Hi, minna! Before I get really happy, let me first apologize for the delay in updating. I'll keep trying my best to update ASAP. Time for me to be really happy... 1,000 READS?! AAAHHHHH! Thank you guys so much for reading my story. I never thought I'd make it this far with this book. For those of you who have stuck with me since chapter 1, you guys are awesome! Remember to keep showing your support for more updates by voting and commenting. This chapter is dedicated to @JemarAllen.

When Lizz and I walked into the entrance to change into our indoor shoes, there were barely any students around the cabinets. Were we early or something?

"So... How did it go yesterday?" Lizz suddenly asked me.

"How did what go yesterday?" I obliviously replied with a question.

"You know..." She leaned in closer to my ear. "Your date with Killua," she devilishly whispered. "The reason why you skipped class?"

My face immediately turned a deep red. "What?! Who told you it was a date? I mean, I already told you yesterday I was feeling under the weather," I nervously lied in vain.

"Oh Yuki, you are a terrible liar," Lizz chuckled while shaking her head. "It's okay to tell me the truth. I'm your best friend, so you can tell me anything." I knew Lizz would always keep a secret between us, and she was always the best at giving me advice. I feel comfortable talking to her about anything, but there are some things I wish she would just let me keep to myself.

"Okay, so maybe I was with Killua yesterday..." I nervously confessed.

"Yup! Just as I thought. So are you two lovebirds now?"

I vigorously shook my head. "Of course not! I mean, he would have to like me if we're both seeing each other..."

"So it's a one sided love?" She asked, stopping in front of her locker.

"It's not love!" I shouted, then immediately covered my mouth in embarrassment. I said that too loud. Even though there were only a couple of students standing by the entrance, my cheeks were still boiling. I ran to the other side of the lockers to hide myself as I walked closer to my own locker. When I finally opened it and placed my hand inside, I felt something squishy, something I didn't expect from the usual. I looked down to see a red octopus squeezed uncomfortably inside my locker. We gazed into each other's eyes as we processed the moment.

"Hehe, hi?" it spoke.

"A-" I was about to freak out until the thing suddenly leapt out of my shoe compartment and wrapped it's tentacles around my head, containing my noise.

"Please, don't scream, Missy!" it pleaded.

It talked! An octopus actually talked!

"Yuki, is everything alri-" Lizz's sentence was cut short when she came around from the corner to see my dire situation. "What the heck is that?!" She gasped.

My cries for help were only muffled. I tried pulling its arms away, but it's suction cups were sucked into my skin, making it more difficult to pull this fish off. Lizz ran into my rescue, beating the fish with her hand bag.

"Ow! What did I do?! Stop that!" my attacker complained. Lizz shrieked as she repeatedly beat the creature with her eyes closed. It was a good thing that it was the octopus that was getting the hits and not me.

When the beating abruptly stopped, I opened my eyes to see Killua holding up Lizz's wrist, the one with the hand bag.

"Killua!" Lizz exclaimed in surprise. Killua release his hold on her and placed his hand on the octopus. As he pulled it off, I could feel the suction cups still pulling my cheeks. They let go with a pop.

I rubbed my cheeks feeling the soft spots. Man, I hope this doesn't leave any pink circles.

Killua held the octopus by the head and looked straight into its eyes. "Ikalgo, what are you doing here?" He asked it in an annoyed expression.

"Eh he, well you see... I ran into some trouble with some friends and thought I'd pay you a visit," he replied nervously. "Since there were so many humans here, I thought the safest place to see you was in your locker, so I... Uh..."

Killua gave his body a brief shake. "First of all, that's not my locker. And in other words, you were just looking for a bodyguard while you're hiding from these so called 'friends,' aren't you?" He looked into his eyes very suspiciously.

"Um..." I decided to step out from the background and break the attention between the two. "Killua, do you... Know this octopus thing?"

"Who are you calling an octopus thing!" the red fish cried offended, growing infuriated. Killua shut his mouth and immediately shoved it inside of his hand bag, pushing its out side tentacles inside of the bag before zipping it up. It's a good thing octopuses have the flexibility to fit inside the tightest of spaces. A few students walked passed us, shooting strange looks at us.

"Let's talk about this later." Killua said that as fast as he dashed through the exit.

Lizz and I stood in awe bewilderment. "D-d-did you just see what I saw?" Lizz stuttered, pointing at the direction Killua ran off.

