Majutsu-shi no noroi

Chapter 6: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club

Hisoka stood leaning over the balcony outside his room, a lit cigarette dangling idly from his mouth. He took a long drag and flicked the ash off the 20 story ledge, watching it drop, disintegrate and disappear into the hustling street below. 

He gazed thoughtfully at the yellow, white and red lights that dotted the city, Osagu. 

He had never stayed in a place for more than a week, the fact that he had settled here for nearly a month made him stir crazy. 

He took another long drag and sighed longingly. "What a funny game we're playing", he thought aloud, "no rules, regulations or instructions. Two players who aren't even sure what the other's objective is.♠" 

He took one last drag and flicked the lit butt off the balcony, exhaling the smoke and breathing in the icy, damp air that hung languidly in the city's dense atmosphere.

He was keeping her here because she was powerful, that's what he told himself at least. He had never found a toy like her, a Nen specialist that did not abide by the traditional rules of Nen.

 A combined threat of elemental usage and voracious strength. She would surely prove to be an asset to him, at least until he got bored and decided to throw her away like any other toy he played with. 

Yet, he remained unconvinced of his convictions. 

From the time he scooped up her small broken body, the warmth she emitted seemed to thaw his core.

While washing her blood-stained skin, bandaging her seeping wounds and detangling her knotted hair, he never once thought of his own motives. 

He pictured her wide sapphire eyes, how they sparkled with sadness and rage. 

How her blossoming cheeks were framed by dark feathers, and how her petalled lips parted slightly whenever he spoke to her. 

His stomach rolled uneasily and he promptly pushed her face from his mind. Shaking his head in confusion, he frowned and launched himself off the balcony—swinging his aura from building to building, allowing the cold mist and city air to erase all thoughts of the girl named Natsuko.

♣

A few weeks had passed since Natsuko's tense encounter with Illumi, as well as her strange interaction with Hisoka. Since then, the Magician had mostly returned to his regular self: joking inappropriately, flirting on occasion, and oozing mischief. 

As Natsuko got more comfortable around him, they began having more in-depth discussions regarding their Nen abilities. It was during one of these conversations that Natsuko learned another of Hisoka's abilities, called "Texture Surprise". This ability gave him the power to turn any surface into appearing how he desired. This was demonstrated as he transformed a regular napkin to resemble Natsuko's skin. As it lay on top of her arm she was unable to tell the difference. It was an exact match, except of course that the texture was still that of the napkin—hence the name "Texture Surprise".

On another occasion, she delighted him by demonstrating her "Fire Forged Iron" ability. This ability was tailored to her most powerful affinity, fire. She could use it as a weapon, a method of entrapment, as a restraint or torture device.

First, she heated an extendable iron rod that she recovered out of her leather satchel, by heating the rod she could extend it up to 50 meters and retract it at will. 

She was also able to control the heat and flexibility of the rod, she could cool it to bathwater temperate, or have it burn with the intensity of a solar flare. At her will, it could be hard as concrete, or as stretchy and flexible as Hisoka's bungee gum technique. Hisoka's excitement was obvious as she demonstrated it on a houseplant—which had to be doused with water after it inevitably caught fire from her molten attack.