I looked behind me as I boarded the ship and smiled at mother. She was quickly wiping some stray tears away. I watched in scorn at how the people around her regarded her, almost as if she wasn't there, often stopping to whisper a few remarks about her clothing, hair, accessories, etc. I secretly stuck my tongue out at them all.

We had to wait a couple of hours for the ship to arrive, even though this ship was meant only for the people taking the exam, it had been delayed in the harsh waters surrounding our small island. Several people including Aito and I were attending from our small island.

As I looked around the ship I noticed most of examinees were men, just as mother had said. I obviously still wore my disguise. I had become so used to it after wearing it for four years that I just didn't feel comfortable without. Even though I knew the real world was different, I couldn't help but shy away from society.

I giggled silently as Aito stuck out his chest in an attempt to look more intimidating. Unlike me, Aito was confident in himself and made friends really easily. He had a crowd of people surrounding him at our departure, but I had only mother and I was happy with just her.

Everyone kept looking our way and snickering, whispering to each other. I instinctively averted my eyes and moved closer to Aito. We sat down in a corner and I took out my sketchbook.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Aito rolling his eyes at me. He didn't have any hobbies and found me annoying when I drew, because it was a waste of time to him. He stood up and brushed his shirt and pants off.

Turning to me, he said, "I'm gonna go talk to people and get a feel for the exam. Some of the old-timers might have helpful tips. You should go and make some friends."

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, flipping open my sketchbook. I had it for two years already, but it felt like my entire life was stored in the small book.

I smiled as I flipped through the book. The first picture was one of our small garden, including all the animals that cluttered it. Rabbits, gophers, squirrels, etc. Bunnies were just my favourite. They were soooo cute!

I never got bored of looking through my pictures and reminiscing about them all and how it felt to draw them. Just as I turned to a blank page to draw something new, I saw a pair of feet stop in front of me. Judging by this person's shoes, they weren't exactly rich, but they were better off than our family. They probably weren't from our island, as the shoes were made of leather, something that was rarely shipped into town.

I looked up in a spilt second, and saw a chubby man with tanned skin, a large nose, and caterpillar eyebrows looking down at me.

"Hello, my name is Tonpa," he grinned, "You don't seem much like the talking type, but want to know something about the Hunter Exam?"

"Umm sureee…." I said and watched him sit next to me cautiously.

Too close.

I inched away slowly, hoping he didn't notice. He didn't seem to, he was too busy telling me about how me had taken the exam thirty-something times, (I wasn't really paying attention). He continued to blabber on and on nonchalantly about the exam, occasionally looking at me to see my reaction.

I spotted Aito across the room talking a couple of people, and decided to join him.

"Excuse me," I muttered to Tonpa and stood up, shoving my sketchbook back into my bag.

"Hey," I said to Aito and the small group that had gathered around him.

He grinned at me, probably glad that I had decided to come out of my emo corner. "Everyone, this is my kid brother Michi," he said, pointing at me ridiculously. Everyone stared straight at me, their eyes scraping up and down my body. I felt heat spread across my face starting at the bridge of my nose. Gaaaaaaah why must I be like this..? How embarrassing…

"Ummm…. Hi…. Guuuuuuys…." I tended to draw out my words a lot when I was confused or embarrassed.

"So why are you guys taking the exam?" One of the men asked, (I suspected he was part of the ship's crew). Aito excused me from giving an answer.

"For the money. We're really poor back home, that's al there is to it, really." He said, putting his arms behind his head.

The others all started telling each other about their reasons to join, which were all pretty cliché, (It was my mother's final wish, it was all I ever wanted to do, etc.)

I eventually got bored and wondered off to explore the ship. I walked into a room labeled 'Captain's Quarter' and found a young man with a HUGE moustache steering the ship.

"Well hello there," he said politely without turning around.

I walked up to him slowly and stared out to the sea.

"Hey," I replied.