"I-I think so?"

"Yuki-chan! Lizz-chan!" We turned around toward the source of that familiar ditsy voice.

"Morning, Alluka," I greeted awkwardly, still feeling strange about what just happened.

"Ohayo!" She greeted in return with smile full of sunshine.

"Say, Alluka," Lizz added. "You and Killua wouldn't happen to have any pets, or any animal talking friends, would you?"

"Huh?" Alluka cocked her neck as she looked at us in confusion. "I'm not sure about any talking animals, but we do have a pet dog!" She said, reverting back to her cheery self. "His name is Jordan."

"Hmm..." That amphibious creature was definitely not a dog, so that couldn't be any pet of theirs. What's going on around here? What else are they hiding?

By habit I looked down at my wrist watch and gasped at the time. Classes would be starting in three minutes. "Guys, we gotta get to class."

***

During lunch break, the three of us girls got together with Killua at the main courtyard. Lizz and I had our usual school cafeteria entrées, while Killua and Alluka had home made lunch boxes.

"Ita takimazu!" Alluka cried out as she opened up her lunch box, revealing deliciously cooked fried rice rice with well cut vegetables and grilled pork.

"Whoa! Alluka, did you cook this?" I asked amazed. This might even look better than what my mom used to make for me when I was in grade school.

"Mm-hmm!" She nodded proudly.

"It looks so good," Lizz commented.

"Arigato," Alluka said as she pulled out a pair of wooden chopsticks, picking up a piece of pork and bringing it to her wide opened mouth.

Killua opened his box, showing that his meal was the same thing. "Eh-hem," I fake coughed, reminding him why we were all eating lunch together. "So Killua, you wanna tell us what happened earlier this morning?"

Killua looked down at his lunch silently before answering. "What you saw wasn't a real octopus, but a chimera ant," he answered seriously as Alluka continued eating, probably not paying attention to the conversation.

"A chimera what?" I asked. I noticed how Lizz reacted to his response. She seemed shocked, but also has a cold sweat. Does she know what he's talking about?

Killua took a deep breath. "Chimera ants are highly quarantined and dangerous insects."

"Insects? But wasn't that an octopus earlier?"

"Would you just let me finish?" Killua sighed as he pinched the arch of his nose. He then continued explaining. "Chimera ants are very unique, especially their queen. They can reproduce by devouring other creatures, even creatures bigger than their size. What makes them so special is that they're able to ingest the genes of the species they devour and pass it on to the next generation of ants they give birth to. That chimera ant you saw earlier, it's genes mostly inherited the form of an octopus because it's queen might've currently consumed one. About four years ago, there was a particular queen who began feasting on humans."

"W-w-what? Humans?" I asked shaken. "How? It's gotta be about five feet tall to consume something that big!"

"Actually, observers say that she was actually two meters tall," Killua corrected. I was shocked to be actually hearing something like this. "When she kept feeding on humans, her new borns grew intelligent and powerful with human personalities. Eventually, a war of survival broke between humans and chimera ants."

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up! You're telling me something like this happened four years ago?" I questioned, still finding this hard to believe. A war between humans and bugs sounded a bit far fetched.

"It happened around the region which surrounded the NGL area, which they originated in. This place is a continent away, so you might've not have been that influenced, and they are rarely sighted now and these days."

"Don't you remember the news about strange mutated humanoid creatures about four years ago?" Lizz asked.

"Hmm... now that you mention it, I think I remember the news talking about something like that," I trailed off.

"See? There's even footage proof," Killua said.

"Well how do you know so much about this stuff?" Lizz inquired.

"Because I was there. I was the one along with a few other of my friends who ended the war."

"What?!" Lizz and I both exclaimed in unison.

"Ahh, that was a good lunch!" Alluka said with her empty bento box. Was she not paying attention at all? This was a pretty serious conversation.

"You fought against chimera ants?"

"Yeah, and it wasn't easy too. It nearly costed my best friend's life for our victory." When he said that, his eyes became sad, as if remembering something.

"So if chimera ants are our enemy, why was there one in my locker?" I asked.

"Since humans won, chimera ants are no longer considered our enemies, as long as they don't eat humans anymore. That octopus is my friend."

"Friend?"

"I am not an octopus!" A grouchy voice yelled from the bushes behind us. The red octopus, or whatever he was, jumped out of the pushes with his tentacles wiggling ferociously outward.

