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"Hey."
The single word reached out to her, urging her to stop sailing on the seas of sleep and return to the shore of wakefulness. Her eyes opened to slits, just enough to be blinded by the ceiling lights of the sleeping room. They glared cruelly at her, much more cruelly than the soft morning sunlight she was accustomed to waking up to back home. She screwed her eyes shut and buried her face under the blanket.
"Hey." This time the word was said more strongly and was accompanied by two pokes.
Asterra's head peeked out from under the blanket and her eyes opened again. After a few blinks her eyes adjusted to the light and her vision cleared, and the Resca looked up to see a pale face with blue eyes and wild silver hair.
Blue eyes, silver hair.
The distinctive features made sleepy synapses fire to life and snippets of images and sounds flashed in her mind.
Gurgling. Thudding. Blood. Death.
The simple sounds and ideas crashed and melded together into a coherent memory that identified this person in front of her as a threat. Adrenaline made Asterra's mind shift gears into overdrive and the light in her eyes changed from sleepy to feral within milliseconds. Her body jackknifed into an aggressive crouch, pocketknife glinting in her left hand.
"Asterra?" Kikiri asked drowsily, lifting his head up. "What's wrong?"
"Good morning to you too, Goldfish Girl," Killua said. He then continued in a quieter voice, "Relax—if I wanted you dead I would have killed you in your sleep."
The wary look in Asterra's eyes didn't abate, but she did lower the weapon.
"Looks like someone's not a morning person," Leorio's voice chuckled from her right. From the lack of alarm in his voice, Asterra and Killua could tell that the older applicant hadn't seen the knife. "But seriously? Goldfish Girl?"
"'Cause her hair's orange like a goldfish," Killua replied. He looked to Leorio, who was stretching out the stiffness that came with waking up. "I think it suits her."
No, it did not. Asterra refused to be identified with something as powerless as a goldfish, even if her hair was the same color as the animal. "It's Asterra."
"Nah; Goldfish Girl's easier to remember."
The girl narrowed her eyes. "How? It's got more syllables than my real name."
Killua grinned at her irritation. "'Goldfish Girl' rolls off the tongue really easily."
"Yeah? Well so does 'Asterra'."
The boy pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Goldfish Girl's better."
"No, it's really not," she replied.
"All right, you two." Kurapika appeared out of nowhere and inserted himself between the two applicants. "We're going to breakfast," he said as he looked over to Asterra. "Would you like to come with us?"
"What time is it?" Asterra asked.
"Half past six."
No wonder she had been so reluctant to get up. Only an hour had passed since her return to this room to go back to sleep because Menchi had spent a good three hours discussing the dos and don'ts of cooking in general, not just soups and stews. In fact, the Gourmet Hunter had gotten so excited that she had marched into the kitchens and asked the cooks to clear out a space in order to better illustrate what she was saying.
Well, at least you learned a lot and got a couple recipes out of it,the Resca thought as she stifled a yawn and quickly counted how many hours she had slept. It turned out to be five.
That wasn't good. She was used to working on seven to eight hours of sleep and worked best when she got eight.
"Asterra?" Kurapika called, waving a hand in front of her face.
Asterra shook her head and answered hurriedly, "Breakfast. Yeah, I'll come with."
Kurapika gave her a small smile as he stood up. "Come on, then. Let's go before it gets too crowded."
=o=o=o=
By 7:30 the four of them (they had found Gon passed out in a room but had not had the heart to wake him up because he was sleeping so peacefully) had almost finished breakfast.
It was also by this time that Killua had come to a baffling conclusion: Goldfish Girl had no presence, period.
It was eerie, really. If he hadn't seen her sitting across from him and eating breakfast, he would have been convinced that nobody was there. What was she, a ghost? And why did she continue to bother concealing her presence when she was in plain sight?
"Is there something on my face?"
Killua met Goldfish Girl's light sea green eyes that regarded him coolly. "Yeah," he lied, then pointed at the corner of his own mouth. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and frowned when she saw that nothing had come away.
