Welcome back, minna! Sorry for the long wait (and sorry in advance *hint hint*). I have a lot of personal stuff to deal with and I went on vacation with my relatives. It's summer, for Pete's sake! So I wrote a chapter shorter than usual, but still enjoyable, as I always intend it to be. My Assassin Boyfriend will be an entry in the Summer 2018 HunterXHunter Watty Awards for the Killua category. The voting period has now changed from August 1- October 1, so mark that on your calendars so that you can show your support by voting. If this books makes higher than 3rd place, I'll post a little surprise for your guys. It's too soon to say yet, but you'll be sure to like it. Last chapter, someone sent in a fan art. If you guys have fan art of MAB or anything involving HxH (excluding others fanfics), pm me a link to your art and I'll post it with the next upload and give you shoutout. Speaking of shoutouts, this chapter is dedicated to @ruririru. Ask, and you shall receive, is what I'm taught. Thank you all for understanding. Until the next chapter, just hang on. If you're feeling down, just remember... you are awesome. Have a fun summer! Trouble out.

When I woke up this morning, past my usual alarm time, I was surprised nobody came into my room to wake me up. Mom probably had to open store early this morning, Rin learned not to bother me, so where was Alluka? Maybe she hadn't arrived yet. I lazily closed my eyes again, laying snuggled in bed a bit longer while cocooned I'm soft blankets, but couldn't fall back to sleep. This was probably due to the anticipation that someone would come knocking at my door, either Rin notifying me Alluka's arrival, or Alluka herself after Rin let's her in. I listened carefully for someone to call out my name from my front yard, but not even the sound of a single car pulling over arrived.

When Alluka is set on something, she usually means it. She always takes things seriously, so she couldn't have forgotten, or gave up so easily without showing up. I pulled my phone under my blanket to check. No new messages. A part of me wanted to text her what's up, but I still didn't feel like going to school today. I wouldn't want her to come out of her way and be tardy just for me. She probably went straight to school and would come by later. However, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that she didn't come.

An hour and a half had gone by. Rin should be at school by now. I'm all alone in the house. I sighed, opening the flap of my covers so that my face could breathe and get a dose of sunshine. How am I going to explain to my mom that Killua broke my heart? She probably won't ever trust my judgement on boys again. It would be harder for me to hang out with Alluka and Gon now if Killua is around them. Although, I don't think Gon and Killua will be making mends any time soon. And when will I see Liz again? Everything just seems to be falling apart.

I drifted back to sleep a unannounced, then came back to due to a tapping sound against glass. I groggily looked toward my window to find Shiki, hanging on to a rope which I assumed was a grappling hook attached to the roof. We made eye contact, which motivated her to tap faster and louder. I sneezed and cover my head. I might've heard a sigh before she cracked my window and rolled it open.

"Why couldn't you people knock on the front door like normal people?" I groaned. I could taste the bad after taste of my dry mouth from not brushing my teeth this morning. Disgusting.

She stepped inside. "I wanted to be polite and have you invite me into your humble home like a civil person, but you forced my hand."

She gripped my blanket and yanked the whole thing off my bed like presto. Too much cold and light exposure too fast. "What the heck?!"

"Get off your lazy butt and change your clothes. We're going out," she firmly stated. Looking up at her with her hands on her hips, her straight back and eyes determined-like, almost reminded me of Lizz whenever she had to force me out of bed on my worst days.

I sit up annoyed. I didn't care about my tangled, messiah hair, or about anything for that matter. "What? why? Where are we- why do you care?"

She walked over to my closet and skimmed through my wrack, picking out some winter clothing. "I care about Killua, which is why you're gonna get him back," she said as she tossed my clothes at my face.

"Get him back?" I removed the sweater from my head to breathe. "Wait, but I thought... Are you making any sense right now?" I was so confused by her own contradictions that I couldn't even form full sentences. Was she teasing me? "First you tried to get rid of me, next you tried so hard over the past couple of months to win Killua over, and now you're going to help me get him back? Who are you?"

Shiki did another one of her intolerable sighs. "Do you really want me to say it out loud? KILLUA STILL LOVES YOU." She approaches closer to my bed. "He was a lot happier with you than he ever was with me... you two are meant to be together, and I've come to accept that now."

"Shiki..." I was moved by Shiki's statement, and she sounded so sincere, but I was having a hard time believing it after the way Killua treated me. "But if he still loves me, then why did he act so coldly and started dating you?"

