A New World

~28~

Summer vacation was nearing, and so were finals. Killua had quite frustratingly made no progress with Kalluto. Talking to him seemed to yield little results, he'd probably have to teach him via experience. The only problem with that, was that he had no time with school. With summer break, I should be able to make some progress though-

"Don't get too excited, you can't just relax for a whole month."

Killua frowned, glancing up at Shota. "You'll be training, while you're camping in the woods." You've got to be kidding me. How the hell was he supposed to spend time with his brother while he was in the middle of the woods? And the insects, eugh. Killua grumbled internally. He hated insects. Killua would rather rip out someone's intestines with his bare hands then let a bug touch his skin. The entire class was chattering over the news, obviously more thrilled than Killua was.

"However."

The class fell silent as Shota continued to speak. "Those of you who don't pass the final exam, will have summer school." Does that mean I get to stay home? Killua thought. Probably not, it's just more school. At least during that camping trip I can call him. He was a bit afraid to leave Kalluto alone, his little brother was concerningly fragile when it came to being left behind. Killua thought it was due to him constantly being overlooked and pushed into the background during his childhood, the kid had serious abandonment issues. Somehow, he was even more clingy than Alluka.

After class, he made his way to the cafeteria. Killua glanced around, looking for a particular head of purple hair. Ahah, there he is. Killua strolled over to Shinso and slid right down into the seat beside him. "Hey Shinso, how are you holding up?" Shinso paused midbite and glanced at him with a soft chuckle. "Pretty worried about finals, but I'll manage." Killua nodded, leaning back in the chair. "Yeah." He wasn't too concerned himself, having gotten nearly perfect scores in the midterms. Killua had already passed high school, so it really wasn't all that hard.

Shinso glanced at him. "You doing alright?" Killua blinked, not expecting Shinso to ask about him. "Hm? Yeah. Why?" His friend gave Killua a skeptical look. "You just seem a lot more serious. Usually you're telling me to loosen up and have fun, but you seem pretty moody lately." Killua let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, right. I've just got a lot on my mind right now." He said, looking away. Man, is it really that obvious?

"Yeah, and you've stopped coming to the gym with me too." Shinso said, sounding slightly disappointed. He'd kept his promise to Shinso and gone with him to the gym frequently to help him build his strength, although that had abruptly stopped once Kalluto had arrived. "Oh, yeah. Sorry man. My little brother kind of showed up out of nowhere and he's living with me now, and he needs a lot of attention." Killua explained. Shinso said something, but Killua was too busy paying attention to how that cocky blonde from the sports festival was harassing Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki.

What an utterly ridiculous man. Killua thought. "Are you listening to me?" Killua glanced back over at Shinso. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." Shinso let out a sigh. "Listen if you don't want to talk anymore you can just say that. It ain't a big deal." Killua hesitated, about to reassure Shinso that he did indeed want to talk to him. But... "Yeah. I think I just need some time to myself. Sorry." Killua murmured, before standing up and exiting the cafeteria. Lunch was ending soon anyway. As he was walking, he peeked into Shota's office. "Hey Shota?"

The old man was sitting at his desk, going through papers. When Killua spoke, his head lifted. "What is it?" Killua bit his lip. "Is there a chance that Kalluto could come along when we go camping?" Shota frowned, meeting Killua's eyes. "Absolutely not, we're doing intensive training. Why do you even want to bring him along?" Killua rubbed the back of his head with a groan. "I'm worried about leaving him by himself." Shota suddenly had a moment of realization, and rubbed his temples. "Ugh, I didn't think about that. He needs to go to a daycare or something-"

"There's no need for that." Killua said, hurriedly. That would be a horrible idea. He wasn't so sure about letting Kalluto out of the house unsupervised, let alone around a bunch of kids his age. He was much closer to his classmate's age mentally. "He's capable of taking care of himself. He's pretty independent." Shota's frown deepened as he stared at Killua. "Then why are you worried about him?" Killua slid into the room, trying to think about his next words. "I don't want him to feel alone. He already gets pretty bad when I leave for school, there's no way I could leave him alone for a whole month."

Shota finally put down the papers he was tending too, pushing himself to his feet. "He needs to learn to be on his own. You can still call him can't you?" Killua's teeth gritted. "Shota you don't get it. He's been 'on his own' his whole childhood." Killua said, indignantly. "What he needs is to get the love and affection he never had as a kid." Shota stared at him for a few moments, lost for words. Killua let out a sigh. "I guess...calling would work. I just hoped I could spend more time with him over the summer, is all. Sorry for bothering you Shota." And with that, Killua exited the room. Damn. Killua thought. Well, there goes my plans for the summer.

1005 words

To Be Continued...