The assassin boy just grinned cheekily as Goldfish Girl looked back at him with a look that asked "Seriously?"
=o=
What was this kid's problem?
Asterra set down the napkin as calmly as she could to cover her irritation. First that stupid, unfitting nickname. Then all throughout breakfast she had felt his eyes on her, but every time she looked up to confront him he just smirked, looked away, or did something else to avoid her question.
She got up, primarily to get away from Killua before he made her lose her cool in an embarrassing way. His current behavior almost made her doubt if he had really killed those two people last night—the kid that sat with them now acted more like an overly-spoiled, overly-bored brat that had the capacity to be charming but chose not to be.
Well, that's a good disguise for a killer,Asterra thought as she grabbed a plate. Who's going to look twice at a kid like that?
Old habits kicked in and she started piling her plate with rolls and hard fruits that she could use to augment her dwindling supplies of jerky. After all, she had no idea if or when the next meal was coming. There was no guarantee that there would be food waiting for them at the end of the next phase. In fact, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't take place in an environment devoid of any edible flora and fauna. Better to play it safe and stock up so she wouldn't have to worry about food…for a little while, at least. And Asterra would be damned if she missed out on this chance; taking food from a buffet that she didn't even have to pay for was about as easy as it got.
=o=o=o=
"I wonder if that's where the next exam's going to be held," Kikiri murmured as he looked out the window.
Asterra, who was currently sitting on the window sill and leaning against a vertical edge of it, reluctantly opened her eyes from her light snooze to look out the window. Below the airship was a vast forest with a river running through it, and that had been all they could see for the past few hours. Now, though, they could see a huge cylindrical pillar of light-colored earth that jutted out from the surface and towered over the forest trees. The pillar's edges were carved jagged by erosion and weathering, testament to the earth's ever-continuing war with the elements. The pillar had a circular top with trees growing at the edges, and in its center was another cylindrical pillar that had the clean edges indicative of a synthetic structure. There was a great difference between the sizes of the two; if the pillar of earth was a frying pan, then the pillar at the center was a needle.
What an isolated place,Asterra thought. But before she could reply to Kikiri a tone rang over the PA system of the ship.
"I apologize for the long wait," Beans said, his voice made crackly by the speakers. "This airship will soon arrive at its destination. Please make your way to the disembarkation point in an orderly fashion. I repeat, this airship…"
"There's your answer," Asterra yawned. Unfortunately.
"About time," Leorio grumbled as he sat up from the bench he had laying down on. "They're three hours late."
"One and a half, actually," Kurapika corrected. "It's only half past nine."
"You know what, Kurapika? I don't care!" Leorio fumed. "Late is late!"
The blonde shrugged as he stood up from the bench. "Better late than never."
Leorio merely growled and muttered darkly in response.
Killua hopped off the window ledge. "I'll go get Gon; he's probably still asleep." With that he turned into a nearby hallway. A moment later there was a surprised yelp and she heard Killua yell, "Hey, watch it!" The pattering of running feet followed the warning and a second later Gon burst out of the hallway with an excited grin on his face.
"Did you guys see that tower?" he asked, eyes wide and the excitement in his voice overwhelming any drowsiness that was left.
"Yes; we can see it from here," Kurapika replied as he stood up.
"I can't wait to see what's inside of it," he said giddily and ran off.
"Hey, wait up Gon!" Killua's voice yelled from behind them. Asterra, Leorio, and Kurapika turned around to see Killua run right by them with his skateboard under his arm.
"Jeez, how do those kids have so much energy?" Leorio stifled a yawn. "It's not even ten in the morning."
"That's why they have so much energy, old timer," Kikiri said from Asterra's shoulder.
"What was that?!" Leorio fumed at Dokujo.
"If you were really a teenager you'd be awake and full of energy by now," Kikiri continued. "And you could probably catch up to those two, too."
A vein bulged in Leorio's forehead. "Oh, is that so? Well then watch and learn, you overgrown weasel!" With that Leorio pivoted then sprinted after Gon and Killua, leaving Kurapika, Asterra and Kikiri behind.
