Chapter Text
A quiet hush in the wind as Illumi looked out the window of the car they rode in. It was a busy city, yet to Illumi, all the noises in the back blurred and fell on deaf ears. It wasn't as if he liked the gray haze surrounding the city's capital, nor did he enjoy the artificial odors and metallic taste in the air. In fact, he didn't know how to feel about anything happening around him.
"Illu," A sharp voice pierced through the air, snapping Illumi out of the blurred daze he cast upon himself. "I know city life isn't what you're used to, but baby, trust me—this will be the best, especially for you." Kikyo cooed. Her words were meant to be soft and gentle, but all Illumi heard were demands covered by hushed talk.
"I understand, mother. I don't question your actions. If you say it's best for me, then I shall take you at your word." Illumi never dared question his mother's actions; well, that's a lie itself. Illumi always had side comments about his mother's choices— he just hadn't said it out loud, knowing his mother would have a huge outburst about it. The last thing Illumi wants to deal with is stressing her out since it causes a huge commotion in the family. It's fine, he can take whatever she throws at him; it's simply how things go.
Kikyo and Illumi didn't have any conversations for the rest of the ride, as much as she 'adored' her son, she thought he was dull and would rather talk to the butler driving the car instead. Again, Illumi doesn't care; he's used to it. Experiencing such a lifeless cycle time and time again, Illumi had it memorized and had rehearsed in his head what to say to whom. It was unbearably repetitive. People say it's much more entertaining changing it up every time, but.. Is someone like Illumi capable of change?
Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, hours stretched into a long, dreadful silence. Illumi wasn't like those 'normal' children; happy, joyful, filled with life, in fact, he isn't even in the normal category. He's a dull, lifeless puppet made to only be used in darkness. That's his only purpose. To serve his parents and take care of his siblings as they took care of him.
Indistinct voices were heard not so far away from where Illumi was in the car; it was a hushed and muffled sound, but with Illumi's ears, he could hear them as clear as day. They were his signal that they were at their destination. Illumi didn't get it; he's never been enrolled in an educational center— to him, his education provided by his parents was all the knowledge he needed at his age. So why does he have to start now?
Illumi shook off the thought; he shouldn't question their actions. In this situation, they were the ones who held authority, and authority that Illumi was in no place to criticize. Without even hearing the command, Illumi stepped out of the car soon after his mother followed in pursuit. As Kikyo inhaled the air around them, she let out a sound of dissatisfaction as a grimace appeared on her face. She clicked her tongue, "What a foul stench. However, that shouldn't pose a problem now, will it, Illu?"
Illumi let out a hum of agreement, his mother smiling in return. "Now then, let's go— shall we?" Illumi nodded, following after KIkyo in response.
Rhythmic heels clicking thud thud thud. It was a repetitive noise that echoed throughout the hallway. How odd, just the pair of them walking had a few heads turn toward the sound. It was a nuisance, having to feel the eyes of strangers all over you. No big deal, what's a few eyes gonna do? From their aura alone, Illumi could tell none of them could ever dream of lifting a finger toward his way. He questioned again, 'Why does he have to be in a place such as this?' It was simply useless and an unnecessary course of action. What could he possibly learn here that he couldn't back at Kukuroo Mountain? Pathetic, Illumi thought.
Illumi was again lost in thought, how uncharacteristic of him to do so. Due to this, Illumi hadn't realized Kikyo had already stopped in her footsteps as he unconsciously kept going. After realizing, he quickly backtracked a few steps to Kikyo. Awkward, embarrassing, idiot! Thankfully, his mother didn't comment on said action. She knocked on the door; she hadn't gotten two knocks in until the door swung open by an enthusiastic individual.
"Aha! You must be the parent of this future student of YNH over here! Come in, come in! Sit anywhere!" He greeted the two of them. Kikyo's eyes examined the room. sit anywhere? Was there even a good place to sit? She scoffed. "I appreciate such a lively welcome, though, I think we'll just stand— after all, we've been sitting the whole day." The man nodded. He understood he shouldn't push the matter any further than it already is.
"Very well, now let's get to business, shall we?"
"We shal—" Kikyo hadn't even finished her sentence till,
"Amazing!" he cut her off.
This idiotic fool...
Now, would you mind filling out this form? Just a few pieces of information about your..." He looked over to Illumi, "child..." He sounded confused, almost dumbfounded. Why did he look like that? "Something the matter? If not, then you can hand over the form." Kikyo raised an eyebrow. "No, no! No matter at all! Here, you can answer this." She took the form and handed it over to Illumi.
