Kusuko came to be with my split ability. The split has 100% of the main body's power, but also has random differences from me. The "me" in your memory is different from the "me" in Kurapika's memory, because he changed your memories. Your past memories should only have had your hair color changed. The blank memories are things you filled in yourself, so it's hard for you to find the logical errors.
Chrollo was thinking and processing.
Huh? A split that has 100% of my power can exist? Huh? Can you really change memories so perfectly without it being too overpowered?
Saiki Kusuo could only see Chrollo's deep thought, and continued his explanation: To perfectly disguise itself, the split went and knocked out everyone who knows me. But recently, because it noticed my will, it knocked the changed memories in other people's memories back to what they were.
"It can even knock them back?"
Saiki Kusuo: Yeah, you're surprised too, right? It actually did something so much trouble to others. You've been by my side, so it's hard to do anything. So now you're probably the only one who thinks I have white hair. If you want, I can have it knock you out after it gets back.
"Please, let me keep my current memories." Chrollo was decisive. No one wants to be knocked on the head and have their memories changed, even if they know their current memories have been changed.
Okay, I'll make sure it gets my permission before using its powers from now on. Another obvious difference between the split and me is its personality. That's why it made some choices that I would never make while I was gone. Now I've already talked to it, and it will be very good.
Chrollo, who had been beaten and knocked out: You don't know what a bad cat it is. It will take over your body...
Wait a minute.
"Saiki," Chrollo said seriously.
What's wrong?
"Are you aware that your body has already been taken over?"
It's switching, I agreed to it. Do you still doubt it? I don't even doubt it.
"...I don't understand."
Just think of it as my legs, the split is...
"Ah, I see."
Hey, I haven't even started explaining yet. Do I have to use this example for you to understand right away? You also know that your legs don't always listen, right?
Shalnark and Shizuku on the side obviously didn't understand what the two were talking about. They looked at each other confused. Chrollo said, "Shalnark, help me take off his antenna."
"Huh? I finally got it attached. Don't you need it anymore?"
"I don't need it. It's not him."
Shalnark took off the antenna.
Chrollo's hands could finally leave the book. A page of abilities was held by a bookmark, so the same-frequency telepathy was still in use.
Having his antenna removed and his body free again, Saiki Kusuo stretched. The cat group turned into a cat stick. He wanted to roll over, but found Shalnark sitting next to him, staring at him, playing with the antenna he had just taken off and another creature - a cat's tail.
Oh well, I'll just be lazy.
Saiki Kusuo lay down lazily, sideways, like a cat that gave up halfway through stretching.
He could look up and see Chrollo's messy appearance on the sofa next to him.
Chrollo went to so much trouble, bringing this suffering on himself, because he thought the cat was some creature that stole his superpowers. Although it acted on its own...
Oh dear, why would a normal person think about me? Even if the sky falls, I won't die.
Chrollo: So confident, even though you've already lost your ability to resist... Wait, the one who fought me just now was him in his normal state without any Nen?
Lost the ability to resist... The intensity of the battle just now... The cat body must be a transformation ability used by the split, then Saiki and it switched souls. When souls switch, abilities also transfer, which means the cat is still a normal cat... Is it normal? It should be like during the attack, even without any powers, it could still push open the Zoldyck family's door.
Maybe it was because of the body, but Chrollo also felt that his brain was a little slow. He finally came to a conclusion after a long time.
What kind of monster have I been protecting these past few days? I didn't need to protect it at all? The Zoldyck's basic training intensity is a bit unexpected.
Saiki Kusuo's thoughts slowly picked up from before: but anyway, thank you for thinking about me.
Chrollo then came back to his senses: "You're thanking me?"
Does it sound strange? I can understand, since you do all kinds of bad things.
Chrollo chuckled: "Don't be so stereotypical. We, the Troupe, do charity work. I've heard countless thanks. I'm just surprised I've never heard you say it. It's rare for someone as proud as you to say thank you."
The Troupe doing charity work is an even more shocking accident.
