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Chapter 4: What They Hated Most (Part 1)

Rin's POV:

The chairman dropped us and we found ourselves standing before a tall building.

And when I say tall, I mean tall.

The building almost touched the clouds and I was wondering if we can reach its top even with the use of an elevator.

I stood next to Emira, with Killua on the other side.

"I feel dizzy just by looking at it." the blonde muttered.

"Examinees," the chairman extended his arms like he needed a hug. "This'll be the Third Phase. Don't get yourself killed, eh?"

With that, he rode his airship and was gone in a second.

"Hello."

A bulky man appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of the examinees.

"I am the examiner of this Phase," he announced with a hint of boredom in his voice. "You will be coming inside of the Trick Tower and I will be waiting for you here. The building, as the name suggests, is full of trickeries and dangers. You will have to get to the top without getting killed and get a sack of rice there and finally bring it down here."

"So it's really possible to get up there?" Gon asked incredulously.

"Yes, kid." The bulky man replied.

"So we may use the elevators?" the black haired kid asked again.

This time, the Examiner only nodded.

"So the elevators can really take us up there?" I asked this time.

The man grinned. "It's not that easy, young lady. Yes, there are elevators in the Tower but only one of them can take you to the top. Others will just trick you or take you nowhere. So, Examinees, you have to find that special elevator."

"This will be fun." Killua said.

"I hope it is." Kurapika muttered.

I adjusted the bag on my back and looked at Trick Tower hesitantly.

"Is something bothering you, Rin-chan?" Emira asked.

I smiled reassuringly. "There's nothing."

"Alright. You may go inside now." the Examiner said and everyone ran excitedly.

Kurapika's POV:

Trick Tower looked like a simple building.

Yes. It did look that way the moment we came in.

But unfortunately it didn't last long and it started to show us its true color.

When we were at the Second Floor of the Tower – or at least that's what I thought – something moved above us.

Then it dropped to the ground and it was a giant slime that was violet in color.

Emira looked disgusted and Rin was making a face.

"What..." Emira tried not to gag. "...are you?"

"Slime-ber." the monster groaned.

"Good," Leorio murmured. "I thought we were in trouble."

The giant spit tinier slimes and we were stuck except for Emira who managed to roll to one side.

"Emira-san!" Gon yelled, also unable to move his body. "Beat it!"

"What?!" the blonde exclaimed. "You expect me to...get near that thing?!"

"It's the only way!" Gon reasoned.

Why can't we escape the tiny slimes?

Emira's POV:

I hesitated. I was not just disgusted by slimes, but I despised them.

I hated slimes. They brought bad memories.

Memories that I wished I could forget.

The giant thing growled when it saw me and it spit out tiny slimes but I managed to dodge them.

It continued to be that way and everything started to smell like poison.

I didn't want to use Nen right now.

Not yet.

Are you going to be a coward again, Emira?

I pushed away that thought and dodged a slime not bigger than a fist.

"Emira – '' Rin's voice broke, like something was suffocating her.

My eyes narrowed on the slime that covered my friends.

A red dot.

Different emotions welled up in my chest.

Anger, grief, sadness, pain.

I looked at the Slime-ber. I trembled at the sight of it but I controlled myself.

Then I focused as I touched the giant, and when I put my hand off, it started to dance.

Being a Manipulator, I can control objects or living things.

For me, I just needed to touch the target and focus so I can control it.

The slime dude danced there like crazy while I tried to take away the slime that covered the bodies of my friends.

When I succeeded, Rin coughed and was wide eyed when she saw the giant dancing.

"How...?"

"There's no time to lose!" I said. "The floor is not going to hold any longer!"

"How?" Rin asked.

"The slimes that the giant spat could burn and you can only survive that using Nen." Kurapika answered this time.

"But I don't use Nen or whatever it is!"

"You do." Kurapika insisted. "You couldn't have survived the slimes if you can't use Nen."

"But – ''

"Stop arguing! The floor's - ''

We heard a cracking sound beneath our feet and we stood there, frozen.

And the floor cracked open and swallowed us up.

Killua's POV:

We found ourselves in front of three tunnels.

"So, which way to go?" Leorio asked.

Gon sniffed the air but he only shook his head after. "The smell's confusing."

"Then..." Rin looked worried. "Trust your instincts?"

"We will die a hard way if we do that." Kurapika said.

"How about we split up?" Emira suggested. "We don't have a choice, right?"

"Great idea." I said. "I'll go with Gon."

Gon smiled. "I'm okay with that."

"Nuh-uh, that won't do." Rin stepped between Gon and me. "I can't let you guys pick your own partner."

"Why?" Gon and I said at the same time.

"Because I said so."

"Uh...but, Rin-chan.." Emira fidgeted with her hands.

