"You can never get rid of oppression"
I was very happy to be carried by Kurapika. I could watch him run out of breath under my weight as Leorio, Gon and him ran through the mist. It had begun to decrease, a sign that we were nearing the end of our journey. And indeed, a few minutes later, we arrived in a large forest from where we could see large doors in the distance.
"You think this is it ?" Leorio asked.
"Sure !" Gon replied. "Kirua has a very special smell mixed with chocolate, so I could follow it !"
"His smell ?" repeated the incredulous blond. "Can you spot him by the smell ?"
I giggled softly, still a little weakened by the pain I was beginning to endure.
"If it had been you, he wouldn't have too many problems considering how sweaty you are."
Leorio could not help laughing but was quickly reprimanded by a glare from Kurapika. He accelerated the pace, obviously in a hurry to finally get rid of me. I knew all he had in mind was that he regretted offering to carry me.
"If you could shut up, that would help me," he breathed.
I simply shrugged my shoulders and then groaned, the pain reminding me that I always had an injury in a rather unpleasant way. I looked up and saw the famous big doors in front of us, where our examiner, Satôtsu, was waiting with a watch in his hand.
"Right on time," he said. "Join the other candidates, the second round will begin."
I came down from Kurapika's back as soon as he stopped and moved forward among the participants. Some looked at me with disgust because of my too recent injury, others with a big smile while the rest did not flinch a bit at my sight. I didn't even thank that little blonde bastard.
The second test consisted in satisfying two gourmet Hunters who presented themselves as Buhara, a fat man with a simple, brown face, standing behind a woman with blue or even green hair with five quilts on the back of her skull. She said her name was Menchi and asked us to each catch a pig of a particular species and then come back and cook it. I hadn't seen Kirua since.
Exiting the big garden where these two Hunters were, I headed into the forest with Leorio who followed me closely with, to my greatest dismay, Kurapika then Gon. They weren't really following me, we were all gone more or less at the same time. Moreover, one did not stay behind the other for a long time, since the pigs manifested themselves very quickly. I was so desperate only to have to dodge their charges because of my lost arm that even Gon laughed at my situation. Very annoyed, I took the one that had been cut off and was still dragging in my bag to throw it with all my might towards one of the pigs and pierced his skull.
"You think she was offended ?" Gon whispered to Leorio.
With a sulky pout on my face, my arm cut off under my armpit and the pig's snout in my hand to drag him to the kitchen, I passed them with my head high.
"I wouldn't like to ask her," replied the brown-haired man with glasses.
I could not help but have a satisfied smile when I saw Kurapika's look which reflected his deep shock. Overtaking him, I quickly climbed back up the slope to quickly start cooking. If there was one thing I wanted to finish quickly, it was this event. So I was one of the first to arrive: there was already a man who was more like a clown than anything else and another, dressed like a ninja. This one was in the head with Menchi who sent him back quickly to look for this pig before she skinned it. I smiled discreetly as he was thrown away by Buhara and she noticed me. Instead of ignoring me, Menchi shrugged with a smile on her face.
"Your arm…"
I turned away from young Hunter in order to fall in front of Kirua. His pupils had shrunk in shock and he was still holding his pig, shaking slightly.
"I saved Gon, Leorio and the other blond head-cutting turtle but I didn't pay enough attention, and one of them tore my arm off."
Kirua opened his mouth to speak but immediately closed it, looking guilty. I patted him on the head with my good arm and smiled at him. He must have been a year or two younger than me, but I still liked him.
"I am well", I assured him. "Go cook, I assure you it's okay."
He nodded reluctantly, turning away before seeing Gon returning with Leorio and behind, Kurapika, head down. I suddenly thought that calling him by his first name annoyed me, so I internally renamed him "Blondie".
"Why does Kurapika look angry ?"
"Because it was by saving him that I lost my arm," I replied, trying to tie my hair with one hand.
"And that doesn't piss you off ?"
"I haven't changed my mind about him."
I turned to the counter again, and I was against myself. With only one arm, it was still complicated to tie your hair. I was surprised to feel my rubber band leave my wrist but when I recognized Kirua's T-shirt, I relaxed and let him do it. A few seconds after he tinkled with my strands, I felt all my hair raised in a high tail fall back between my two shoulder blades.
"Is that okay with you ?"
I nodded and started cooking. He left me to go and do the same while I started slicing the pork, thinking back to the times when Daiki had tried in vain to teach me how to cook. Given the design of the event, the examiners were not only to judge our culinary abilities. A gourmet Hunter is not just someone who cooks but someone who risks their life for certain ingredients. So, I had to bet on the presentation, the good taste of the thing and I had already validated the part "risk his life" like all those in the kitchen.
"Excuse me, can I have another plate ?" I asked.
Some turned their heads at me. Despite my missing arm returned to my bag, I was more or less able to manage and some began to panic. Menchi got up from the couch where she was, took what I had asked her in a pile next to it, then went down the stairs to come to my post. She watched for a few seconds what I was doing after I put the plate on the counter and then shifted her eyes to my arm.
"Your wound is recent," she noted. "You lost it earlier, I suppose?"
"I saved candidates", I replied by cutting the salad, "during the previous test".