The three spent a moment watching Leorio sprint down the corridor, then the silence was broken by a giggling fit from Kikiri. "Oh he is just too easy!" he laughed, digging his claws into the thick material on the shoulders of Asterra's hoodie to keep himself from rolling off.
Kurapika shook his head. "Honestly, Leorio," he muttered. "Where is your maturity?"
The two watched the applicants run down the corridor for a moment, then Asterra asked, "You think they know they're going the long way 'round?"
"Most likely not," Kurapika replied.
There was few moments of silence as each applicant waited for the other to suggest telling them they were going the long way round. But both of them really did not feel like chasing down.
"Well, it's not like it's that big of a blimp." Kurapika then turned to Asterra. "So, where's the shortcut?"
"This way," the Resca replied, then turned on her heel crisply and started walking in the other direction.
=o=o=o=
By the 9:50 the group of five applicants had disembarked the blimp and had melted into the crowd of applicants that were gathered at the new exam site. After the last person walked off the gangplank Beans cleared his throat, and 40 applicants turned towards him. "Everyone," he started. "The exam's third phase will begin here, at the top of Trick Tower."
Asterra looked around, wondering what was so tricky about this place. They were on the top of that cylindrical tower they had seen from the airship and there was nothing to resemble an exam phase here—no doors, no obstacle courses, nothing. All that was visible was the floor made of rectangular stone panels that fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
"To pass this phase, you must reach the tower's base alive in 72 hours," Beans continued. "On that note, we will now begin the Third Phase. I wish you all the best." With that Beans boarded the blimp and there was an announcement that asked all the applicants to retreat to a safe distance. After the applicants did so, the blimp took off and flew off towards the horizon.
The group of five then made their way over to the edge of the pillar to see if they could climb down. They carefully peered over the edge to see that they it was a very, verylong way to go without safety ropes of any kind.
Leorio clutched his briefcase with both hands. "W-We're not supposed to climb down, are we?"
"That would be tantamount to suicide," Kurapika replied, voice calm and arms crossed.
"For a normal person, maybe."
The five turned towards the sound of the voice—a tanned, muscular man that wore a grey tank and dark blue shorts. Durable fingerless gloves covered his hands and he sported the number 86.
Asterra raised an eyebrow. "I take it you're not a normal person, then."
"No I'm not." The man walked around the five and, after looking around for a few moments, lowered himself over the edge. "This is nothing for an expert rock-climber like me." With that, the man began to descend using hand and footholds that Asterra valued her life too much to even consider using.
"Wow…" Killua said.
Gon poked his head poked over the edge to observe the man's progress. "He's going down pretty fast."
"Looks like I'll be the first one to pass the third phase," the rock climber grinned as he put his foot in another foothold.
He was about twenty feet from the edge when Kikiri suddenly fluffed up and growled. Before Asterra could ask him what was wrong, though, a soft and steady beating sounds reached her ears. She looked up to the halcyon skies. "You guys hear that?"
"Yeah," Killua replied for Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika. All four of them were also searching the air for the source of the sound in the skies above them.
"It sounds like a…bird?" Gon trailed off.
That was when a scream from the rock climber made all of their heads snap down.
The rock climber was being swarmed by a flock of massive, different-colored creatures that looked like the end result of exposing cupids to too much radiation. Their bodies were like those of overweight babies, save for the second pair of arms that sprouted from their sides, but their heads looked far from cherubic. Their eyes were narrowed so much it looked like they were shut, each one's nose was too big for its face, and each one's lips was stretched across its face so much it looked grossly thin. And all of their heads were crowned with short, scraggly hairs rather than the healthy, shining locks cupids traditionally had.
"Stay away!" the climber screamed, pressing into the wall and trying to make himself as small as possible. Fear clouded his mind and froze his limbs. "Stop! Stop it!"
His efforts and screamed pleas did nothing to keep the creatures away, though. The flock kept circling him like vultures flying around a dying, helpless animal. And the group of five applicants could only look on, frozen, with eyes wide with shock as the climber continued to cower and scream.
