ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ- ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [OLD]

66- 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘹 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺

"Please head to Arena A on the 57th floor." The announcer continued.

"Okay." Killua frowned, seemingly having no opinion about the situation.

"Osu! I am honored to face you." Zushi did his weird, but cute little half-bow.

"I bet. Well, you can't win 'em all." Killua smiled and I could hear the cockiness in his voice. "Better luck next time, right?"

"That's mean." I nudged the albino's arm with my elbow. "He's way younger than us, remember? You've gotta be a bit uhm..." I waited for a moment, trying to think of the word. "Gentler!"

"Why? The way I see it, an opponent's and opponent, no matter what age." He frowned.

"Doesn't mean you've gotta be mean about it." I huffed.

"Yeah, whatever." He frowned. "Catch you guys later." He waved, walking out of the room, Zushi following after him.

"Yeah, best of luck to both of you guys!" Gon called out.

"Don't be a dick, Killua! Love you!" I shouted, giggling as I watched him tense up out of embarrassment.

"I-I'll wait on the floor above. Bye!" He rushed out the door, his face titled towards the ground.

"'Kay!" Gon smiled.

"Hey, wait for me!" Zushi raced after him.

"He didn't have to act like it was such a done deal." Gon grinned, his eyebrows upturned.

"Yeah, but that's Killua. When he finds an opportunity, he's taking it, no matter who he has to fight." I laughed. "He can be really ridiculous, but he's fun. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Mhm! Oh, I almost forgot. Thank you!" He added.

"Thank you? For what?" I asked.

"Well, when we were getting Killua back, you were there for me! You were a support system for me. And I really appreciated it! So, thank you." He explained.

"You don't have to thank me for that. I'm your friend, that's what I'm 'sposed to do." I chuckled. "And honestly, I didn't have all that much of a support system when I was younger, so it makes me feel a bit better when I help someone else with stuff like that. So, if you ever need anything from me, just ask."

"That's sweet of you. I'm here for you too!" He giggled.

~~

After our matches, we waited by the elevator, talking about whatever would come to mind as we waited for Killua.

"But, frogs should definitely be wearing clothes, right? It'd be cute!" I laughed.

"Yeah, you're right! Also, they could probably be noticed by humans more, so they wouldn't be stepped on or anything." Gon suggested.

"That's true! We should be telling all of this to Killua. He'd probably agree." I grinned. The elevator let out a 'ding' and out stepped the fluffy-haired boy I had grown attached to. "Well, speak of the devil." I chuckled.

"Oh! Hey Killua! Over here!" Gon cheered.

"So, I take it you won? You didn't mess up the kid too badly, did you?" I asked, rushing over to him.

"He's fine," Killua grunted. "But, what'd you guys do without me?"

"Okay, so get this, we both decided that, drumroll please..." I smiled, watching as Gon made a drum-like sound by repeatedly slapping his hands on the bench. "Frogs should wear clothes!"

"What?" He laughed. "Why?"

"Cuz it's cute! Oh, Also, we got some more money too!" I held up my envelope.

"I got 60000!" Gon waved his case of money.

"I got about the same." I smiled. "What about you though?"

"It took you longer to get here than I expected." Gon frowned.

"Yeah, I ran into some trouble." Killua walked away, and I rushed to follow him.

"Well, what kind of trouble? On a scale of 'my soda won't come out of the vending machine' to 'your brother followed us from the estate and is plotting to stab all of us and make it look like an accident', how screwed are we?" I grimaced.

"That's...oddly specific. But no, Illumi's not showing up and I didn't stop by any vending machines." He wore a confused smile.

"So was Zushi pretty strong? Or what?" Gon asked.

"No way...No." Killua replied.

"Mhm, okay." I said sarcastically.

"He does have potential," Killua explained. "He'll be strong one day. For now, anyway, he's just target practice for me. Punches that weak, I could knock him around easy."

"That's a bit harsh." I frowned.

"But, I couldn't beat him." Killua stopped walking. "I won the match. TKO by points. But still, I just couldn't knock him out. Also...When he changed his stance, I got this real creepy feeling. Like when I face my brother."

"Do you think that the two could be working together or something? Like, Wing is making Zushi do things for Illumi for some reason?" I suggested.

"Maybe, but I doubt it." Killua sighed. "Illumi likes to work alone." I just let out a small hum in response. "I don't know what it was, but it felt...dangerous. It's gotta be some kind of technique. I heard his master call it 'ren'."

"Ren?" I repeated.

"Yeah. Zushi was essentially given a lecture about winning and potential, and how he's forbidden to focus on winning alone." Killua explained.

"So he's not allowed to use Ren?" Gon asked. "Until he gets all the way to the top floor, I mean? That's where the strongest fighters are, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Especially if this Ren is some sort of power boost." I thought aloud.

"We need to change our plan." Killua demanded.

"We had a plan?" I chuckled.

"I say, we should shoot for the top floor instead."

"Right!" Gon nodded.

"Pourquoi?" I whined.

"What?" Killua smiled.

"That's why in french." I explained.

"Oh. Well, it'll help us get stronger, and maybe we can learn Ren." Killua told.

"Mm, I guess so." I sighed. "But if we're only here for money and training, why go all the way up? Why not just work until we're satisfied?"

"I'm not gonna be satisfied 'till I get to the top." Gon smiled.

"Of course you won't." I laughed. "All right, If Killua's going to the top, Guess I gotta go to. Don't want him bullying more 8-year-olds." I joked.

"Hey, he just so happened to be my opponent! I didn't want to fight him!" Killua hissed.

"An opponent's an opponent, no matter what the age." I mocked, mentioning his statement from earlier.

"Hey, that's-" He huffed. "You jerk." He laughed, beginning to tickle my abdomen.

"Killua!" I laughed. "I can't- I can't breathe, stupid!" I continued to giggle.