"Interesting," The desk worker commented. "You're the third person to request for a job tied to the Yorknew Auction."
"Hn." The blonde replied. Once was a coincidence, Twice was the start of a pattern. What were the other two people looking for in the Yorknew Auction? If two others asked for the same job on the same day, he could imagine the number of people applying for the job.
Kurapika pondered the thought as the exited the building, then spotting a teenager on his phone.
'That guy's still there…' The hazel-haired teen must've stayed in that spot almost for an hour now, as he had been there even before he had arrived; it was starting to get creepy. How did the Hunter Association staff not notice a teenager loitering in their front yard?
Kurapika had considered the possibility of the teen being a Hunter, but that seemed more improbably the more he thought about it. He hadn't seen him in the previous hunter exam, so he would have been a hunter for at least a year. In a year, it was practically impossible for a newbie hunter to still be ignorant of nen. Based on the guy's ignorance of Kurapika's presence, the possibility of him being a hunter was nonexistent.
What if he's just hiding his knowledge of my presence. Kurapika stiffened up. He was confident in his knowledge of body language. Subtle motions that nobody shy of an expert would notice, let alone control, could give away precious information, and he could read them. They told him that the teen standing in front of him was a typical high schooler. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Don't you know that it's rude to stare at somebody?" The teenager said out of the blue, breaking the heavy silence. As he looked up at Kurapika, his sharp green eyes meet his, and then a flicker of recognition crossed his face. "Oh, Hi Kurapika." The stranger commented, Sending him deeper in the chasms of confusion.
"...Have we met before?" The blonde asked, he didn't remember acquainting himself which any cat-eyed teenagers before.
"Oh, yeah..." The stranger continued. "We meet at the Hunter Exam." Wait- "I'm Hawk."
Kurapika cam to the same conclusion as the bounty hunter revealed his identity. He was somewhat surprised at Hawk's true identity. He had previously thought of Hawk to be around Leorio's age, around 18/19.
Huh… Did the bounty hunter know nen? It was a question that he had wondered about and had asked his teacher. Apparently, the Ryoshi member had been a student of Kelsi Lukkel a few years back. If so, combined with his skill level, that meant his previous assumptions had been wrong.
"I'm assuming you know nen?" The blonde asked.
"How do you think I blew up the tower walls?" Huh, so he was most likely a transmuter. He had found it strange for a bounty hunter to carry around dynamite. "I heard you got the Nostrade job, I happened to take that one as well."
"Oh" Then again, it was the only job in Yorknew.
"No really," Hawk deadpanned, "And I'm secretly a cross-dressing alien coming to Earth to fulfill my passion and lifelong dream of collecting power outlets."
"...Okay?" How was he supposed to respond to that? "What leads you to wait here of all places?" The hazel-haired hunter motioned to something beyond the forest behind him.
"I'm catching the 6 pm train to Yorknew. The wifi here is free if you're a hunter." ...The 6 pm train?
"I happen to be catching that train as well." Kurapika said to the Ryoshi member, taking out his phone as well. True to his word, there was free wifi once he imputed his Hunter ID.
Well, he thought, There is one hour before six.
One hour later
"Hawk?"
"Hm?" The bounty hunter responded, watching the scenery outside the train window.
"You said that you've been to Yorknew before?" Kurapika asked, initiating a conversation in code.
"Yeah, I've been there a couple of times with some coworkers." Yeah, I've gone there with the Ryoshi a couple of times for bounty hunting. Kurapika frowned, trying to analyze the sentence further. There are other strong bounties in Yorknew. Stay in a group; safety in numbers.
"Are you going with anyone this year?" How many Ryoshi members are with you?
"I am; we aren't meeting until later since they all have something to attend to. Now that I think about it, Jennifer was bitten by a spider a few years back so I'm not sure if she's coming" I can't say, but all of us will be spread out around Yorknew. Watch out for the Troupe. And probably, You can rely on the Ryoshi if you run into anything you can't handle. Jennifer was most likely a name that Hawk had made on the fly.
Kurapika leaned back in his seat, gazing out the window as well. He had confidence in his ability, especially after the Vows and Limitations that he had imposed on himself. Although taking on a random Phantom Troupe member would be too much for him, it would be a different story if he got to choose the location and member.
Nostrade family Estate
Tricia's PoV
'Kurapika's laaaaate'
'Hurry uuuuup.'
'I sweeeeaaar, you're worse than Lennex.' Yuki drawled on, voicing a crowd of people by switching voices every sentence. The door opened, revealing Kurapika, who trailed behind an old man. ('Goodness Geez! That took foveeeeever.')
"I apologize for the wait. Everyone has arrived, so we will now explain the contract." The old man began, taking out a remote to turn on the TV screen.
'Whaddup with those lines under his eyes?' Yuki said aimlessly as a man appeared on the screen.
"I will start by stating the requirements." Began the man, "I won't ask whether you have a License. I'm only interested in whether you can obtain the items we request." In other words, they wanted free items, "There's one month before the auction begins. Before then, you must find one item from the list we will provide, and bring it here."
