SOUR CANDY | killua z. ✔

𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 + 𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐒

Hello, everyone!

Thank you for making it this far! It is with great pleasure and sadness that I put a checkmark in the title to show the story is complete!

I discovered HxH about a year ago, and it was a welcome distraction from online learning. I started writing Sour Candy around the same time to cope with pandemic stress; it was definitely a well-needed creative outlet.

I honestly didn't expect Sour Candy to get this popular. I've posted things on here in the past, none of which really got any attention. So, I was surprised (and pleased!) that so many of you were keeping up with this story! At one point, Sour Candy ranked #1 in a few tags. Big author achievement, haha.

I'm very proud of this fanfic. I've been writing for many years now (mainly poetry and short stories, in case you couldn't tell from all the flowery language I use), but this is the first multi-chaptered book I've ever finished. I have tendencies to grow disinterested with what I write and scrap it, but, with the pandemic going on, I had no excuses. I promised myself at the first chapter that I would see this one through to the end.

Writing Sour Candy wasn't easy by any means. Many times, I suffered from writer's block or pressure to get a chapter out; sometimes I spent days or weeks writing and re-writing chapters I didn't like. I'll admit my favorite part was writing the Zoldyck Family arc. From a psychological perspective, that family is so interesting.

To anyone with writer's block— I believe in you! Take it as a challenge! 

Speaking of challenges, I literally did not plan any part of this fic past the Hunter Exam arc. I hadn't even settled on Sen's Nen type until the chapter I revealed it. Yes, you heard me. Like I said, I didn't expect this to get many reads, so I didn't see the need to plan that far ahead. That bit me in the ass, didn't it? Anyway, after the first arc, I took it chapter by chapter and hoped everything flowed together in a mostly coherent fashion. There are probably so many plot holes and details I introduced but never followed up on. One day, I'll sit down, read this start to finish, and see how many I can find haha.

I owe thanks to various books for providing writing inspiration for Sour Candy, including Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects, Megan Abbott's The Fever, and the Percy Jackson series.

Emphasis on Sharp Objects. The book and its TV show adaptation are my absolute favorites and heavily influenced my writing style, especially in the earlier chapters. I made references to it throughout the story, and the way I named my chapters with single words was inspired by the show's single-word titles. The book and the show come with triggers though, so be careful and do your research if you plan on reading/watching.

The movie Spirited Away was what actually sparked the beginnings of Sour Candy. It was just so whimsical and amazing that I knew I wanted to create a similar story with a spotlight on character development. MC's name is Sen. She works in a bathhouse. I know some of you picked up on it, ha.

Anyway. Moral of the story is don't give up on your writing. It doesn't always come easy, but that just means it's time to look at it from different angles.

Can't wait to move on to other projects! (I'm talking about the Kalluto fic guys)

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𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐍'𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄— yes, they get a happy ending.

• their wedding is simple. sen's family and some of their friends attend. (leorio is fucking bawling and kotaro brought a shovel, I lied it's not a simple wedding)

• sen doesn't become a zoldyck. instead, killua becomes an inoue and he finally, finally sheds the name that kept him chained for so long. now, he can just be killua.

• they have 3 kids: two boys and a girl. (girl is the youngest.) the sons are complete mama's boys; mom and dad have an argument? dad's fault. the daughter doesn't care whose fault it was. she just wants chocorobos.

• killua and sen live a comfortable life due to the money amassed from their hunting jobs. they make and sell things like jam or dumplings at the farmer's market sometimes. it's a family activity for them.

• all in all, they have a nice life. the little kids don't know about killua's past and he'd like to keep it that way until they're old enough to understand.

𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐎— felt like I should address them. their story more or less ended after the heaven's arena arc.

• it takes a while for kalluto to adjust to living with the inoues, who are so... loving. it's what they always dreamed of, and they don't know how to feel about finally having their needs met.

• they especially enjoy getting to be the older sibling for once. the triplets always tug on kalluto's kimono, asking for this or that, asking for kalluto to do their hair, it makes them feel warm inside.

• kalluto works at the resort alongside the inoue siblings for a while. they become genuinely interested in its runnings and eventually take an administrative position when they're older.

• kana inoue finds out her kids adopted an assassin and went with it. doesn't affect her so she doesn't care.

• sen encourages kalluto to form a bond with alluka, but it never really works. they barely remember alluka from their childhood, and to kalluto, sen is their only big sister. (the first time they call her 'Neechan' she cries)

𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄?— yes, I'm considering this in the future. what would I do differently? mainly, I feel like limiting it to canon events really hindered plot and character potential.

• would showcase the inoues' relationships more. mai and sen were best friends but I barely got to show it. kotaro and sen had a distant relationship pre-canon and I barely touched on that. I didn't even get to write the triplets that much

• would explore a different way killua and sen's relationship could've developed. now that I finished sour candy, I feel like, to be true to their characters, they should've spent more time learning to trust each other. (I was rewatching hxh and forgot how bad killua was with girls lol)

• I'd limit sen's nen abilities to just moon blade. that's the one I feel resonates with her more, and the one I see her advancing with.

• sen is canonically a dancer & a gymnast and I hate that I didn't write more about that

• sen's mother is a complicated character & she has her ups and downs with the inoue kids. I would explore that more, too.

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thank you again, everyone! waking up the morning after I posted a chapter and seeing 30+ notifications made my day. I see all of you who followed from beginning to end, and all of you who left kind and funny comments.

I hope you enjoyed Sour Candy! please look forward to Pas de Deux in the future! I'm taking a break from writing for a bit while I plan it out!

Stay safe!