"I also have a goal. Like after the ship docked back then, if I didn't watch you, everyone would be in mortal danger."
Mind your own business. The superpower-user will handle it himself.
"That's hard to believe."
Then, as a reward, I have a question.
A reward presented as a question? Chrollo closed his eyes. Saiki isn't strong with Nen now, he doesn't have much value himself; he's not white-haired, his family status is unknown, probably not as good as Illumi.
What can he bring? He actually had expectations for this: "Ask."
You stole Shalnark's ability, right?
"Ah... It's borrowing." Automatic Control can only be used on the ability holder themselves. Chrollo took Shalnark's ability. The biggest advantage of borrowing this ability is that it can break through mind control. Actions are performed by pre-set instructions, so they won't be detected in advance. Although the goal can't be hidden as flexibly as a person, the benefits outweigh the harm overall.
Don't steal it, give it back quickly.
"It's borrowing," Chrollo corrected. "To achieve my goal, it's part of the plan to borrow an ability. I'll return it to him later."
Isn't it already over now? What else do you have to do besides return the ability right away?
"Don't worry, Shalnark and I aren't in a hurry."
Saiki Kusuo: ...
"Why remind me of this? What will happen if I don't return it for a while? I'm right next to him."
Having a paralyzed human next to you is even less useful, right?
"Or... After all this time, do you want to know my abilities? Can you learn them through observation?"
I don't care about that stuff. Your abilities are just bookmarks and a death note, right?
Chrollo choked: "Who told you about the death note?"
Shizuku raised her hand from the side: "Boss, did the cat also say your ability is a death note?"
It was indeed Shizuku who said it.
Chrollo didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It's not because the ability was put into my book that people died. Although that had some effect, the real reason the ability holders died was because of other people."
Just because the killings weren't done by you doesn't mean you can get away with it. You were the one who gave them the permanent silence skill.
"Of course it's not related to me. No matter how you judge it in court, it won't be related to me."
So it's completely a Death Note, isn't it?
Chrollo: It's hard to explain.
Just give the ability back.
Saiki Kusuo's tail reacted to his body's instincts, waving and wanting to slap the sofa, but politely stopped before making contact.
He felt a little annoyed. This was the first time he had actively advised someone to do something, and he felt troubled himself. That's why he said it was a reward. If he had his superpowers, he could easily solve it with mind control.
"Why? Why are you so sure that something will happen to the ability holders in the book, as if you know the future?"
Stop being so noisy. Return the ability to Shalnark right away and never take your team members' abilities again. This is the advice from a prophet.
"..." What's suddenly going on?
Shalnark had been listening on the side, but he couldn't hear Saiki Kusuo's thoughts. He was a little confused: "Boss, what did the cat say?"
"He said to return your ability."
"Hahaha, there's nothing to do right now, and there's no danger around. It's okay. Besides, Boss, your body hurts all over and it's not convenient."
"...I'll just return it to you now, Shalnark."
"Huh? Okay."
Oh dear, has he finally realized it? I'll definitely only remind him this once.
It was because Saiki Kusuo knew what Chrollo's regretful and hateful look would be like in the future that he reminded him so bluntly. He couldn't help but complain: Regret taking a team member's ability for the rest of your life! This guy has been the boss for so long that his life has been too smooth. That's why he took Shalnark's ability to use so easily, not afraid of harming others.
Chrollo and Shalnark were playing the hand-pressing game to return the ability, while listening to Saiki Kusuo's thoughts: "In my opinion, you're worrying too much. Every member of our team is strong. Didn't I live well for almost a year after losing my power with Nen? But you have good intentions too."
Looking back, there were countless times when their lives were hanging by a thread. Now he says everything was safe. This guy is really arrogant.
Chrollo: "...You're the one who's more arrogant, actually believing in a split that's lurking by your side. You also had a lot of surprises in your previous answers. Wasn't it him who was doing other things everywhere in your identity?"
He guessed a lot. But this is only a very small problem, much smaller than your problem. Cherish the people in your Troupe now, there aren't many left.