Menchi stared at me for a few more seconds and then shrugged her shoulders before turning her heels. I put a slice of pig on each plate and then made the salad dressing. As for the other candidates, a good part had already finished. To pass this test, we had to get the agreement of both Hunters gourmets but since the beginning, nobody had passed yet. Buhara approved a bit everyone, unlike Menchi, who had not tasted a single dish because of their deplorable presentation.
"I could hardly see fools contenting themselves with serving us only things that had barely been worked. It's already better than the ones before you."
I turned my eyes to our examiners: it was Blondie's turn. To tell the truth, under his air, which irritated me more than anything, it seemed obvious to me that he was not stupid at all. He must have understood the purpose of the test, like me.
"That's disgusting !"
Menchi had just carried a piece of the dish he had made to her mouth before spitting it out immediately. I smiled when I saw him getting soaped on the importance of taste. The presentation was not supposed to do everything, which quickly strengthened my determination to pass this test.
Throwing the cloth on the counter, I took the sauce to put last on the slice of pork, and caught a first plate that I wedged in the joint between my arm and my forearm, then recovered the second. I went up to the duet of the two gourmet Hunters, then I put down what I had prepared slowly, thus it wouldn't spill. Buhara threw himself on it and swallowed it all at once by waving a small panel with a circle on it, a sign that I was passing. As for Menchi, she took her time. She observed the dish for a few seconds before grabbing a knife, a fork and a towel. I was the second one that made her want to try it. She carried the slice of pork to her mouth and chewed for long seconds which seemed to me to be an eternity.
"It's not what I usually eat in great restaurants but for a lunch during Hunter's exam, it suits me very well."
She took another bite before raising her eyes to me.
"We didn't ask you to be five star chefs, I take into account that many of you have never cooked in your life but you are the only one to have understood the meaning of the ordeal for now and you have done all this with one arm. That's why…"
She grabbed her sign that showed a blue circle. I had a big smile at the news.
"Menchi, are you gonna finish ?" Buhara asked. "Let me finish if you're not hungry anymore !"
As he dangerously approached her plate, she quickly pushed him away and grabbed my dish to keep it out of his reach.
"Get out of the way, I'm not done !" she yelled.
I turned my back before I noticed that many of eyes were on me, including Blondie. I couldn't help but smile at him with a sarcastic smile that he just ignored, arms crossed on his chest with a haughty air painted on his face.
"How did you do it ?" Leorio shouted at me.
"I used my head."
He also began to grumble. My eyes glided over the two gourmet Hunters who were still fighting over the meal I had prepared. If Daiki ever saw this, he would cry with joy at all his efforts.
"Buhara is a fifty-eight and Menchi, a sixty-one. Gourmet or not, they're still Hunters."
Sitting on my counter all cleaned with my bag on it, I heard the end of the trial ring. From everything I had observed, I was the only one to have succeeded and my laughter drew the glares of the participants who should soon return home. I found it rather abnormal that only one person was allowed to continue and obviously other people thought like me. As I was walking out with my bag, I felt my collar being grabbed violently. I was turned around and almost staggered because of the violence of the gesture. He was a man with a frown that I hadn't even seen in the whole exam. Or maybe his looks were way too banal for me to remember.
"You cheated, admit it !" he shouted. "There's no way with one arm missing and judges so stubborn, a kid like you could make it."
"He doesn't even have four points"
"You tire me out," I said.
Ready to turn my heels to avoid trouble, I quickly felt myself flying. His raw strength was to be his four pathetic little dots. Instead of landing on the ground or against the wall, I was surprised to feel my fall cushioned by someone's body. On my stomach on the ground there was sudden pressure on my chest and I noticed that I was on a man dressed like a clown with captivating yellow eyes and more or less red hair. I could have apologized if he wasn't holding one of my breasts in one of his hands.
"Pervert !" I shouted.
I quickly pushed him back, upright, and especially happy not to have received more damage to my wound. I suddenly slapped this man who wore the number 44. My rage descended quickly enough to give way to embarrassment.
"Did she just hit Hisoka ?" I heard behind my back.
Some murmurs began to rise. Bringing my attention to him, a shiver ran all over my body. Even though he was not in a combat position, his face was lit up with a little smile. He tapped my head two or three times before returning to the crowd as if nothing had happened.
"Ninety-seven."
A drop of sweat pierced my temple, but all the stress I had just accumulated came down when I heard the unpleasant voice of the disgruntled candidate at four miserable points.
"Kid, I'm talking to you !" he self-slaughtered. "Admit you cheated!"
I turned to him in despair. He advanced dangerously with the firm intention of fighting me in his gaze. I waited until he was close enough to me to throw me forward, balancing in a perfect straight tree on one hand. The man did not try to understand what I was going to do, determined to grab my legs. My shirt came down slightly from my hips as I swirled around and kicked him in the temple, followed by a back flexibility. The top of my foot with a leather boot hit him in the chin and the man fell to the ground, half unconscious. All the participants seemed more or less shocked at what had happened, except Kirua smiling and Menchi giggling with her arms crossed on his chest.
"Don't try to play with me, if you don't know the rules," I stared at him in cold air.