I guess he sensed that all I wanted to do was stare at the ocean, so he kept silent as I did so, for which I was grateful. After about ten minutes I asked him,

"Are we there yet?"

He chuckled heartily at my childish question.

"Almost," he replied, adding, "Need something to do? You could help around the ship."

"Sure," I said, " I'm really good at cleaning anyway."

He called one of his crewmembers in to take me away.

I sighed and leaned against a wall. I had been cleaning ship windows, mopping wood floors, and dusting cluttered shelves for at least two hours. I pushed the hair out of my face and out of the corner of my eye, saw something that made me do a double take.

A really tall man was looking, (staring), at me bluntly, (creepily).

His attire was really strange, consisting of mostly white clothing, and his face had painted on teardrop and star on it. He had red hair with magenta streaks in it, and it was gelled up into a wavy style. I guess he was trying to look like a jester or clown. What creeped me out about him the most was his eyes. First of all, they were yellow, (who has yellow eyes!?), secondly, he had this look that said 'I know something you don't want me to know'. His eyes on me made me shiver. He smiled at me, showing his teeth, (wow, they were really white!), and opened his eyes a little wider. I immediately felt like something was crawling up my back. I felt a tremor go from my head to my toes as I turned around and speed-walked into the other direction, searching for Aito. This was definitely one of the weirdest experiences I had ever had….

Finally, finally, we were at the building where the Hunter Exam would be happening. It was so confusing to get here, (although I let Aito do all the map-reading and clue-solving). It was quite a disappointment how rundown the building looked.

"Aito, are you sure this is the right place? What if we walk in and no one's there? What if it's a trap?" I fretted, voicing my worries to no end.

"Shut up Mihari!" Aito said, "I'm the one who got us here! Have some faith in me!

"I find it hard…" I muttered. Aito was never to be trusted. When we were little, we used to play hide and seek. Countless times, Aito had gotten distracted and forgotten to find me, leaving me waiting in my hiding place for hours at a time!
One time, I hid in a closet, and Aito didn't find me, (I didn't come out because I was afraid he would mock me for sucking at the game.) Yes, I was a dull child. After a couple of hours, I passed out. Mother said later that if I had been found in a mere hour after she actually found me, I could have died. So much for having faith.

I saw Aito eying a yet another girl and I elbowed him in the ribs, frowning.

Wow, the girls in this city seemed to have no shame! They were all walking around in the tightest fitting clothes, and I swear instead of shorts, some of them were wearing underwear. Aito seemed to enjoy this very much though, the little pervert.

The amount of people I had seen was ridiculous. I didn't even have time to glance at everyone's face..! And yet… no one seemed to care what I was doing, and no one looked at me or Aito strange… It was a nice change from our city in which everyone needed to analyze your every detail with a freakin' microscope.

After Aito had expertly told the man at the counter a code he had managed to discern, we were led into an elevator. I had a feeling this was it. The Hunter Exam. As we went down, I felt nervousness, excitement, shyness, and all these feeling building up inside me, making me feel like a hot mess. I took deep breaths, looking at Aito, who seemed perfectly calm. How did he do that..?

The door opened and I gasped. There were so many people! All of them managed to get here? Wow… I started to feel congested and strange. I barely noticed as a man hand me a tag, which I unconsciously shoved into my pocket. I was starting to feel light headed, and I followed Aito.

Everyone

Was

Staring.

What had I done? Wh-whyyyyyy were they staring?

My foot got caught on something, and I looked down just in time to see I tripped over my own feet.

"WAGA!" I said rather ungracefully as I fell flat on my face.

A/N
Hello readers! Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring, but I tried to add parts of Mihari's personality in here. She notices really weird things about people, she is really socially awkward, and she relies on Aito A LOT.

I tried to make this chapter long, because it's exam week where I'm at, so I most likely will not post for the next week or so. (GOTTA STUDY)

Please review and tell me what I can fix! Review! Review! (If you want more!)

Thanks you for the follows/favorites!

BYEEEE!

-Olives