"So you're from Freecss' hometown?"
Surrounded by students, Kurapika shot you an uneasy look, unsure how to handle everybody's nosy nature. It was a good thing Katsuki and Izuku weren't here, or else it'd be even more chaotic. Their fight had ended and both teens were in the infirmary, as per usual. Now, you all were back in the classroom, with you and your Kurta friend the center of attention. Ochaco, who knew the truth about your past, gave you a bubbly smile that made you realize that she was definitely going to be questioning the two of you later.
Swinging an arm around Kurapika's shoulder, the latter spluttering lightly, you grinned. "Yep! He's one of the strongest people I know!"
Shouto, who was off to the side, seemed skeptical. Him and Tenya had briefly met Kurapika, and both teens were staring harshly into Kurapika as if trying to decipher him. You tried to ignore them, feeling a tiny wave of anxiety roll through you. Hopefully they wouldn't approach and ask questions, you weren't sure you'd be able to dodge Shouto a third time.
The rest of the Bakusquad in particular were all interested in Kurapika, Mina wiggling her eyebrows. "So, are you and [Y/n] a thing? That would totally explain why she's rejected everybody else's advances!"
You and Kurapika had very different reactions.
Kurapika immediately flushed, denying Mina's invasive question as you laughed, nearly wheezing. Retracting your arm from Kurapika's shoulder, you had doubled over. "Oh god - Mina, why?!"
She joined you in laughter, nudging your side with her elbow. "Aw, I'm just kidding! I know you have only eyes for me anyways."
Deciding to play along, you gave her a wide grin. "I'm glad you know that I'll stay loyal to you, wifey!"
The two of you started laughing again, until a new voice spoke up from behind.
"Whoa, Freecss and Aishido? That's hot!"
You didn't have to look back to know that Hanta had immediately hit Minoru, taping his mouth shut in the process.
Good riddance.
After answering a whole lot of questions about his quirk, Kurapika had decided it was enough and had told everybody that he needed to leave. That meant you were going along, too, and after bidding everybody 'goodbye', the two of you had left the building.
"[Y/n], Kurapika!"
The two of you looked back to see Ochaco running forward, her cheeks a bit redder than usual. When she caught up to you, you gave Kurapika a sheepish smile.
"Um, don't worry, Pika. She, uh, knows about our world."
Kurapika gave you a disapproving stare in return, and Ochaco laughed cheerily, waving her hands around. "Don't worry, I haven't said a single thing to anybody, and only Deku and I know!"
"Deku...?"
Ignoring Kurapika's confusion, you laughed weakly. "Uh... Katsuki's figured it out, too...."
"BAKUGOU?!"
You winced at Ochaco's surprised yell, covering your ears in reflex. "He won't tell anybody, don't worry!"
"He's not the only one who figured it out."
That came from neither Ochaco nor Kurapika, and you three turned to see two more newcomers. Tenya and Shouto. You could feel your blood freeze, and Ochaco started to sweat, waving her hands around. "Th-there's nothing to figure out!" She tried to cover for you, but it was no use. Tenya and Shouto both looked serious, and you could tell they knew for certain. But how . . . ?
A hand was placed on your shoulder, startling you as the owner's voice spoke up. Kurapika's voice was stoic. ". . . Let's not talk here. There are too many people who could overhear."
About half an hour later, the five of you were at Kurapika's apartment. It was close to Aizawa's and minimalist, with the bare minimum to survive. All of you sat around a kotatsu he had purchased, crowded slightly. Due to it being almost summer, the kotatsu wasn't on.
"How did you two find out?" You skipped the small talk, too curious to know how. Just a few days ago, Shouto was convinced you were a former villain in hiding. What had changed? Shouto and Tenya exchanged looks, before Shouto nodded, deciding to be the one to speak. Pulling out his phone, he pulled up a picture and showed the photo to you, Kurapika, and Ochaco. While Kurapika didn't recognize it, yours and Ochaco's eyes lit up in recognition.
"That's..."
"Midoriya's hero notebook," Shouto confirmed. "I asked to borrow it, and saw the notes on your 'quirk'... Or should I say, nen?"
You grimaced. You had willingly gave Izuku all of that information because he was curious and you knew he wouldn't ever use it against you. However, you had broken down every aspect of nen to him. Of course he'd write all about it! It was a good thing Shouto was the one to find it and not somebody else.
Oh god, if a villain got ahold of Izuku's notebook...!
Tenya took over with an affirmative chop of his arm. "I approached Midoriya after Hosu, but he immediately started to stammer and ran off when I mentioned you and the strange villain dressed in clown attire."
Ochaco butt in, eyes widening. "Hisoka?!"
Oh, that was right. She hadn't a clue as to what happened in Hosu, and Kurapika was looking more and more tired by the moment. "Uh, Hisoka had approached me, Izuku, and Ochaco right after the sport's festival," you quickly explained to the three others before turning back to Ochaco. "And, uh, it turns out he's with the League of Villains and they want to capture me or something?"
Ochaco looked pale, her bottom lip quivering, and you quickly changed the subject. "Uh, go on, Tenya!"
