[A/N: I know they stay in the airship but I wanted them to stay in a hotel because why not :3]

Chapter 28: Finally x Resting x Up!

January 18, 1999

A few days had been given to the remaining examinees to rest and get ready for the next phase. The hunter association had booked several floors in a five-star hotel for the participants to stay in.

Each participant was given the choice to either stay on a floor alone, or with someone else. Levi, Killua and Gon were staying together; Kurapika and Leorio were also staying together; while the rest of the participants had decided to stay on seperate floors.

"Woah! " The three boys exclaimed in unison as they entered the hall of their floor. It was really fancy and huge, with a modernistic look.

Killua went to check the master bedroom, while Gon examined the kitchen, and Levi pushed the curtains out of the giant window to check out the view.

Luckily, they had been able to get their room on second highest floor. Needless to say, the view from up there was magnificent. Levi could barely stop himself from gaping.

"Hey!" Gon popped his head out the kitchen. "The kitchen here's super big. I bet we can make all sorts of things here! There is an oven and- WOAH! That view looks so awesome, Levi!"

Gon ran to the window and put his hands against it. As he grew up on a simple island, he had never seen anything like that. The hotel was the tallest building around which made the altitude of that room make the buzzing city below look like a model for children.

"Hey!" Killua popped his head out the bedroom. "There is only one bed but it's big enough for all of us- Hey! The view from up here's super cool."

He joined the other two, and the trio together began enjoying the view.

Ding-Dong

"Hm... Gon, check who's at the door..."

"It's probably just room service, Killua... why don't you check?"

"Don't wanna... I wanna see how that guy deals with his dog..."

DING-DONG

"Levi! Can you check it, please? Killua won't budge and... I really wanna-"

"Okayy!"

"Thanks!" Gon pressed his face closer to the glass.

"You're the best!" Killua grinned.

Levi ran to open the door.

"Levi!" He exclaimed as an excited gray cat was carefully placed in his arms.

"Did they take good care of you?" He brushed his fingers through the soft fur. The cat purred.

"Don't worry about it." The delivery guy smiled. "We took great care of him. He, in turn, cooperated with us very well too. You have a very well-behaved cat."

"Thank you!" Levi beamed as he closed the door.

The three boys had a blast that day. To Gon's surprise and slight disappointment, their food was delivered right to their door and was liked by everyone, including Levi-the-cat who licked his bowl clean.

The rest of the day, they explored every inch of their floor. After that, they had a massive pillow fight at night that lasted nearly an hour (nobody won but they had fun). Lastly, exhausted from the day's adventures, the trio fell asleep.

January 19, 1999

The next phase of the exam was the day after tomorrow, so it was another day of resting.

They had the choice to eat their food in the massive central dining hall at the rooftop, which most jumped at.

Dinner was the trio's favourite part of the day as it had a really cool firework show (The cat was so scared that Levi made them shut it down mid-way, but everyone agreed that it was too loud). After another pillow fight (that Killua won), the trio collapsed on the bed.

January 20, 1999

It was the last day of rest before the final phase. Right after lunch, one-by-one, they were all called for an interview in the order in which they had exited Trick Tower.

Soon, it was Levi's turn. He nervously approached the room and softly knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Netero's cheerful voice called.

Levi entered the room and sat in front of the Chairman.

"So..." He rubbed the end of his writing brush against his cheek. "Why do you want to be a hunter?"

"Hmm... I don't really want to be a hunter... I just wanted to take the exam because it sounded fun."

"I see... I see... Very well... next question-- which of the remaining applicants is on your mind the most?"

"Uhm... I would say... number 50... I really owe him for getting this far..."

"Hmm... alright..." Netero scribbled something down. "Last question-- Which of the remaining examinees would you like to fight the least?"

"There are a lot of people here... who are a lot stronger than I am... many of them are my friends so..." Levi wrung his hands. "...to be honest, I don't really wanna fight any one of them... but if it's mandatory... I guess... I'll have to."

"If you could choose three people?"

"Hmm... number 50, 99 and 405."

"Hm Hm... I see. Very well. You may leave now."

"Thank you!"

[A/N: The chapter's shorter than usual but I want to keep the last phase seperate so I decided to cut it off.]