"How unexpected, that one day someone would teach me about the Troupe's affairs. Do you understand it well? Through everyone's thoughts?"
It's this attitude of thinking you've already done your best that's so arrogant. You won't change the Troupe's rules, right? But all rules should change as society and groups advance.
"Those are the rules in principle. They're the core of the spider."
What kind of principle is killing original members to join the Troupe? Promoting renewal?
"You guessed right. As long as they're the same kind of person, they can join the Troupe. If there's a very excellent fighter of the same kind who wants to join, what should we do? Just let someone else leave? Naturally, we'll have a duel to choose the best, constantly replacing the old limbs so the spider can live forever, including me..."
What is natural about killing longtime friends and bringing their heads as a sign of joining? People would only hate the person who killed their companions and hold revenge and memorials. Where does the team's cohesion lie if you're gone?
"Unfortunately, the Troupe is like that. Cohesion is another instinct that's active in our blood, making us excited in dangerous situations. It's definitely not limited to a specific person--me. My existence has never been important. The leader can be replaced according to the rules. Emotion is something we have to remove."
Hey, there's an idiot here who ignores friendship.
"It seems you knew a lot through mind-reading earlier. That's right, the current Troupe is too close because most of us are childhood friends, but everything will slowly be updated and replaced in the future, becoming a true, eternal spi..."
Eternal my foot. If you follow the original path, you'll definitely all be wiped out.
Chrollo: "The so-called original path that didn't happen was the non-existent path that was avoided by the spider's rules. Aren't you being very arrogant by so definitively denying our efforts?"
People without the ability to predict the future should carefully foresee the current situation. People without superpowers can't eat regret medicine.
"I've lost many companions on my way here. Regret? We never bother with that."
Saiki Kusuo: You're really arrogant.
Chrollo: "You're arrogant too."
Saiki Kusuo: Superpower-users can be arrogant. I know too much.
Chrollo: ...
Even though he could still reply to Saiki that he was now a normal person, Chrollo realized that this conversation was approaching the level of a 3-year-old arguing, and they shouldn't continue.
"Oh dear, what big guts."
"Sigh, let's stop fighting." Chrollo covered his face with the book again.
"What big guts to dare argue with 'me', or even fight? Even put handcuffs on 'me'. You must be prepared to return to nothingness, right?"
Huh? The Thief's Secret was moved down. Chrollo looked at the ceiling.
Everyone else looked up in the same direction.
Standing in mid-air with his arms crossed, looking down at everyone, was Saiki Kusuo.
The pink-haired male Saiki Kusuo, needs no extra prefixes, suffixes, or parentheses for explanation besides the name Saiki Kusuo!
"Saiki Kusuo" landed.
The sofa Chrollo was on moved to the side naturally, two meters away. Including the length of the sofa, they were three meters apart.
"Huh? Did the sofa suddenly move?" Shizuku noticed.
Kusuko: "Oh really? I didn't even know there was a sofa over there if no one told me."
Saiki Kusuo: You were the one who moved it, right?
Kusuko stuck out his tongue, and knelt very respectfully in front of the short sofa. He put one hand around the tail that Shalnark had been teasing just now, and put the other hand on Saiki Kusuo's pink cat paw, and switched bodies with Saiki Kusuo.
His body fell back naturally for a moment. Before his face touched the cat's body, Saiki Kusuo woke up in his own body.
The complete normal-person version of Saiki Kusuo has officially returned from this moment!
"So now, who will tell me why everyone here has disappeared? Did they find the final region? Where is it?" Chrollo switched to strategy game mode in a second.
Click. Sorry for the normal pause, because I can't be completely normal while still on the Dark Continent.
Saiki Kusuo told them the current situation accurately.
"It seems time is a bit tight. It's best to leave right away." Chrollo held onto the sofa and slowly stood up. Shalnark immediately helped him.
It doesn't hurt anymore?
"Boss, it doesn't hurt anymore?" Shalnark asked.