âGentle light shone through the transluscent curtains above his head, drawing the lines of his fair figure.â â a lil' bit of everything, tho mostly svt this days
I hate this.
I really hate running.
I got dragged into this and suffered for it.
But if I hadn't run with them...
And we defy it by running
Bravely, calmly, and without fail.
Believing the answer we seek lies ahead
Iâm sure of it. Jojiâs the better runner.Â
Even if thereâs no difference now, Joji will become way faster than me.
Heâll see worlds I canât see.
What is strength?
Damn it. What did I do?
What is running?
I'd better go.
What is living?
Todayâs my last day.
I have my own life to live.
Hey, Kakeru...
Don't go too far.
The place you're going is beautiful, but it's too lonely.
Itâs all beyond the wind.
My love hasnât changed.
Never has, never will. I like running. I love it.
Iâll leave all my lingering attachments on this road!
Hope resides within our hearts.
Released from everything else, I can face myself.
When Iâm running, I donât need to put on an act.
Look. The road is right before your eyes.
Why are we so desperate to keep running?
Why canât we stop doing something so painful and difficult?
For our friends. For our goals. For ourselves.
Stubbornness and pride.
I donât know. I doubt anyone knows.
Thatâs why we canât look away.
Thatâs why it sticks in our hearts.
So we run again today.
I lost hope once.
I felt betrayed by myself and the entire world.
But I was wrong.
Running returned to me in an even more beautiful form.
Can one man be so blessed?
Iâm happy.
I could cry.
I am truly happy.
Even if I can never run again, I love running!
hxh theory: the dark continent creatures have a weakness for love.
first of all, the chimera ant arc. netero has a constant theme of love, wearing a shirt with the kanji ćż on it, which means heart. hearts are often associated with love, and netero makes a heart shape with his hands later in the arc when (i think?) he is fighting meruem.
all three of the chimera ant royal guards died because they loved meruem so much and were so loyal to him. pouf and youpi both went into poisonous flames and liquified their cells in order to save meruem, which led to both of their deaths. pitou was scared that gon was going to fight meruem, which ultimately led them to attack gon, leading to their nearly immediate death (although gon was always pretty dead set on killing pitou.)
meruem died in the arms of the one he loved most: komugi. he refused to continue fighting after remembering komugi, and much of his maturity was formed through his gungi games with komugi and love for her.
now evidence no. 2, ai (nanika)
first, i would like to make a note that aiâs name has pronunciation for the kanji of ç±, which means love. alluka and nanika were both loved by no one except for killua, not even her other family members.
that is also the reason why killua gets special privileges when it comes to nanikaâs wishes. essentially, killua could probably wish for meruemâs death without a consequence.
when killua asks nanika to heal gon at the hospital, nanika continues to say âi love youâ to killua over and over again. i may be cherry picking evidence here, but iâd also like to point out that she said it in the presence of gon, who was only in his current state because he fought a dark continent creature and made a dangerous nen vow.
Gon, with his whole heart, apologizes to Killua after the Chimera Ant arc.
This whining on the floor scene is not his apology. It is a reaction to Killua bringing up the things that hurt him, after they undoubtedly talked about it, and rubbing salt into Gonâs guilt-ridden wounds. Notice that Gon doesnât complain or say, âI already said sorry!â He just gets to his knees and apologizes, again. He is owning his mistakes, the ones Killua isnât yet ready to let go of entirely, and Alluka scolds him for it. Her calling him out is the only reason Killua backtracks and says the most important line that proves a significant scene occurred between them off-screen: âYou already apologized.âÂ
In both the anime and the manga, the Japanese clearly says it: ăăèŹăŁăŠăăăŁăă
The âmouâ is the âalready,â and interestingly enough, itâs put into a list by the use of âshi,â which functions a bit like âandâ might: You apologized to me and Alluka is free because of you, by the way, she healed you.Â
Both Gonâs apology, and Allukaâs freedom, are clearly topics theyâve discussed before. Her ability is not. Why does he suddenly reveal it at this time? Unfortunately, this post isnât about that; itâs about the apology we didnât see, and more importantly, the promise we didnât hear.Â
How do we know there was a promise?
