"Fuck you, Mom."

~18~

"Oh goody, it's time to get this party started!"

Midnight called, as the alarm for the end of the 15 minutes blared. Killua cracked his knuckles, more for show than practicality. "COME ON EVERYONE PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! ITS TIME FOR AN ARENA THUMPING BATTLE ROYALE!" Present mic announced. Cementoss went around passing out headbands, Killua glanced down at the headband. One million one hundred and forty five. He thought, wrapping it around his head. He made sure to wear it in a way that still made his hair look good, running his fingers through his curly white locks a few times to fluff it up. "LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED! ONE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEFORE THE GAME STARTS!" The crowd roared in response, and Killua flexed his hands.

"THREE"

"TWO"

"ONE"

"BEGIN!"

As soon as Present mic shouted that, all eleven other teams rushed forward at their team. "Stand your ground Shoji." He ordered, eyes narrowing. Shoji glanced up at him, then nodded and planted his feet firmly into the ground. This confused the teams currently rushing at them, causing several of them to falter. The purple haired male came at him first, obviously using his quirk to brainwash his teammates. If I break the control, it'll throw off his rhythm. He's banking on them staying under his control the whole time. Ojiro swung his tail at Killua, however he deflected with ease, countering with a sharp chop to his neck. Not enough to knock him out, but enough to make his brain rattle around in his skull.

This caused him to snap out of his white eyed trance in a state of confusion and pain. "IM GONNA KILL YOU, YOU CAT EYED BASTARD!" Bakugou yelled, leaping off of his teammates to come at him with an explosion. "Bakugou wait!" Kirishima shouted. Killua stared calmly into his furious crimson eyes. He raised a hand and sharpened his fingers into claws, then at the last minute stepped to the side. Bakugou's eyes widened as Killua pushed his back slightly to help him along, due to the explosive momentum he'd built up he couldn't stop himself from slamming hard into the ground. Killua grinned, his voice etched with sarcasm.

"Oops."

Tsu winced. "That look like it hurt." Killua watched as Bakugou slowly sat up, he could see that his shoulder was bleeding slightly. Killua hadn't technically done anything other than dodge, so he wasn't disqualified. And for added insult to injury, another team from class 1-B ran by and swiped his headband. Killua recognized the haughty blonde haired kid who was the rider, it had been the same dumbass who'd been yelling at him simply for being in class 1-A about two weeks prior to the sports festival. He thought his name was Monoma. Sero yanked Bakugou back to the rest of his team using his quirk, and Killua decided to focus on something else. Seeing Killua easily dispatch the two teams without much effort, most of the other teams decided to go hunting easier prey.

Shoji started moving, and Killua just stood there with his arms crossed and his legs straight beneath him, head slightly lowered. Shoji tried to move out of the middle of the playing field, however someone's quirk made them start to sink into the ground as if it were quicksand. He quickly pinpointed the cause of the issue, it was TetsuTetsu's team. Their front horse was causing it with his quirk. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM US!" With Shoji unable to move, the only choice was to face them head on. Killua blocked a punch from TetsuTetsu with his arm effortlessly, causing the iron bodied male to lose some of his confidence. Killua didn't have to use any Nen, in fact he'd only used Zetsu since he'd stepped foot in japan. He didn't need it in the slightest.

"Then so be it." Killua replied, with a grin. He sensed movement from behind him and grabbed a vine that one of the class 1-B students had extended using her quirk. Killua yanked hard, causing her to launch towards him. "IBARA!" One of her classmates cried. Killua swung his leg around and his heel caught Ibara's chest, causing her to fly backwards with a gasp. He let go of the vine. The ground stopped sinking and Shoji was able to pull himself out, now able to retreat. He saw Ibara land on her own vines, cushioning her fall. He wasn't planning on seriously injuring anybody, although he didn't particularly mind if it happened. Not particularly hard, but still pretty damn fun.

Hawks watched the sports festival from his perch from on top of the stadium, crouched on the edge. He would go down and sit, but he didn't want to cause a stir. His eyes were on one singular hero course student the entire time. That kid's incredible. He thought, as he watched Killua defend his points essentially on his own. He was relying completely on his own abilities, and doing it all with such ease. It made him wonder just how powerful the boy really was. I don't think I've ever seen him really push himself before. He'd hung out with the gifted boy on several occasions, a few times they spoke about hero work and other such things however most of the time it was just lighthearted chatting. Through those moments, he'd learned quite a bit about Killua.

For one, he wasn't from Japan. Where his origins did lie, he never spoke of. He also never mentioned his parents, or in fact any of his family members at all. He apparently also lived on his own, with his cat, in a fairly expensive hotel despite not having a job. Hawks had tried many times to try to figure out what drove him, but he came up dry every time. He has great potential to be a hero, but something about him just seems...different. Hawks thought, as he watched Killua make yet another team think twice about going for his headband. What's his motive?

"TIMEEEEE'S UP!"

At Present Mic's shout, Shoji came to a stop. The crowd went wild with excitement, and Killua decided to humor the crowd a little and waved to the audience, grinning and locking eyes with several pro heroes. He ignored Bakugou's angry yelling from behind him, scanning the crowd once more for Hawks. Where is he... A movement caught his eye, and his head raised. Hawks was crouching on the top of the stadium, he probably had been the entire time. "There he is." He muttered, causing Tsu to glance up curiously at him. Killua waved to Hawks, and the pro returned the gesture from what he could tell at that distance.

Killua stepped off of Shoji's back. "NOW LETS TAKE A LOOK AT WHO OUR TOP 4 TEAMS ARE!" Killua caught sight of where Mina was and decided to make his way over. "IN FIRST PLACE, WE HAVE TEAM KILLUA!" The crowd cheered loudly, and Killua felt his heart thud in his chest.. He paused, looking up at the hundreds of people that were cheering. All those people...they're cheering for me. It really sunk in at that moment. All his life he'd been an outcast, a monster. He'd been the kind of person that when people saw him on the sidewalk they crossed the street. For the very first time in his life, society looked at him and saw more than just his father's son. Nobody saw him as some evil monster ready to snap and kill everyone at a moment's notice.

They saw him as a hero

"Woah man are you ok?" Kirishima asked, with a concerned tone of voice. Killua hadn't noticed until right then that he'd been crying. Damn, usually I'm better at keeping those emotions in. He wiped his eyes. "Yeah, just got something in my eye you know?" He said softly. Maybe... He thought, gazing at the sea of pro heroes and civilians alike who were in the stands. Maybe I'll actually enjoy my time here.

1330 words

To be continued...