Eventually a red one of the cupids descended until he was under the climber and then started flying almost vertically, its stomach almost touching the brick wall. The climber looked down in terror and screamed more urgently; but the creature ignored his pleas and instead opened its mouth wide to reveal wickedly sharp teeth and a blue tongue. The climber's screaming stopped almost immediately as if his vocal chords had suddenly failed.
The cupid then used its teeth to scrape the climber off the wall. Sharp teeth slid under the climber's feet, making the climber's legs dangle in the creature's mouth. A blink later the screaming was back and all of the climber's body, from the torso down, was in the creature's mouth. Terror-filled eyes looked up at the five applicants on the ledge, pleading them to help him get out of this predicament.
Another blink later, the climber no longer hung onto the wall for all of his body was behind the cupid's teeth.
The five applicants hurriedly backed away from the edge as the red cupid, joined by several others, zoomed over their heads and veered away. The man's screaming faded away into the nothingness, leaving behind a stunned silence and shocked applicants that continued to gaze in the direction the flock of cupids had flown off in.
"G-Guess we can't climb down the side…" Leorio quavered, both hands still clutching his briefcase.
"You think?" Kikiri asked as his fur settled back to its normal shape.
=o=o=o=
21…22…23…huh?
Asterra blinked. Ten minutes ago she had counted 29 people on top of this tower. The Resca was sure there were no mistakes in her counting; she had triple counted and gotten the same number each time.
What was going on? People couldn't just magically disappear, so they had to be getting off the roof of this cylinder somehow…
"Asterra, four o'clock!"
The Resca whirled on the balls of her feet to her right, her body automatically slipping into battle mode at the sound of urgency in Kikiri's voice.
But it turned out to be an unnecessary preparation, for no threat was coming at her from that angle. Instead she saw a baffling sight—a person forty feet away from her suddenly plummeting into the ground as if yanked downwards by an unseen force.
She blinked and shook her head, then looked again. The applicant was no longer there. Did that guy just…?
"Asterra! Leorio! Kurapika!"
Asterra recognized Gon's voice and turned towards it to see him and Killua standing near the edge. Gon was waving at her in a beckoning manner, so she ran over to the two younger applicants. "Find something?" she asked as Leorio and Kurapika arrived.
"Uh-huh," Gon nodded. "We found a trapdoor." The dark-haired boy knelt down and pushed on a stone panel. Sure enough, the panel sunk slightly into the ground with a click.
"So some of the stone panels double as trap doors," Kurapika mused. "That explains a lot."
"Nice one, Gon!" Leorio clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Let's head down!"
"But I'm confused," Gon admitted.
"About what?" Kikiri asked.
"There are trapdoors here, there, there, there, there, over there, and over there." Gon accented each "there" by pointing to a series of what just looked like normal stone panels.
"That many?" Leorio asked.
"Seven hidden doors, located in the same area," Kurapika repeated, hand to chin. "That's suspicious."
"Maybe a couple of them are booby-trapped," Asterra offered.
"And it looks like each door can only be used once too…" Killua followed up.
"Seriously?" Leorio asked incredulously.
Killua nodded. "We tried opening a door that somebody else used, but it wouldn't budge."
"And judging by the door's size, only one can fit at a time," Kurapika noted.
"In other words, each door can only be used once, and by one person only," the silver-haired boy summarized. "So we'll have to split up. Gon and I decided that we're each going to choose a door."
"No hard feelings if one of us springs a trap!" Gon added. "What are you guys gonna do?"
"I can live with that. Luck is part of the game," Leorio nodded.
"Better than being stuck up here," Asterra replied. "Kikiri?"
"I'm okay with that."
"And I have no objection. So that settles it." Kurapika said.
With that each applicant stepped up to one of the hidden doors that Gon had pointed out.
"Let's go on the count of three," Leorio suggested.
"I guess this is goodbye for now," Gon said.
"Let's meet up again, at the tower's base," Kurapika smiled.