"These are the data cards." The old man said, handing out black devices with screens on them. The screen flickered to life once I pressed the on the button, showing a picture of some actress' hair.
'What kinda pervert wants a dead girl's hair? Even Yuno wouldn't do late. Wait, actually, she would.' I flicked through the list with blatant disinterest, plopping down in a god-knows how expensive chair. No matter the case, I did not have the patience for shopping lists.
Kurta eyes? I read, feeling a spike in Kurapika's nen as his eyes turned red, the screen flickered again.
Purified blood of a Kaiko. The screen showed a thin vial with an even thinner line of silver. I shut the screen off with more force than necessary.
"I'll say it again. You need to only find one item from the list. If you are successful, you will be hired, and begin training as a bodyguard and a collector." Why the hell did I need to train as a collector? That wasn't in the job description. "Best of luck then."
"Huh? The door won't open." One of the candidates voiced as he tugged on the doorknob.
"Oh," The TV screen flicker back on, "I forgot to mention the final requirement. You must be strong."
The door burst open, "Strong enough to leave this mansion alive."
"...The actual?" I muttered as several nen beasts poured into the room. Six of them had swords, the three in the back who had guns began firing.
Kurapika caught some of them with his chain, two others used a table as a shield, another used the old man as a… human shield? I dragged my eyes from that scene. The bullets that were fired at me conveniently ended up in the expensive chair I was sitting in, courtesy to my illusions. As no one was watching, I very conveniently made myself invisible.
The battle went on for a bit, Kurapika somehow on the chandelier, and everyone punching/dodging/kicking the nen beasts. It wasn't difficult to figure out who was controlling them; all of the beast's nen matched one of the candidate's.
"Stop them." Huh? I looked in the direction of the voice. Kurapika had a knife against the candidate who was controlling the beasts. "I'll give you three seconds. One.. Two.. "
"Okay okay… I get it." The plant said, making the nen beasts melt and disappear. "How did you know?"
"You were always careful to stand next to others for camouflage. But when I observed from above, everything was clear." Kurapika paused. "You were the only person not under attack."
"Ah," The person said, eyeing the knife."You nailed it. My name is Shachmono Tocino. I work for the boss here, so I will be your senpai. Now, could you please drop the knife?"
Kurapika lowered his knife rather reluctantly.
The guy with the long name that I gave up remembering sat down in a chair. "I was just following orders from the boss. 'Test them by trying to kill them' or something. The five of you should be able to escape this mansion. Good luck."
Wait, five? There were six of us minus the long name dude. Wait, the other guy…
"It-" I began, prepared to finally contribute and reveal the identity of the plant.
'NO.' Yuki insisted, 'You can't say anything, or else something amazing would happen.'
'Okay?' I responded slightly skeptical and confused. Most of the candidates glanced at me but quickly forgot their confusion as Kurapika began talking.
"I'll assume that was meant as a diversion. But either way, it was a mistake." The Kurta turned to the rest of us. "I shall determine if there are any other plants, before we all start becoming paranoid."
The blonde pulled out a chain with a metal ball at the end. Everyone watched in sacred silence as he faced each of the candidates, the ball remaining still until he pointed it toward the last person.
The chain moved.
"You are a plant." Kurapika announced.
I mentally facepalmed as Yuki cackled with laughter, falling on the floor in the process. I had no idea how Yuki had awaked the powers of an oracle, but I was definitely not inclined to ask.
"Th-that's ridiculous! You can't prove that your chain is correct." The plant exclaimed in his defense.
"He's probably right. Your heart began to pound as soon as he pointed at you." A short buck toothed woman stated "If you were innocent, your heart rate would have slowly increased due to the stress of being wrongly accused. But your heartbeat immediately sped up, before gradually slowing down. The typical melody of a liar."
"That still doesn't prove anything! You two could be working together."
"I can confirm that he is right." Kurapika stated flatly, gesturing toward the woman.
"Excuse me? I think you meant 'she' not 'he'."
"Then," I said, speaking up for the first time. "If you were innocent, then why were you speaking with the person on the TV before you arrived?" Everyone stared at me. "I was the first to arrive." I explained, "Out of habit, I checked the place with En, and discovered something peculiar. Everyone else entered the estate through the front gate, but you and the other guy entered this room directly from the tenth room to the left from the third floor staircase. Am I right?"
Everyone stared at me. I recognized disbelief, awe, and shock. Mainly shock, especially from the plant.
"That room's at least 100 meters from here…" Oh, that explained the shock and awe. "O-Okay," The plant began shakily, eyeing me. "Since you found me out, I'll reward you with some information. My name is Squala and I'm a manipulator. I've used my abilities to instrust something to follow a certain order. You've found me out, but that still doesn't guarantee your survival."
"Hm?" I perked up, "Instruct something to kill us if we leave?"
"Yes?" Squalla replied, confused at my enthusiasm
"That's fantastic." I could feel Kurapika debating on whether I was being serious or sarcastic. "I'm out." I said as I headed toward the door.
"Hawk-" Kurapika started.