No words exchanged between the two, Illumi filled it out in a few minutes and handed it back.
The principal's eyes immediately dashed to the gender category.
Sex: Male
He looked over at Illumi and back at the paper once more as if he had read that wrong the first time. "Alright, welcome to YKH, Illumi Sonzai."
Sonzai huh? Didn't have a nice ring to it. It wasn't anything serious. He'll tolerate the name for the time being. Illumi had discussed this with his mother beforehand, as the Zoldyck name would bring too much unwanted attention from others, so they settled on Sonzai.
"It'll take a while for us to make your student ID, as you enrolled in the middle of a semester, but we'll make it work. I'll print your schedule and hand it over in a few minutes, just wait a while."
The sound of the printer vibrating could be heard from across the room. It wasn't long before the principal came out holding a piece of paper and gave it to Kikyo.
"This will be your son's schedule for the remaining time we have for this school year. He may start tomorrow if that's suitable for your liking?" Kikyo's eyes scanned the piece of paper that was handed over to her once her eyes settled back on the principal, which was the sign of approval.
"No problem there, Illumi will start tomorrow as you say." After that, it wasn't long before they both exited the room. Kikyo's footsteps were quicker than usual, as if she were dying to get out of that cramped room. Which after she released a sigh of relief, it was obvious that that was the case in this situation.
"Alright, tomorrow is your first day. Rest well till then, you have a long day tomorrow."
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First day of school? Illumi went into deep thought, his first day being in one in his entire life. No big deal. It'll just eat time in his schedule, but it'll be no drastic change. School life, huh? Pathetic, the assassin's face scrunched before relaxing and returning to his normal expression.
Illumi wore a stark white button-down with sleeves that clung slightly to his arms, the fabric crisp and unwrinkled. For his legwear, he wore black trousers tailored with sharp, uncreased edges that made him look as precise as a blade. They hung with an almost unnatural neatness. He threw a black tie on; his outfit looked plain, didn't stand out, perfect for the occasion. He didn't intend to put on a showy appearance; it would be best if he weren't noticed at all. He had no use for unwanted attention; it was useless and unbearably annoying to deal with.
"Illumi! Time to go!" Kikyo, his mother's voice was heard from a distance.
"Coming, mother!" Illumi responded, putting on a pair of sneakers he had.
Illumi quickly opened the door and stepped outside his room. He closed the door and turned his head to his right as he felt eyes on him.
"Ah... Big brother Illumi!" Kalluto stammered, quickly snapping his gaze away as if caught staring.
Kalluto... Illumi thought.
"You should be sneakier next time, you're making good progress though. I'm proud." Illumi muttered as he turned away, going towards Kikyo's direction.
Kalluto turned his head back to Illumi. 'I'm proud' such weak words.. yet had such a strong impact.
"Have a nice first day, big brother!" Kalluto's voice cracked mid-shout.
Illumi stopped in his steps, "Thanks..." he replied as he continued walking.
Kikyo waited at the end of the staircase. "Illumi, you sure took your precious time— didn't you?" she said impatiently, which came out sounding like a scolding. "It's fine, let's take our leave."
Mother was always so impatient; she acted like she didn't have any time to spare when she clearly wasn't doing anything better. The servants constantly say he takes over his mother, but honestly, it's in looks and looks alone; he can't name a thing he has in common with her regarding personality traits at all. Though it's not like he had any similarities to his father either, so it was understandable why they chose to bring up Kikyo instead.
Again, same as yesterday, the car ride felt longer than it actually took. Boredom was a very common experience that Illumi had these past few days, maybe even weeks. There was just nothing to do at all. Illumi had thought of honing his nen abilities and improving flaws, but he hasn't had the time to do so... 'school' would only eat up more of his time and prevent him from fitting in even more. Illumi frowned at the thought.
They arrived at YNH's campus. Unlike yesterday, this time the campus was wayyy busier. Perhaps it was because they had arrived bright in the morning, nothing like yesterday. Perhaps their schedule had already ended? Ah, no use dwelling on it.
It was loud, personally, a more secluded and quieter place would be better, but there's no point in complaining. A few words won't change anything.
"Illumi," Kikyo called out to him.
Illumi turned his head in her direction, waiting for her words.
"I'm sure you'll be fine. This is nothing, plus the principal said there would be someone waiting for you. Apparently, they'll be your guide to help you familiarize the places on the campus." She sounded as if she actually cared.
Mother is right, compared to the training she put me through, this is nothing. Illumi didn't give the words the chance to slip out.