"That... mm..." Shiki looked down, as if she could find the right response somewhere on the ground. "That's my fault."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that one student Ienzo?"

"What does he have to do about this?"

"Do you remember how and when you first met him? How long he's been attending our school?"

"Of course. We've been friends for... um..." I tried remembering when we met, but as I searched through the dark void of my mind, I couldn't remember how we met either. No time, no place, not even a fragment of a conversation starter. All I could remember was that he's always been around Killua. I know he has been in Killua's class for a while, so I must've met him through that, but why does it feel like that was not the case? Now that I think I about it, I don't remember ever seeing him last year. "Well, he's always been around, you know?"

"No, he hasn't," Shiki shook her head. "In fact, he's only been in our school for about a month."

"What?! Are you sure? It feels like he's been with us much longer than that."

"You only feel that way because he manipulated your memories, making you think that he's a part of our group."

"Wait-what?"

"Ienzo's not who you think he is. His real name is Zexion Visconte, an S-class Hunter who went rogue a few years ago. He's a special Nen master who can erase, distort, and even forge memories just by touching people. Illumi hired him to manipulate Killua and Alluka's memories to make them come home." My skin went cold at the mention of Illumi, and not because Shiki left my window open. Just the memory of that guy gave me chill. "In order to make his mission successful, he also had to change the memories of those around him. That's why you, Lizz and Gon think that you had a relationship that never really existed. He got closer and closer to you guys so that he could alter your memories little by little."

"How come you know all this? Why hasn't your mind been brainwashed?"

"It's not brainwash, it's memory rewriting. And I knew who he was from the start, which was why I kept my distance from him and still have my original memories. I didn't know what he was up to until later."

I rested my head in my hands, trying to sort out all of the pieces of information. Something like this only made sense in kids tv shows and movies, but the more I thought about it, the more things became clear. This could explain why Killua began acting so distant from me, not because he lost interest, but because he literally didn't know who I was. He's been losing memories of me and other parts of his life, which is has been changing him into a different person. This also explained Ienzo's awkward touching habit. Every time he touched us, he's been wiping our memories so that we would never suspect him. However, one thing didn't make sense to me. If Ienzo, aka Zexion, tried to wipe us from Killua's memories, why did he not only remembered Shiki, but thought of her as his girlfriend instead? "Shiki... you didn't play any part of this, did you?"

Shiki looked away from me hesitantly, which already said a lot. After a moment of thick silence, she finally broke it in a soft voice. "I'm not asking for forgiveness."

Somehow, I was already out of bed and instantaneously slapped her across the face, hard enough for her neck to twist. She returned facing me properly, a fresh red hand print glowing on her cheek. "Feeling better?"

"You lied to me!" I closed my hand tightly, feeling my hand sting after slapping her without holding any strength back. I wasn't even sure if I meant to slap her, but I had no regrets.

"I lied about a lot of things."

"I can't believe you! You knew that someone was messing with our memories and you let it happen! Not only that, but you made Killua fall in love with you without his awareness. You played with his heart. Do you know how sick that is? And I thought we could've actually been.. I thought we were..."

She pressed her palm lightly against the hot mark on her cheek. "I know what I did was wrong, and I regret it, but I understand that if you won't forgive me, all I want to do now is set things right."

***

Throughout the whole thirty minute cab ride to the forest, I continued to stare at the upset expression of my reflection of my window, refusing to look anywhere near Shiki's direction.

"Right here," Shiki instructed the driver, once we've reached the point that was closest to the Killua's airship.

The cab driver slowly pulled over to the side of the road. "That will be 18.75."

"I'll pay for it," I said as I pulled the cash out of my wallet without giving Shiki the chance to have a say in it. I didn't want her to do anything for me. I wanted her to know that there was no way for her to atone for this so that she would always carry this guilt, that is if she's got any empathy left in her.

We got out of the cab and it drove off as we advanced into the almost familiar woods. The place looked different now with the trees asleep, their green leafy branches replaced with patches of white. I trudged faster so that I could be ahead without seeing her. Just feeling her presence made my blood boil.

"You don't want to talk to me, that's fine," she said nonchalantly. "But do you at least know what you're going to do or say? How in the world are you going to change him back?"

"I'll jog his memory somehow," I grunted.