Asterra nodded. "Good luck, guys."
Killua looked down at the stone panel in front of him, an eager look in his eyes. "All right; let's go!"
The other four nodded. "One!" They all counted. "Two! Three!"
On three all of them jumped onto their respective panels.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ground under each applicant gave way with a click and their surprised cries filled the air.
Within milliseconds Asterra and Kikiri were plunged into darkness as the stone panel clicked into place again and blocked the sunlight. The wind whistled by them as they fell through a chimney-like tunnel, and a second later they were in a dimly lit room with grey walls. The Resca landed neatly on all fours with a thud, and simultaneously she heard three other light thuds as well as one heavy one around her.
Hostiles? Traps?"See anything?" she half-barked at Kikiri.
"Umm…yeah," was Kikiri's reply.
Asterra frowned at the Dokujo's reply, then looked up to see what had made those sounds—
—only to look into very familiar blue eyes.
"Goldfish Girl?" a voice asked.
"Killua?" she asked back incredulously.
"The others are here too," Kikiri added and Asterra looked around. Leorio lay on his stomach, his face a little red from landing on it. Kurapika and Gon were kneeling on the ground, their eyes wide.
The five looked at each other, dumbfounded, for a moment.
"Well that was quite a brief farewell," Kurapika mused as he stood up and brushed himself off.
"So the doors all lead to the same room, huh…" Leorio muttered as he got into a sitting position. "Looks like we ended up worrying more than we needed to."
That was when Gon stood up and walked over towards the wall. The other four applicants noticed the movement and looked to see what he was walking towards.
The dark-haired boy stopped in front of a small, silver cylindrical pillar with seven watch-like objects on it. Above the pillar hung a sign. "The seven of you must follow the will of the majority to reach the goal," Gon read as the four other applicants gathered around him.
"The seven of us?" Leorio murmured.
"Look…there are seven timers as well." Gon picked up a silver watch. There was a small, greenish screen that read "71:19:00," then "71:18:59." Asterra assumed it was the amount of time they had left to get to the bottom of the tower. Beneath the screen were two buttons—one with a red "O" on it and one with a blue "X" on it.
Everybody took a watch and put it on their wrist, which left two watches on the table. Kurapika looked at the two watches, then wondered out loud, "'The seven of you'…could it be that we won't be able to leave this room until another two people drop in?"
"That is correct!"
The applicants whirled around at the unfamiliar, crackly voice that had come from behind them.
"Who's there?!" Leorio demanded.
"My name is Lippo," the same voice said from the speaker on the opposite wall. "I am the prison warden here, as well as the Third Phase examiner."
"Prison warden?" Kurapika repeated.
"Yes," Lippo replied. "This tower is normally a prison, but when I heard I was going to be an Examiner I did some tweaking in order to make it into a maze—one with multiple starting points and multiple paths that lead to the finish line.
"You all have chosen the path of majority rule; cooperation will be key if you wish to clear this phase of the exam. One member's selfish behavior can derail an entire group, after all. And as mentioned before, you cannot start until all seven members have gathered. So on that note, best of luck to you all!"
There was a click and the speaker went silent.
"So we can't move on until someone else arrives?" Leorio asked.
"Looks like it." Kurapika looked up at the ceiling.
The others looked up at the ceiling as well, hoping that by doing so a random applicant would come falling from the ceiling and crash in front of them with a thud.
=o=o=o=
Prison, eh?Asterra thought as she stroked Kikiri. That explained the sheer inaccessibility of this place—why the building was built on top of a towering pillar of earth, why there were no visible windows or doors on the outside, and why flocks of carnivorous cupids from hell patrolled the walls of the tower.
And if the level of security was indicative of the people incarcerated in this place…they must have housed the worst of the worst here. As in those that nations would do anything to prevent their re-entry into society.
…What a cheery place to have the next phase.
That was when Leorio, who was sitting against the silver table and tapping his foot, shot up with an exasperated roar. "This is ridiculous!"
