this. If everything worked out and he didn't hate her, everything could stay the same, or even better in the long run.
In the worst case...
She would really miss his hugs, more than anything.
Makima looked at her shoes, turned her feet from left to right trying to think of a way to start responding to him, how to explain that in the first place? Should she tell him her origin? She looked directly at the boy again, so intensely that she could almost see his soul, his golden eyes denoting any feeling of friendship that she had shown him before. Just serious.
Although that could only be seen by Hiro who shuddered at her gaze, out of pure instinct he moved a little away from her, her gaze was scaring him. It was the same as yesterday before they hugged, where he realized that it was easier to see her face when she smiled at him and not when she looked at him that way. Or was it hostility?
No, it didn't seem like that, she seemed to have calmed down but she still showed no sign of wanting to respond.
If he was realistic, there was no need to do it anymore, he had come up with the idea himself yesterday, and Kishibe had also given him the answer yesterday. So there was no need to hide that he didn't know the answer.
"Makima... Did you-" Hiro was interrupted when suddenly and without warning the phone on the wall began to ring, its sound was so loud that it scared the boy, something that was not expected at a time like this could be scary
Makima didn't seem perturbed, in fact it was only when the phone rang for the second time that she stopped looking at Hiro and fixed her gaze on the phone waiting for an answer. She herself got up to answer.
She reached up a little to take the phone in her hands, put it to her ear as she listened to the voice on the other end.
"Hello?" was her question, Hiro couldn't hear anything from her seat, there was a moment of silence where Makima said nothing, after a few seconds she looked at him still holding the phone, her gaze was indecipherable.
"It's for you" she took the phone from her and offered it to Hiro, the boy seemed very confused, who wouldn't be when she receives a call from an anonymous phone that wasn't even at his house?
This life was strange and always bordered on the disturbing.
Somewhat hesitantly, Hiro got up from his seat and walked over to Makima, took the phone from her hands and not a second had passed and she had moved away from him to sit back in her chair. That was strange, she seemed to want to avoid him, that didn't make him feel good for some reason.
Hiro put the phone to his ear "H-hello?" he asked nervously and not knowing what to expect.
"If you want me to accept your entry into this place, come talk to me here in the training ground right now" that was doctor Nishimura's voice, Hiro recognized, where was she calling him from? Were there phones inside the training ground?
Before he could say anything she hung up the call, leaving the boy even more confused by how sudden it was, he thought Kishibe and Quanxi would take care of everything.
Hiro reached over to put the phone in her place, when he finally did he turned to try and look at Makima to see if he could still resolve his earlier issue.
"Makima I-" he tried to say something but his words died instantly as he was met.
Makima had disappeared.
0O0O
Chapter premiered on wattpad on 12/24/2022
Notes: fucking long chapter but to hell it was going to be even longer.
Forgive me guys, there was no chapter for November xd but at least I released it before the end of the year.
I had a lot of problems with this chapter, I never found the time or the moment to write, mainly because I spent almost all of November planning my graduation with my classmates, in the end the teachers and our parents chose for us hahaha.
But leaving that aside, I hope you liked this chapter, I really gave my all to make it look good and there was no loose end there.
This chapter was planned to be longer, it's around 8870 words and half of that went into the conversation between Hiro and Makima.
That was the hardest thing for me to write, trying to imagine many situations and conversations between them turned out to be more difficult than I expected, but I want to believe that the more interactions they have and the more they know each other, the easier it will be for me to write for them, I hope yes.
I want to ask you a question
Have you noticed that the Kishibe in this story is more expressive with his emotions? Like that time he got mad at Quanxi or the time he yelled at Hiro. I really imagine that Kishibe's first years as a hunter he enjoyed a better mental stability, not perfect, but not so screwed up.
When Kishibe is shown to us for the first time, you notice that the guy doesn't show any kind of feelings, to the point of being very expressionless when he beats Denji and Power.
And well, according to those cartoons that Fujimoto launched, it is shown that Kishibe when he was young was much more expressive and did not look as depressed as when he was in 1997.
So I'm not making Kishibe very OC, it's just that in this story he hasn't gotten to the point where almost anything counts for him and all he wants is to rest from all the crap in the world.
The Kishibe of this story goes straight down that path but we won't see him that way until Hiro's adulthood or when the canon arcs start. Ultimately, due to many events, Kishibe's mind will become more shitty as the plot progresses, but for now he will show the few feelings he has left.
Not for nothing does he show every time that it is difficult for him to show empathy towards Hiro, for something sometimes he shows himself to be disinterested.
And I don't know about you but I think the hell out of him was taking more than meat to pay for his part of the contract, I can use that to my advantage to make some sense of his mental decline. I don't know, tell me what you think.
I appreciate your comments, everyone's, they always inspire me to write and believe it or not, I do read them all.
See you guys, because there are no women here xd.
Or if? 0_0
I want to wish you Merry Christmas and I hope you have a happy time with your family. Leave all the comments you want, I will gladly answer your questions.
See you.
Notes 6/1/2023: And finally I'm on a par in fanfiction with the chapters, yep, in fact there is still no chapter 17 or on wattpad, I'm still doing it and I'm going to try to release it the same day here but I don't promise anything since I always get very tired after to publish a chapter. I mean, look at me now, it's 5am and I haven't slept at all editing this chapter, fuck me, whatever, I hope you guys loved this chapter. We'll see you soon, I promise.