Ging Freecss told us.Â
For all his flaws as a father, Ging gave Gon some solid advice about apologizing to oneâs friends. There are rules. Itâs more than just saying âsorry.â You have to say what you did, and more importantly, make a promise: you promise them what youâll do next time, and then you keep that promise, no matter what.Â
Itâs so important to Ging that Gon understands this, because even after telling him about Kaitoâs ability, he tacks on: èŹăæčééăăăȘăïŒïŒÂ
Itâs not just âdonât mess up your apology (or you'll be sent flying)," itâs âdonât mess up the way you apologize.â The action instead of the noun.Â
On his way to Kaito, thinking about his apology, we learn that Gon is thinking about Killua too. He tells Leorio that he owes Killua an apology because he said some really terrible things to him when he got all messed up fighting the enemy. Gon is highly aware he hurt his friend. He is not oblivious.Â
When Gon finally meets Kaito, we see him put his new knowledge of apologies into action. He says sorry, and when Kaito prompts, âWhat for?â Gon explicitly lays out whatâs eating him up, âFor not being able to fight alongside you, for not being strong enough. Next time, Iâll protect you!â He carries out the apology as best he can, even inspiring an eavesdropping ant to later own his mistakes to Kaito too.
The scene with Kaito is proof that Gon knows how to apologize to his friends, and that he is serious about making up for his faults. Itâs existence is evidence that Gon apologized to Killua and made a promise to him too.
But why didnât we get to see it? In my opinion, there are two potential reasons.Â
Reason 1: Togashi wants to leave it to our imagination.Â
Itâs not uncommon for Japanese media to shy away from providing a perfectly polished emotional pay-off. Even in the romance genre, confessions are rarely explicit. The words âI love you!â might come out as, âThe moon is beautiful tonight.â We know that Gon and Killua share an intense bond, and Togashi is well aware that people view their relationship through various lenses; to keep the apology and promise hidden, it allows each fan to insert what would make them happiest into the missing scene. Itâs not a cop-out so much as a standard of Japanese storytelling. What can you read into the situation from whatâs been implied? From the subtle? Between the lines?Â
Itâs true that there might be a "right" answer in Togashiâs mind, but if heâs chosen to be vague intentionally for the sake of keeping fans content, weâll never know it.Â
Unless!
Reason 2: Togashi will reveal the promise to us at a later date.Â
It has happened multiple times throughout the series that an event occurred, but we didnât learn the details of the event until later. Just as an example off the top of my head, when Gon is knocked out in the final round of the Hunter Exam, Satotz has to tell him what happened after he wakes up. Even in that re-telling of events, another seed of mystery is planted when Gon learns that Hisoka gave up his match after whispering something in Kurapikaâs ear. We donât find out what it was for several more episodes. Togashi has deliberately kept information from readers for the purpose of future storytelling, and this might be one of those moments.
Itâs very possible weâll discover what Gonâs promise was to Killua in the future, and I wouldnât be surprised if we found out about it from a 3rd party, like Alluka.Â
So, we know an apology was said and a promise made, but why did they have to separate?Â
Thatâs tied to the promises theyâve already made that we do know about.Â
Back in episode 38 of the anime, when leaving Whale Island, Gon tells Aunt Mito heâll return after heâs met Ging. In episode 146, Killua tells Alluka heâs going to protect her from their family. As much as they want to stay together, and as much as we the viewers want them to stay together, itâs not the next right thing for them to do. Itâs painful, but they need to spend some time apart. The day will come when they can be reunited. Alluka says it, Gon and Killua say it, and the lyrics of the song overlaying their parting say it:
ăăă ćă« äžçȘèżă / Iâm here, as close as I can be
ä»ăŻ ăă ăăă ăă§ăăăă / For now, thatâs enough
ăă€ăăăŁăš èšăăăă / One day, you told me [about it] quietly,
怹ăźç¶ăă èăăăŠă / Let me hear the rest of that dream
The vows they made to each other under the stars are not forgotten. Their separation only feels so long because Togashiâs health has made producing his manga inconsistent. Send him healing vibes, and be reassured that Gon and Killua will meet again. âĄ