"Eek!" Lizz and I jolted out of our seats, dropping our lunch trays in the process.

"Ew!" Lizz exclaimed as she accidentally stepped on her spilled vanilla pudding.

"Get away!" I shrieked as I began beating it with my handbag.

"Not-a-gain!" The chimera ant spoke between hits.

The pelting stopped once Killua seized my arm. "What did I just tell you?!" he said irritatedly.

"But it creeped up on us," I stood for my reason. Friend or not, this thing was a creepy ease dropper.

Killua let go of me and picked up the ant by its head again, making it face him eye to eye. "How long have you been hiding in there?" he interrogated.

The creature sheepishly scratched the back of his head with one of its eight tentacles. "Unno, long enough for you to start and finish." He then shook himself off and landed on the ground, turning to me and Lizz. "Sorry about the awkwardness earlier. I didn't get to properly introduce myself. My name is Ikalgo. It is a pleasure to meet new friends of Killua." He bowed politely with one arm below his dorsal... I think that's what you would call it.

"Unno..." I bent down to reach eye level. "How is it that you can talk?"

"Us chimera ants appear in a human-animal hybrid, depending on our queen's diet. As you can tell, the Queen might've eaten an octopus and a human before I was born. Because of the human genes passed on to us, some chimera ants are able to recall old memories from their passed life when they were humans."

"In other words, you admit that you're an octopus," Lizz comment.

I could tell that Ikalgo was being bothered by that with that vein popping out of his forehead. "I would rather be called a squid. If nothing else, then please call me by my name," he said so dramatically.

"Squid?" I turned to Killua. Killua just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's a long story," he said in nonchalance.

"Okay, Ikalgo..." I turned back to him awkwardly, but put off my best smile. "I'm Yuki, it's nice to meet you!" I waited for Lizz to introduce herself, but for some reason, she was looking away with a blank expression. "And that's Lizz," I decided to introduce for her.

"Ah, you are very pretty friends of Killua-" Ikalgo was interrupted when Killua lightly squished his head with his foot. Insect human hybrid or not, that comment made me blush.

"Yeah, well the explanations and introductions are done. Lunch period will be over soon," Killua said.

"Oh, right! Lunch..." I remembered, looking at the food catastrophe on the ground.

"Oh man!" Lizz whined. "Guess I'll have to hurry up and buy bread then." She gathered the floor food on her tray and threw it all away in a nearby trash can.

"Can I come too?" Alluka asked optimistically. "I'm still hungry."

"Yeah? Well at least you ate something descent," Lizz sassed as they both headed back to the cafeteria.

"Guess I should go too," I sighed as I stood up.

"You can have mine." I turned to Killua who had his untouched bento lunch thrusted toward me.

"A-are you sure? Alluka made that for you, didn't she?"

"It's fine," he replied, not thinking too much of it. "She can always make me more. I'm not that hungry anyway." Without even trying, my stomach rumbled. Well, can't stand to argue with that kind of reasoning. I had no choice but to oblige and accept his offer.

"Arigato," I said gratefully as I took the box, then sat next to him.

I heard a slight giggle from the octopus as he stood grinning at us. "What are you smiling at?" Killua demanded annoyingly.

"Oh, nothing. I just remembered I got something to do. Killua, I'll catch up to you later. Bye!" He scurried away as fast as those little tentacles could carry him.

"Oi!" Killua called out to him, his cheeks powdered with pink. I couldn't help but giggle a little. He looked so cute.

"What's so funny?" He turned to me with the same embarrassed expression without knowing it.

"Nothing. He just seemed like a nice guy."

I pinched a group of fried rice together with the pair of chopsticks and took a bite. In an instant, colorful favors of spices exploded in my mouth. "Sugoi!" I cried as I chewed more in my mouth. I quickly swallowed to speak again. "This is amazing! I never knew that Alluka could cook so good."

"Yeah, I guess. It only took her two years to get it right," Killua made that remark as if it was nothing.

"Are you kidding? This tastes like it was made by an angel."

I ate everything from the box without leaving one scrap behind. Once I was done, I rested my hand on my stomach and exhaled in satisfaction. "Hey Killua, I still have some questions about Ikalgo," I said.

"About what?"

"How did you two meet?"

Killua leaned back as he slowly, deeply breathed. He closed his eyes as a smile naturally spread. "It was back during the battle between humans and chimera ants. I was a part of a mission that had to do with infiltrating the King's palace."