"Mn, thank you for the concern, mother. I'll see you at the end of the day." Illumi gave a short bow before making his way in. It was suffocating. He could smell the different odors of the people around him; it was an unpleasant feeling. But it was one he had to get used to.
Mother didn't lie, not like she had any reason to...
There truly was someone waiting for Illumi at the entrance. It was a young man with black hair and grey eyes. He had a slender frame; he didn't look like much. However, even from a distance, Illumi could tell; this guy was strong.
As the young man locked eyes with Illumi, he immediately walked over to him. "Pleased to meet you! You must be Illumi Sonzai, the new student, am I correct?" he wore a charismatic and overly friendly smile on his face; it was subtle, but Illumi noticed his eyes scan him as if examining something that isn't related to looks at all. The youthful fellow reached a hand out, expecting Illumi to return it and shake his hand.
Illumi's eyes passed him and looked over somewhere else as if he wasn't even worth looking at. 'Pleasure is all mine..." The irritation wasn't obvious, but apparently to the other, it was clear as day.
"Ouch, bad impression? Forgive me for being so rude, let me introduce myself; I'm Chrollo Lucilfer, but you can just call me Chrollo."
Chrollo Lucilfer, huh? Interesting.
"Sessions start in about half an hour, which means I'll have half an hour to show you around a bit. We probably can't cover the entire campus, but we can get some areas crossed out. We share some classes, including the first one, it's not by coincidence it was made like that so I could show you around easier, how fun, right?" Chrollo laughed to himself, then stopped after realizing Illumi didn't share that joy.
Tough crowd...
Chrollo cleared his throat and changed his expression to a more serious one. How should he approach this unusual person? He was so stiff... can't he loosen up a bit?
"Do you have more to say, or are you going to show me around now?" Illumi's tone was flat; it sounded as if he was uninterested in the current events happening, though... it wasn't untrue.
Chrollo stared at the other before sighing. "Alright, let's start."
Chrollo showed Illumi the basic locations, such as where the different classes were located, the cafeteria, the gymnasium, the library, and the study halls. It was pretty easy to locate them. Illumi would've been fine on his own; he could navigate around the halls with little to no trouble at all. Chrollo wasn't that much of a help. Sure, it sped up the process, but him being overly talkative and sharing more than he should, as well as constantly trying to start conversations, made the experience very annoying.
They ended up finishing the basics faster than Chrollo had imagined. He could show Illumi around more, but he chose not to.
"Your first session is history, same as me. We can walk there together, how exciting!" Chrollo said in that overly cheerful tone he had maintained the entire tour. Did he have to be in so many classes with him? Illumi was already displeased with this whole thing. Chrollo's presence made it far worse. Oh well, at least there can't be anyone who could be worse than this... right?
Right.
History class wasn't anything interesting; they discussed things that should've been obvious to everyone. They had gone through the different struggles of hunters who had explored ancient ruins, as well as the beasts that had lurked inside. They proceeded to continue with the painful process and obstacles. What a joke, these topics were for babies. Why did his mother ever enroll him here?
It would at least reach the bare minimum if they taught things that'd actually benefit them in the future; the only thing these topics would be useful for is the upcoming tests.
He scoffed, his eyes sweeping the room in a quick, cold scan. A few faces were actually taking him seriously; do they not learn these things way back? A few more looking around, and Illumi saw a familiar figure; Chrollo... the idiot... He had almost forgotten they shared the same class, what a joke. It wasn't long until Chrollo met Illumi's eyes. After confirming who it was, he smiled and threw a quick wave in his direction.
That was fast, way too fast. Chrollo turned his head as if it were a precise move. It was almost like he felt Illumi's eyes on him. Was it perhaps because Illumi was unfocused that it was easy to feel it? No, even if it were the case, no normal person would be able to notice. There's something about this guy that he just couldn't figure out.
The session ended, boring and plain. Nothing special. Completely useless.
Thankfully, he didn't share the next class with Chrollo. It could serve as a nice breather. His memory is sharp; he had already familiarize a couple of locations, including his classes, so he knew where to go with no problem at all. Before he had even stepped away from the room, he heard that same voice.
"Hey! Illumi, need help getting to your next class?" Chrollo had called out.
"I'm fine, no need. I know where to go." Illumi's voice was flat, his words held no meaning, quick and straight to the point. It was obvious he didn't wanna extend the interaction any more than it already had been.
"Ah, very well, good luck....
...
"Huh, he walked away just like that."