"Nah." I responded, leaving the room while casting an illusion to make me invisible. "I'll be fine."
'Yuki, Do you have an idea on how to get an artifact?'
'Yup, I've thought of a way to get the blood. So, we need fancy equipment to purify Kaiko blood. Fancy equipment that we 1. don't have, 2. can't buy and 3. can't 'borrow'. Soooo…I was thinking. Do they really know if it's actual blood? No, right? Soooo, we can just take some of your blood and add some silver dye to make it 100% silver. That way, even if they still use it, it'll still work.'
I paused. 'Yuki,'
'Yes?'
'You are a genius'
One month later
"Here." I said, giving a very fancy vial on a stand in a box to the owner of the Nostrade family estate, Light Nostrade.
'I swear, we must've spent enough money on the vial and dye to buy actual blood.'
'I didn't think the dye would be that expensive. At this rate, I won't have enough money for Cup Noodles…'
"My name is Dalzollene, I am the Head bodyguard of the Nostrade family." The guy from the TV screen said to all of us as we headed somewhere. "As of now, you are a bodyguard of the Nostrade family. During the Auction, you will be guarding Neon Nostrade, whom you will meet shortly." Dalzollene stopped in front of a door, knocking and then opening the door. "Neo-"
"TRICIACHII!" The girl whom I assumed was Neon rushed out and tackled me. Everyone once again stared at me.
"Wait a moment." Dalzollene said, peeling Neon off of me, "You are a girl." I could feel Kurapika's shock filling up the room.
"Yes?" I said slowly, "Did I not introduce myself to the front gate as Tricia Hawk?"
Dalzollene inhaled very slowly, facepalmed and then exhaled. "Please tell me you were lying."
"I wasn't."
"Hawk-san, words cannot express how sorry I feel for you right now."
"Triciachii! How old are you?" Neon exclaimed, growing tired of Dalzollene's sulking.
"...Sixteen?" The bluenette's face lit up.
"I'm older than you by a year, so that makes me your senpai! You can call me Neon-senpai, Triciachii."
"Okay…" The older girl waited eagerly. "...Neon-senpai."
Neon promptly squealed and tackled me again, "We're going to have so much fun together, Triciachii! Shopping, the auction, even more shopping…" Wait, did she say shopping? I stared at Kurapika for help. Kurapika promptly looked away, sealing my fate with a demon by the name of Neon Nostrade.
'My best friend Yuki-sama-' I called in desperation.
'NOPE.'
(You have to read Yuki's profile btw)
IMMA BACK
On time.
Thankfully.
Ok! I didn't mention this in the last chapter but Tricia's name in Heaven's Arena, Triscar, actually comes from a book called Triss by Brian Jacques. The main character's name is Trisscar, although she is referred to as 'Triss'.
In the first draft of Illusion, Yuki called Tricia 'Tris' whenever Yuki wanted something.
(By this point, has anyone realized that I've kept Yuki gender neutral? I made a few slip-ups here and there but (I think) I've already fixed all of them.
ANYWAYS, I enjoy torturing Tricia and Tricia suffering because of Neon has always been in the manuscripts no matter how many drafts I go back to. Next chapter will be dark-ish plot lined with suffering, so see ya at the end of September.
(Btw, My ELA teacher is teaching short stories this year and requires us to write some, so keep an eye out for Illusion: Short Stories. They will not affect my non-existent update schedule.)
Yuki
Alias: None
Age: ?
Birthday: ?
Height: 11"
Weight: 5 kg
Blood Type: Unknown
Nen Type: Transmuter
Description: Sky blue and white draiknor
Hatsu: Explosions and Wind
Skills:
Landmines - Creates a field of disguised explosions
Katsu! (Not the person) (a.k.a. Exploding lasers) - Explosive missile/lasers
Wings - manipulates air flow to allow flight
Yuki's naming skills leave much to be desired.
Weapon of Choice: ? Is this even possible?
Relationships (The ones worth mentioning):
Tricia Kaiko - Kaiko partner (Alive)
Sakiris Kaiko - Former Kaiko Partner (Deceased)
Killuko - Close Friend (Deceased)
Shiro - Close Annoying Friend (Deceased)
Kelsi Lukkel - Overly annoying tax collector (Definitely alive)
Gyro - Rival and Frienemy-in-Arms (Alive)
Lennex - Entertaining rival and old hag (Alive)
Rina Hoshiko - Normal-ish Friend (Alive)
Alice Ashita - More annoying Friend (Alive)
Blossom - Very Amusing Friend (Alive)
Hikaoki - ? (Alive)
Angel - ? (Alive)
That one cashier who always works the Sunday night shift - ?! (Hopefully Alive)
Other:
Soul Link: Can communicate telepathically with each other along with perceive what the other person/draiknor is experiencing. Increased nen capacity according to other person/draiknor's nen capacity (original capacity + other person/draiknor's capacity = current capacity). More advanced techniques are: Using each other's Nen abilities, combining Nen abilities, and swapping minds. Drawbacks: If the other person/draiknor dies, 50% of their soul and nen capacity will be permanently lost.