The moment her opponent stepped into the ring for today's match, A Luo knew she was no match for them.
So after being knocked down hard twice, she sensibly stayed sprawled in the ring and played dead to spare herself another beating.
Once the match was over, Killua, who had just finished thrashing his own opponent, looked at A Luo with utter contempt.
A Luo knew there was no hiding the fact that she had played dead instead of giving it her all, and she had prepared herself for his scorn.
But when the moment actually came, even her skin, as thick as a city wall, couldn't quite withstand it. Her face turned as red as a tomato!
"Oh, come on! I couldn't beat them anyway. Playing dead meant getting hurt less. That's what a smart person would do, okay?"
A Luo limped over to Killua and shamelessly draped herself over the little squirt, clinging to him while spouting excuses as though she had every right.
Whenever Killua tried to pull her off, she would wail that it hurt.
In the end, Killua had no choice but to drag the injured little girl back to his room at Heavens Arena.
A Luo sprawled on his little bed and motioned for Killua to put medicine on her injuries.
In exchange, she promised to bring him her mother's specialty cherry mousse cake and apple pie tomorrow.
While Killua applied the medicine, A Luo couldn't help mulling things over.
Every time she got hurt, she took advantage of her softhearted mother, hoping to spend a few days lying around and slacking off.
But she also knew that Malena genuinely ached for her every time. By the next day, her newfound mother's eyes would be terribly swollen.
So after repeatedly exploiting Malena's maternal love, A Luo really was starting to feel guilty.
Maybe I should have a proper talk with Fan'en Reno?
While A Luo was lost in thought, a sudden stab of pain shot through her arm.
"Ow, that hurts... hurts... hurts... Killua, are you trying to murder me?!"
"That's what you get for ordering me around! This is how I apply medicine. Besides, how am I supposed to work out the bruising in your arm without pressing hard?"
"Move! I'll do it myself!"
"No!"
When she got home that evening, Malena was in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family.
A Luo went straight into Fan'en Reno's room.
"Dad, I lost today."
Standing in the doorway, A Luo spoke with a thoroughly sheepish look.
Fan'en Reno turned at her words and watched his daughter with a faint, knowing smile, saying nothing.
The man lying in bed actually had a very handsome face, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a high, straight nose.
Even though seven long years confined to bed had left his complexion sickly pale.
When Fan'en Reno smiled, he could still seem as radiant as the morning sun.
Malena had told her the story of how she and Fan'en Reno fell in love.
At eighteen, she had followed her older brother to Heavens Arena to watch its famous matches.
There, she had seen Fan'en Reno, still a star fighter back then, in the ring. His hearty smile after knocking out his opponent had captivated her, and from that moment on, she had eyes for no one else.
If Fan'en Reno's smile was still so charming now, pale and frail as he was, it was easy to imagine how captivating he must have been in his prime... no wonder Malena had fallen head over heels and devoted herself to him, staying by his side through everything.
"And?"
Fan En looked at his daughter, who was putting on an obedient act in the doorway, and asked unhurriedly.
A Luo said:
"Dad, with my current strength, I can only make it to the hundredth floor of Heavens Arena at best. Every time I come home covered in injuries, Mom cries all night because she feels so bad for me. You don't want me getting beaten up all the time either, do you?"
Fan'en Reno stared steadily at the crafty little girl before him.
In the end, all he could do was let out a long, helpless sigh!
"Fine. Starting tomorrow, you can go back to special training! But Lola, remember this. A martial artist has to be tempered through countless battles to grow. If all you do is fear pain, death, and injury, you won't even qualify to become a true martial artist!"
A Luo stared blankly at the frail man on the bed, stunned by the unwavering determination shining in his eyes.
Honestly, if that accident hadn't happened, Fan'en Reno surely would have grown into an expert who could rival any Hunter!
Because of that little exchange, A Luo's mind was still in turmoil when she returned to her room for bed that night.
Her heart was a tangle of emotions, too, and she tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
In the end, she actually developed insomnia!
Yesterday, a certain assassin had forced her to watch a horror movie, and now she couldn't sleep again... A Luo let out a heavy sigh.
"Ugh! Kids who keep sleeping badly probably won't grow very tall. I really can't keep staying up like this."
At that same moment, at the Phantom Troupe's base in Meteor City.
Feitan, the little shorty too absorbed in torture to bother sleeping, let out an enormous sneeze!
Machi, who had come in to relay the leader's orders, paused on her way out and remarked flatly.
"Someone's talking about you."
"Your intuition again?"
"Intuition!"
"Tch!"
In the blink of an eye, two years flew by.
A Luo was ten.
Two years ago, Killua and A Luo had been about the same height.
But A Luo had shot up over those two years. With her age advantage and girls developing earlier, Killua soon began to fall noticeably behind her in height.
Always fiercely competitive, Killua was extremely bothered by this.
So his favorite pastime became thrashing A Luo in training and matches, prompting Fan'en Reno to remark more than once that he wanted a peerless prodigy like Killua for a son!
A Luo: "..."
That childish brat!
Life had continued like this until last week. Over those two years, even though Killua only entered matches sporadically, he had still reached the two-hundredth floor of Heavens Arena long before A Luo.
She was still miserably hovering around the hundred-and-fiftieth floor!
But now that Killua had reached the two-hundredth floor, it also meant the time to part had arrived.
Perhaps Killua had been deliberately keeping out of the Zoldyck Family's sight.
Over those two years, A Luo hadn't seen any member of the Zoldyck Family other than Illumi.
As for Illumi?
After visiting Killua, he would merely stop by A Luo's place to wash up and rest.
Whenever that happened, A Luo, the actual occupant, could only curl up trembling on the sofa and make do for the night, while obediently offering up her entire stash of snacks.
Perhaps it really was because they were brothers?
Illumi's food preferences were rather similar to Killua's. Malena's specialty desserts were not only favorites of Killua's but very popular with Illumi as well.
He could eat several large bags every time!
Fortunately, this didn't happen very often. Illumi had only visited four or five times over those two years.
On the day Killua left, Malena made plenty of his favorite desserts and dishes for him to take home.
Meanwhile, on Kukuroo Mountain.
At the Zoldyck Family estate, Kikyo, dressed in a scarlet kimono, shrieked with her electronic eyes flashing and sent the butlers running in circles, all to welcome her beloved son home.
Holed up in his room, Milluki stuffed his mouth with potato chips while working his way through the newly released dating sim for nerds-[Love Story].
The flickering computer screen illuminated a fat face, resentment flashing in the little eyes squeezed together by its flesh.
"That annoying brat! Why is he coming back so soon? Mom even had the house specially cleaned to welcome him. Hah, ptooey!"
Meanwhile, aboard a luxury cruise ship, Illumi was at work, looking every bit an elegant, impeccably polite young gentleman.
After brushing past the host of the banquet, he murmured expressionlessly to himself:
"Little Kill should be home around this time tomorrow. I'd better finish work quickly. Then I can make it in time to welcome him at the main gate."
A quarter of an hour later, however, the host behind him clutched his chest and collapsed in agony.
Realizing something was terribly wrong, the attendants immediately rushed over in a fluster to give the man first aid.
The entire banquet instantly descended into panic.
As for Killua, whom his family was thinking about, he was sitting in a café with A Luo. Each had a small slice of cake in front of them, and they silently chewed on their drink straws.
Before you continue