"King? What happened to the Queen?"

Killua's smile disappeared. "She died giving birth to the King. In the end, he died as well."

"Oh, so that's how mankind won, huh?" I had no idea that there was this secret war going on between the species of mankind and mutated insects.

"Yes, but that's not important to the story. Ikalgo's mission was to eliminate me, and I was to kill any chimera ant threat, so of course we were enemies at first. However, when I had the chance to kill him... I didn't."

"Why?" I asked. I could feel the atmosphere getting heavy.

"I don't know. It was either because I saw that he was a cool guy and we could've been friends, or maybe something changed me from my experience of becoming a Hunter. It was right after we first met that I was attacked by another powerful enemy. Right when I was in the verge of death, Ikalgo saved my life. He betrayed his kind to become my ally." Killua spoke as he laid his hand on his chest.

"Wow. What a sweet story," I commented. "Fighting in a war like that must've been really scary."

Killua got up from his seat and softly took the bento from my hands, then turned away with his back facing me. "Fighting against the chimera ants was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. I had faced many strong foes and was standing at death's door step so many times. Yes, I guess scary is a simpler way to put it."

I couldn't believe what Killua had to go through. Becoming a Hunter at age 12 and fighting monsters. Not to mention that he came from a dysfunctional family and has a dangerous sister to protect. Has he ever lived a normal life?

"H-hey, Killua?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah?"

"Um-never mind."

"What do you want to say? Go on."

I took a deep breath. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. "I've heard Hunters always had to get their hands dirty. Did you ever had to... Kill anyone?"

Killua didn't speak, and he didn't move. I couldn't tell what kind of thoughts or feelings were running through him right now since I couldn't see his face. Did I go too far again?

"Yes," he answered. "Does that bother you?" His question took me by surprise. Did it bother me? I didn't expect him to respond that way. Although, this is a dark topic. But just because Killua was a murderer doesn't change the fact that he's a good person and my friend.

"Do you still kill people?"

"I try not to."

My heart was beating fast. I was getting too nervous. "I-I'm sure you had your reasons."

Killua looked back at me annoyed and gave a tsk. "If you're trying to sympathize me, don't. As if someone like you could ever understand." He then faced forward and began walking away from me.

My breathing hitched. Something he said triggered something in me, causing me to move forward and tug back his arm. "What did you say?" I asked sternly, managing to making him stop. "Someone like me?"

Killua ferociously swatted my hand away as he spun around. "Yeah, someone like you! An normal girl who all she has to worry about is school. You never have to fear about survival, and never had to go under the pressure of taking someone's life!" I had never seen Killua raise his voice like that toward me before. I almost recoiled, but I wasn't going to back down.

"Yeah, that's right! I'm just an average, boring girl who goes to school and stays at home, and only worries about homework, brothers, and-and... stupid boys! At least I have some decency to try to understand your pain!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I saw Killua's eyes rounded as he was taken aback. I was practically panting, but I wasn't finished. "I may not know what kind of crazy stuff you had to go through, but I'll never know unless you open up." I clutched my hands and faced down. For some reason, I lost the courage to look at him in the eyes. My throat was getting tight. "So what you've done some bad things in the past... You can't judge a person before getting to know them, which is why... I-I-" before I finished, a hand gently rested on my head. [press play] I shifted my face up to see Killua with his warm hand petting my hair. His eyes changed.

"Sorry," he apologized softly. "I said something stupid, didn't I?" It was strange, but Killua appeared to be back to normal. "You being angry doesn't suit you. You're a lot cuter when you smile."

When he took his hand back, my face started heating up. I quickly covered my red cheeks and turned away embarrassed.

"Ha ha ha!" Killua started to randomly laugh.

"What's so funny?!" I snapped.

"Y-your face!" he chuckled as he pointed to my face. "You just get more and more interesting."

"W-what?"

Killua sucked in a sum of air and exhaled it all out with a smile. "Well, classes will resume soon." He threw his handbag over his shoulder and began casually walking.

"H-hey, wait!" As I followed him in haste, that was when all of the students of the school began pouring out. It was a good thing that lunch didn't end sooner, otherwise we would've had an audience of our drama earlier.

Killua Zoldyck, even if you won't let me into your dark side, at least I get to be in your light side, and it's very warm. You told me that I kept getting more and more interesting, when I should be saying the same thing for you.