"By what, showing him pictures and telling him stories of your dates?"

"Alluka still remembers me. He'll listen to her if we tell him together. He'll listen to you too, which is the only reason why you're here with me. You're going to confess to Killua what you've done to him. Then after that, you're going to apologize to Lizz and Gon for roping them into this mess."

"Yes, ma'am..." I could feel her eyes roll behind me. Just as I suspected, she wasn't truly sorry. She never was. All she cared about was gaining Killua's favor again.

"Hey, as soon as all of this is over, I don't ever want to see you again." Shiki didn't have any retorts to throw back. I hope she took that seriously. She could at least understand and respect that. Killua would say the same, once he turns back to his old self.

We continued to walk in the icy cold, dead thicket in silence.

When we made it to the clearing, there was the blimp with a thick sheet of snow over the balloon. It looked like nobody has shoveled it since it first began to snow. We walked up the ramp, brushing the snow off the soles of our boots. I knocked on the door and waited for a response. "Hello?" I called out and knocked again, harder and louder. "Killua? Alluka."

Shiki tried her phone. "Killua blocked my number. No surprise there."

"Do you think they went out for grocery shopping before they left?" I suggested, trying to sound hopeful.

"Probably... if that's the case, we should wait here until they come back."

"In this weather?! Nah-uh, I'm calling Alluka," I said, already speed-dialing her."

"Oh, yeah. That's right. You're not accustomed to extreme temperatures."

The call did not go through. Instead of ringing, it went straight to that automatic voice that notifies that the number I am trying to reach is currently unavailable. "That's weird... did Alluka shut down her cell phone?" Just as I looked at her contact number oddly, the screen changed to an incoming caller, my phone's ringer nearly jumpscaring me. It was Mia.

"Hey, Mia," I answered with a voice as normally as I could sound.

"Yuki, are you and Alluka okay?" she responded with worry in her voice.

I scratch the back of my head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I haven't been replying to your texts, I've been dealing with... wait, why were you also asking about Alluka?" I hold my phone closer to my ear.

"You haven't been to school lately and now she's absent today. I was wondering if there's a flu spreading around or something. Are you guys still going to the dance? Hello? Yuki... are you still there?"

I ended the call.

I turned around to Shiki, who must've heard parts of the conversation for she was already waiting for what I had to share. "... Alluka didn't go to school today."

"Yeah, so what? It's been a hard week for all of us. She's probably decided to take a day off to relieve stress or something."

"No, not Alluka. She's a good student, and she never misses a day." I walked off the ramp and started pacing in the snow. "Yesterday, Alluka said she would stop by my house before school today, but she never showed up this morning. You don't think they already left, do you?!"

For a millisecond, Shiki's face showed concern, but she marched down on the snow, indifferent. "No way. Why would their blimp still be here if they've left?"

"There are other ways to travel, Shiki. What if the weather report changed and they decided to take a train or something?"

Right on cue, as if to voluntarily to answer my questions, my phone rang again. This time, an unknown caller.

I hesitated, for unidentifiable callers were never a good sign for me lately. The memory of Illumi's audio voice played in my ears. He's back. What if he's calling me again, only this time, he already had Alluka I'm his clutches? A part of me didn't want to find out who this was. Hesitantly, I pressed answer and said nervously, "Hello?"

"Yuki-chan!"

"Alluka?" I checked my phone again to make sure I read it right. She had panic in her voice. "Alluka, what happened to your phone? Where are you? What's wrong?"

"It's Onii-chan. Something is really really wrong with him. He... he's going to take us back home!"

"What?"

"I'm calling in a phone booth because he broke my phone. He didn't like me trying to call any of my friends. Yuki-chan," she whispered discreetly. "he's not himself. He just said that we have to go home because that's where we belong, but I know that's not true. I tampered the airship to buy us some time, but we're going to ride a boat tomorrow at noon. We'll be at the warehouse, Dock eight."

"Alluka, slow down," I paced faster in circles around, snowflakes falling around me faster.

"I'm scared, Yuki-chan. I don't want to go back in that room... I can't. I want to stay here with you and my friends. I love school," she whimpered.

"You're not going anywhere, Alluka. I promise, we'll save your brother. We'll save you both."

There was a gasp, followed by a pause. "That's him. Please, Yuki-chan... you're the only one who can help us."

"Alluka? Alluka?!" The call ended.