He looked back and forth between you and Ochaco before nodding. "As I was saying, Midoriya dodged all of my questions in a very suspicious way. When I approached Todoroki, he agreed something was up, but neither of us could figure it out exactly. Until," he chopped his arm down, "I happened to accidentally overhear a bit of yours and Bakugou's conversation. I apologize for that, as I know eavesdropping is disrespectful, but I couldn't make heads or tails of what I had heard, and that is when Todoroki brought up Midoriya's notebook."
You felt a bit nauseous, realizing they had found out due to the accumulation of all of your slip-ups. Hisoka, Izuku and his notebook, your confession to Katsuki...
"I admit, we approached the situation in a somewhat underhanded way and I apologize again. However, you and Midoriya were very tight-lipped, and Todoroki and I were afraid it could affect everybody's safety."
Sighing, you leaned back, hands on the floor to keep you from falling all the way back. It was silent for only a moment. "I told you we should just tell everybody," you pointed out to Kurapika. The blond shot you a look of complete annoyance, and you pointedly ignored it. "Everybody in our class is way too smart. I'm sure they aren't the only ones catching on, and it's unfair to keep a secret from them like this. Especially with Chrollo and Hisoka and some other nen mastermind behind the scenes."
Kurapika exhaled wearily. "Maybe if you didn't make so many slip-ups..." This was more to himself than you, but you still heard it, huffing in indignation. He continued, rubbing his temples. ". . . But it makes sense. I'll talk to Aizawa about this."
You hadn't been expecting him to agree with you, and you lit up. "Really?!"
"What other choice do I have? Clearly, you can't keep a secret."
You stuck your tongue out at him childishly before turning to you Shouto and Tenya, giving them an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for keeping this from you..."
Tenya shook his head once. "Don't apologize, Freecss. You were doing what you were supposed to do."
Shrugging listlessly, you gave one more glance to Ochaco and Kurapika, before bracing your elbows on the kotatsu table and resting your head in your hands. "I suppose... I guess since the secret is out, though, I can tell you guys everything from the beginning. It started when my brother Gon and our friend, Killua, were playing Greed Island..."
—·—·—
Elsewhere in Musutafu...
"Agh, we've searched this entire part of the city! This is so frustrating!"
Currently sitting in a café were two boys, no older than 13 - Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck. Having been in Musutafu for a week, they had reached dead end after dead end. It was obvious [Y/n] was around here, somewhere, but where? Gon had tried smelling her out at some point, but her scent always seemed to fade quickly, most likely due to the fact the city was bustling with people every minute of the day. Neither teen was good with using en, either, so detecting her nen from far away was a no-go.
Sipping on an iced chocolate drink, Killua looked agitated himself, more so at the fact that he had ran around this stupid city for nothing. "When we find that old hag, I'm going to beat her up," he grumbled, and Gon sighed, his strawberry-banana parfait already gone.
"Should we head back over to the meet-up spot? Leorio is supposed to be here soon, and we don't know how long that portal will stay open..."
Grumbling more, Killua shrugged. "We might as well," he said, pulling some yen coins out of his pocket. It had been a strange adjustment here, what with the different written language and the currency and geography differences, but the two were quick to catch up. Killua had stolen a man's wallet to get the money, sure, but what else could one expect from two teens stranded in a whole other world?
Leaving enough money, Killua and Gon left the café, heading back to the portal they had come out of. Sure enough, standing by in the decrepit alley way, brief case and all, was none other than their friend Leorio Paladiknight.
Shortly after [Y/n]'s disappearance, Gon and Killua had both left the game to contact first Kurapika, and then Leorio, for help. Kurapika hadn't answered his phone, surprise surprise, but Leorio did. After talking and explaining to Leorio what happened, they had gone back to Bisky, who had explained the urban legends surrounding different worlds and their connections.
It was honestly all confusing, especially for Gon, but one thing was for certain - they had to get [Y/n] back to her world before things got bad. Bisky had admitted even she doesn't know much about this "world nonsense", and it had been sheer luck that a portal outside of Greed Island had been found. Immediately, Gon and Killua had called Leorio to fill him in and send him their location, agreeing to meet up in a week's time if the portal was still there to search for [Y/n]. It would have been sooner, but Leorio was on the other side of the world, and could only go so fast.
"Is this really another world?" Leorio asked in agitation, looking around. "It looks like York New City!"
"Moron," Killua said immediately, his words stabbing into Leorio. "You haven't even been here for an hour. If this was York New City, we wouldn't have asked for your help. Moron."
Leorio heatedly opened up his mouth to yell at Killua, but a weird, static-like noise permeated through the alley. Looking back, the three watched as the portal slowly shrank before disappearing into thin air, and Leorio nearly fell down.
"Damn it all, now we're stuck here!"
Killua matched Leorio's irritation, but Gon was undeterred, looking at the both with a determined gleam in his eye. "That's fine! We can't leave here until we get [Y/n], anyways!"
Killua and Leorio exchanged looks of exasperation before nodding, a determined smile on Leorio's face and an exasperated one on Killua's.