"Nani?"

"Ano..." the blonde scratched her head. "N-nothing."

"Tch." The violet haired girl rolled her eyes. "I'll go with Kurapika, then. And you go with Leorio."

"What?!" Emira complained.

"You wished for that, didn't you?"

Leorio and I snickered.

Kurapika sighed. "You are so noisy. Just go with whom you like to."

"I'll go with Gon and that's final." I said.

"Then I will go with Kurapika!" the annoying blonde said.

It was Rin's turn to sigh this time. "Fine. I'll be with Leorio."

"We'll take Tunnel 1." Kurapika announced.

"Then we're off to Tunnel 2." Leorio said, looking at Rin with fear.

"Then I guess Tunnel three is ours." I said.

And we headed to our destination.

Gon's POV:

I walked with Killua through Tunnel 3 and we walked cautiously.

We didn't want giant slimes to drop before us again.

"Ne Killua."

"Nani?" he said, looking around the tunnel.

"Where is your family?" I asked.

He stopped on his tracks and then looked at me wearily. "You want to know?"

I nodded. We walked again and I hoped I didn't offend him.

He was my friend after all.

"I'm from a family of assassins," Killua started, which shocked me. "I'm from the Zoldyck family. I am Killua Zoldyck."

"A family of assassins?"

"Hai." he didn't look at me in the eyes.

We continued to walk silently until the white haired boy spoke. "Why do you want to be a Hunter, Gon?"

"I want to find my father!"

Killua seemed to be surprised by this. "Find your father? Who is he?"

"Ging Freecss!" I replied. "Mito-san said my dad wanted to become a Hunter that's why he left me. And I want to know what is with being a Hunter that he left me for it."

"Ging Freecss..." Killua muttered.

And then we stopped on our tracks when we saw a man with long black hair standing ten inches away from us.

"What are you doing here..." the man said, looking at Killua. "...Killu."

Rin's POV:

Leorio and I talked and talked and talked along the way.

That was pretty much the longest conversation I had with him.

But something in the tunnel creeped me out even when its loud because of Leorio's talking.

Tunnel 2 seemed cold and dark...and evil...

"Oi Rin. Why do you want to be a Hunter?"

"I want to impress my mother." was all I said.

"That's it?"

I looked away. There's no way I could tell him I'm from the real world.

"Yes, that's it. You, why do you want to be a Hunter, Leorio?"

The man hesitated.

I raised an eyebrow. "I shared mine. It's time for you to share yours."

"Fine." he said, sighing. "I want to have lots of money."

"Don't lie." I said. "Money can't buy everything."

"Oh so you are with Kurapika now, eh?"

"I'm just stating a fact."

"Oh then let me state a fact, too. Money can buy everything. It can even buy a life."

I stared at him.

"What?"

My eyes narrowed. "There's a story behind that comment, isn't there?"

He avoided my eyes. "Just let it slide."

"You can tell me." I said, my expression guarded.

"Well... I want to be a doctor."

"Huh?"

"A dear friend of mine...I was not able to save him..." Leorio started. "It was all because we didn't have money."

My expression softened a bit. The man's not that bad after all.

He needed money to become a doctor so he can save the poor people.

If he is in the real world, I thought to myself, smiling. Then there could be at least one person who cares for the people whole heartedly.

Maybe fiction really was great.

You can create your own world and people.

If you want a person to fly, he can fly. It was so great.

I wanted to be a writer someday, too.

And now I learned that characters can live, too, I will create a book full of happiness so that the characters could live properly.

Fiction was so great...

And I met my new friends because of it.

"Rin." Leorio whispered.

"Why?"

"You hear that?"

I frowned. "What?"

Then I heard it...hissing sound.

Black creatures started to come out of the walls and they crawled towards me.

"SPIDERS!" I screamed.

This book sure knew how to piss me off.

I stood there unable to move or to say another word.

Leorio was yelling at me but I can't understand a word he was saying.

My chest was heavy, my legs were stuck, my hearing was failing, my vision was blurry, and I could smell the faint sweet scent of the creatures.

I knew it was stupid to just stand there, but I didn't know what to do anymore.

Spiders the first phase, spiders the second phase, and more spiders the Third phase.

Yeah, I was doomed.

And before I could react, everything went black.

Hi, everyone! I would like to thank those who reviewed, favourited, and followed. I am really thankful for your support.

And uh...I'm having a hard time deciding about the partners of this story.

Please tell me your suggestions by voting on the poll. Just visit my profile if you have the time. I really need your help.

Should it be Emira x Kurapika? Or Rin x Kurapika? Rin x Killua?

Emira x Killua? Gon x Emira?

P.S For those reading In Between, I might update it next week.

~LMK