Asterra blinked at his reaction and Kikiri raised his head to see what was going on. Killua stopped swinging Gon's fishing rod and looked towards Leorio with a bored expression. The sound of wheels scraping against stone disappeared as Gon stopped skateboarding around the room to look at Leorio as well.
"It's been two hours since we got here…What if the others all took different routes?" Leorio slammed a fist into the palm of the other hand. "Only an idiot would still be at the top of the tower!"
"Calm down, Leorio," Kurapika chided. "Complaining won't help."
Thank you, Kurapika,Asterra thought.
"Maybe, but what if time runs out before we get enough people together!?" Leorio asked, accenting his words by jabbing at his watch. "I mean, if it's taking one person this long to come, how long is it going to get the second one?"
Suddenly a knocking sound reached all the applicants' ears, save for Leorio's.
"We can't just—"
"Shh!" Kurapika hissed and pointed up.
Leorio looked up, eyes turning hopeful as his ears caught the sound of knocking from above. The four male applicants gathered around the area where the knocking sound was coming from, and Kikiri climbed onto Asterra's shoulder as she rose up and walked over as well. There was a small click then the wooshing sound of the stone panel flipping. A moment later a heavy-set applicant in blue came plummeting down and hit the ground on his stomach with an "Oomf!"
"Good grief…" the man muttered as he stood up.
Asterra's shoulders sagged slightly as she recognized the voice and the man's clothes. Of course it had to be this applicant that came falling from the ceiling.
"Tonpa-san." Gon said, eyes widened by surprise.
Everybody else looked at him with eyes narrowed in disappointment.
"Oh," Killua said flatly.
"It's you," Leorio added just as flatly.
"Nice to see you guys too," Tonpa smiled brightly, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the majority of the people in the room did notwant him here.
"Now we just need one more," Kurapika said, looking towards the ceiling.
Tonpa cocked his head at the blonde's words.
"We need seven people to get started," Gon said, pointing at the sign.
Tonpa went to read the sign, then said, "Oh. So we do." He then put on one of the watches that were left.
"Did you see anyone else still up there?" Kurapika asked.
"I don't know." Tonpa turned back around. "I think I might've been the last one."
That confirmed Leorio's worse fears. "What?!" the applicant fumed. "How the hell did the examiners let that happen?!"
"Maybe it's because that climber got eaten," Killua suggested. "It messed everything up."
"Dammit!" Leorio swore. "So now we're stuck here until 72 hours is up?!"
"Not necessarily."
The five other applicants looked to the applicant who had just spoken.
"What do you mean by that?" Kurapika asked.
"Technically, we have seven already," Asterra continued. "If you count Kikiri as our seventh member."
The other applicants blinked and looked at her like she had suggested jumping off the Trick Tower as a way to get to the bottom. Leorio broke the stunned silence. "Asterra, if you're trying to be funny let me give you some friendly feedback." Then he half-roared, "This is NOT the time for stupid jokes!"
"Leorio," Kurapika said in an exasperated voice.
Asterra crossed her arms, wondering what about her previous behavior had made Leorio think she was so tactless. "I'm not joking."
Leorio blinked a couple of times, his face the very picture of confusion. "Wait, you're serious?"
"Does it look like I'm joking?" she asked irritably as she drew an imaginary circle around her face with her index finger.
"Well, uh…" Leorio trailed off.
"No," Gon answered.
"Thank you for your direct answer," Asterra said to the dark-haired boy, then turned back to Leorio. "Why did my idea sound like a joke to you?"
"Why?" Leorio frowned. "Because only applicants can put on the watches."
"And therein lies the problem," Asterra said. "You're assuming that the members of this group of seven have to be human applicants."
"Well, duh," Killua said. "A foxbear isn't going to take the Hunter Exam."
Asterra nodded at Killua. "True; but Lippo and that sign"—she pointed with her thumb to the sign above the metal cylinder—"never explicitly said that the ones who put on the watches have to be humans or applicants."
"He didn't…?" Leorio leaned back as he tried to recall what Lippo had said word for word.
"Did he?" Gon asked Killua.