"Alright, let's go!" Leorio exclaimed, and the three left the alley, only for Leorio to stop and gape at the view around him, from the people to the buildings.
Gon laughed, grabbing Leorio's hand and started to lead him down the street towards the hotel they had managed to get a room at. It had taken a lot of convincing and stolen money, but the two had gotten a pretty nice place to sleep for the time being, especially since they didn't have much to their name.
"We have a lot to tell you about! This world is so different to ours!" Sure, some things were surprising, but after spending a week here and grilling people on information, they had solved some of the mysteries. It didn't help they couldn't search anything up on the internet - the written language here was tricky, although Killua had been quick to point out that one of their alphabets was the exact same as one from their own world. Having to decipher everything though... Well, that was pretty time-consuming, and time was something that was currently against them.
They needed to find [Y/n] before the next portal opened.
Getting to the hotel, a towering building that put the ones in York New City to shame, Gon and Killua waved at the hotel clerk before leading Leorio into the elevator to go up. The guy Killua had stolen from had quite a lot of cash, apparently, securing them a temporary place to live, food, and supplies. They almost got cell phones, but had decided against it. There was no point in having any communication devices if they couldn't read anything on them to begin with, and their own mobiles didn't have service here. It was understandable - they weren't in the same world, so the signals would be different.
Gawking around the hotel room, Leorio shook his head. "How did you kids manage to stay here?"
They both gave cheeky smiles - well, Gon's was a bit sheepish as he scratched his cheek. "Eh, Killua, where do we start?"
The white-haired teen sighed, picking up a notebook from the desk, his neat handwriting printed in the book. In their own language, of course.
"In this world, hunters, nen - none of that exists. Instead, people have something called 'quirks', which are abilities they are born with. Where we are..."
Killua drawled on, explaining everything they had learned about this world in detail, but even as Leorio's mind soaked in all of the information like a sponge, there was just one thing he couldn't stop wondering about.
How in the hell were they going to find [Y/n]?
—·—·—
In a dingy bar, hidden off the streets deep in Yokohama, Tokyo, there was a small group of people. From the outside, it looked like the typical, seedy, hole-in-the-wall bar that everybody knew to avoid. In a sense, it was. Closed off from the public, very few were allowed into the bar.
"These two are our targets."
Pointing at the two pictures was Shigaraki Tomura, leader of the League of Villains, and currently, very irritated. He hadn't quite wanted to get new members, but Giran, Kurogiri, and his sensei had all persisted, not to mention Pariston Hill - one of their otherworldly visitors - had insisted that they needed all the muscle they could get.
In the end, they had quite the ragtag group of people, with three other people from Pariston's world. Pariston refused to necessarily go out and fight on this mission, but their three other guests would work just as well. Shigaraki wasn't going to get his hopes up, though - he didn't know or trust any of these people, least of all Pariston. He may have helped a lot with information and putting nen into their nomus, but there was something about him that made him untrustworthy, even by a villain's standards. He was the kind of sleazy guy who would turn his back on their allies in an instant if it was for their own entertainment, even more so than Hisoka Morow, one of the other nen users.
"Oo, oo, I call the girl with the [h/c] hair! She's so pretty!"
Beady red eyes falling on the blonde who spoke up, Shigaraki glowered. "Your job is to get as much blood from as many different people as possible." The blonde, Toga Himiko, looked put down but agreed, if not a bit pouty about it.
Somebody else spoke up, leaning against the crumbling door frame with a cane in his hands. "And it's safe to assume you don't want us to interact with them until the camp?"
Shigaraki gave a terse nod towards the other villain, Mr. Compress. He couldn't see his face, covered by a geometric mask, but Shigaraki wasn't one to talk since he had a decapitated hand covering his own face.
"I suppose it's time to lift your nen curse, Chrollo," Pariston sighed as if it was a big let down, but it was only natural. They couldn't send him out into battle without his abilities, and Pariston was getting his end of the bargain.
While the villains had been made aware of the other world and such, hearing about the terms and seeing nen in action was still a bit perturbing. Even now, as Chrollo calmly stepped forward, donning a sleeveless black shirt and matching slacks and boots, the villains either showed clear interest or disdain.
Pariston was no nen exorcist, but he was proficient enough to remove the chain on Chrollo's heart, the word of law that Kurapika had bestowed on him. Hands glowing an uncharacteristically light teal, Pariston's hands went transparent before both phased into Chrollo's chest. While it should have brought discomfort, Chrollo remained stoic, the beginnings of a smile barely noticeable on his lips. A few people leaned forwards, all eyes on the interesting scene before them.
After a moment, Pariston withdrew his hands, a blackened cross coming out with it. As soon as the blond's hands went back to normal, the cross dissolved in his hands, crumbling away into dust. His brown eyes glinted in amusement, and he met Chrollo's thoughtful gray ones.
No words needed to be said. The moment the cross was removed, Chrollo had felt the shift, and had unflinchingly activated ten as a test. When nothing happened, a smaller smile came onto his face, cunning and introspective.
With his nen back, the plans for the League of Villains could go on to the next stage.