Killua shook his head.
"So you're saying we can make Kikiri a member because the Examiner never explicitly gave requirements for being a watch-wearer," Kurapika mused, hand to chin. "That's quite a stretch, isn't it?"
Asterra shrugged. "Not really; I'm just taking advantage of a loophole."
Kurapika looked at her incredulously, then shook his head. "You'd make a good lawyer."
"Hold on a second," Tonpa butted in. "This idea of hers might not be breaking any rules, but aren't you guys missing a basic point here?" He pointed at Kikiri. "Animals can't talk; how are we supposed to cooperate with them when taking a vote?"
Kikiri blew that point out of the water with his next words. "I'm not mute."
Tonpa visibly jumped at Kikiri's words and his eyes bulged. "Wha—?"
Kikiri jumped from shoulder to shoulder of each applicant until he was on a pair of shoulder's closest to Tonpa—Gon's.
"How is that…?"
"I'm a Dokujo; I can understand what you're saying and I can tell you what I think of it," Kikiri half-growled into Tonpa's face.
"Oh…ok," Tonpa replied, nervous eyes on Kikiri. "Th-Then here's another thing! How do we know that you"—he gestured at Asterra—"won't just tell him what to do?"
"The old man's got a point," Killua added.
Shit. He just had to ask that, didn't he?Asterra didn't have a good argument for that, mainly because she had banked on the fact that the others would be desperate enough to go along with her plan without thinking too much. "He's got his own mind," she replied vaguely.
"I don't know that for sure." Tonpa crossed his arms. "I can't go along with this plan."
"What?!" Leorio asked. "Why? You said so yourself that there might not be any applicants left on the roof. If that's true, then Asterra's plan is the only way to get started!"
"Maybe; but I'm not going along if the voting is going to be rigged," Tonpa replied obstinately, his mouth in a thin line that, to Asterra, looked like a small, satisfied smirk.
A smirk? Why the hell is he smirking?
"Besides, I might have been wrong about being the last one up there; for all we know, there's still some poor applicant wandering around up there whose only way to get down the tower is by being part of our group of seven."
Like I give a damn. "Then let him wander and fail"—Asterra accented the words with an upwards flick of her chin—"he can try again next year. At the moment I'm more worried about myself and the situation I'm in."
…
Some sentiments were really better off being unsaid.
Tonpa's eyes widened. "My, my. Showing your true colors now, are we?" He then turned to the four other applicants. "See? She's only worried about herself; she wouldn't hesitate to order her pet to vote for the choice that she thinks is right."
"Asterra isn't like that!" Kikiri snarled from Gon's shoulder. "And I'm not her puppet either!"
Tonpa ignored Kikiri and continued, "If we go with her idea, it's like giving her two votes automatically."
Anger flared up in Asterra's stomach not at the meaning of the words but rather the intent behind them. From the way he excluded her from the conversation by turning to the other applicants and talking like she wasn't in the same room...Tonpa's intentions were blatantly obvious.
He was trying to isolate her from the group by making her look like a threat and a liability.
Calm down, Asterra,the Resca thought. She had to make a counterargument before Tonpa did too much damage.
But she couldn't. For reasons unknown to her the fury refused to settle, and instead it clouded her mind like smog, keeping words from coming together to form a good counterargument. And then it suggested a much simpler, more physical way to get Tonpa to stop talking.
She took a step towards Tonpa, eyes glittering with a cold fury and mouth pressed into a grim line.
"And why should we give two votes to a person who only thinks about herself rather than the good of the group?" Tonpa continued.
Another step closed the distance between her and Tonpa. She was almost within punching range; she was almost close enough to shut the bastard up and stem the flow of poisonous words that streamed from his mouth.
Kurapika saw the expression on her face and looked at her in alarm. He took a step towards her. "Asterra—"
If she heard him, she gave no signs of it. The Resca simply raised her foot to take another step that would bring her within arm's reach of Tonpa.
Dun dun duuuuh~!
As always, thanks for reading to the end.
-Rhyss