"We're here."
Mito jolted upright, startled from sleep, and shifted her weight off the strip of fabric laid diagonally across her chest. (She had been informed it was called a seatbelt, meant to protect passengers in case of collisions. Which had made a remarkably poor piece of trivia to start her first ride in an automobile.)
She pushed against the door to open it, and when it didn't budge, she tried again, bracing against the door with all her weight.
"Not like that," the beast corrected, "you've got to pull the handle. See, the silver thing there."
"I knew that!" she snapped back. She pulled the handle, and a strong breeze flew through the automobile, chilling her to the bone. Mito stepped out into the night, and was surprised to find that it was perfectly well-lit, with ghost-white street lights dotted liberally through the lot surrounding the towering headquarters. There were other automobiles resting along with theirs, but not enough to fill even half of the massive space. When she tried to see outside the lot, she could only see a vast, black void that made her feel she had stepped into a dimension composed of one building.
"Let's go in," the beast said, and began walking immediately.
It occurred to her that she had not even learned the beast's name, and then she wondered whether the chance to ask it had passed her by. It probably had, she concluded, approximately three hours ago. But she asked anyway, hiding her embarrassment as well as she could.
"Well, it's about time you thought to ask. It's Lorro," the beast told her.
"And what species are you, if you don't mind me asking? It's just that I've never heard of a shapeshifting animal before."
"A Kiriko. And I'd thank you not to call us animals." The word carried a note of offense dulled into amusement, the kind that said that you've heard it too many times to really care anymore. "We're magical beasts. Our intellect is greater than any animals you've ever met, and I'm willing to bet we're smarter than you too. The Songsnake you met was a magical beast too. It wouldn't do to underestimate us."
"Oh," she offered quietly. She hoped that Lorro would look at her now and take the hint. She didn't want to think about the snake yet. How close she had come to death, to failing and leaving Gon for dead too. It was a feeling too large for anyone to hold within themselves, to see how fragile you are when it comes down to it. She had never thought of herself that way before. But now, she tried to hold onto the feeling, even as it tore at her, because she knew she would need it someday. Might need it someday. Maybe a Hunter would not see the difference between the two.
Lorro glanced at her, and gave her a pitying look. "Quit pouting like that." He gave her a playful shove that almost toppled her to the pavement. "Most magical beasts aren't on such good terms with Hunters as us Kiriko are. But most of us also don't want to cross the Hunters unless they cross us first. So just don't go out of your way to be an asshole and you'll be fine."
An exhausted giggle wrenched its way out of Mito. "Got it. I wasn't planning on it, anway."
They stepped onto the sidewalk ringing its way around the tower, and into the front doors, which slid open automatically for some strange reason. The lobby was larger than any room Mito had seen in her life, with a white marble floor polished to shining and modern couches and chairs arranged along the walls. Large globes of warm, white light floated above their heads, far too high to reach.
At the back of the room, they stopped by a desk rendered comically tiny by the sheer scale of the room.
"The registration office, please," Lorro said.
A stern young man in a neatly-pressed suit sent them up to the 60th floor with a plastic card printed with the words Level 3 Access.
"It's going to be a long way up the stairs," Mito remarked. "I guess that's how you all stay so in shape, then?"
Lorro laughed at her again. "You really think we take the stairs? Come on, I've got something that will blow your mind."
He led her to three large glass boxes encased in a row of trimmed hedges. A panel of buttons stood in front of the boxes
"Get in," he commanded, pointing to the left box, and then he pressed a button. Its doors slid open like they had at the entrance. They entered, and the doors slid closed again, perfectly silent and smooth.
Then, the box lurched and began to float upward.
Mito's heart leapt, and she felt heavy against the floor of the box. She dared not lean against the glass for support. If she did, a terrible sense told her that she could shatter it and fall back to the floor. But in spite of her nerves, an inexplicable lightness filled her chest and made her want to laugh and cheer endlessly.
"How…" she trailed off. "I don't understand—is this Nen too?"
Lorro wrapped her up in a giant hand and gave her a warm grin. "No, this is just machines. Using Nen for something like this would be a waste."
A pleasant bell signaled the box to stop floating up and its doors to open again. The number 60 popped up on a screen on the wall of the box, so they stepped out onto solid floor again. Lorro led her down a beautiful, clean hall, past rows of doors and transparent rooms with long tables, and into the largest room in the hall. And back to another desk.
"I'm here to register a new Hunter," Lorro told the new secretary.
She gave a skeptical glare. "Do you have an appointment?" It came out almost an accusation, and Mito was startled at the secretary's sudden hostility
Lorro glared back. "Of course I do. You can check it if you like."
Lorro gave his name and her fingers leapt across an array of buttons below her screen ("a keyboard", apparently). She soon found that they did, in fact, have an appointment. "Oh," she said, obviously deflated. "The Exam ended weeks ago. We aren't taking new Hunters until next year."
"This one's a special case. I've got permission."
"Please hold," the woman said icily, and began to punch in a number on her phone. She listened, and stared through Mito as though she were seeing something miles away that greatly irritated her. Finally, she set the phone down, and said, "See Mr. Satotz. Room 631. He will register the recruit."
It made Mito feel odd to be known only as 'the recruit', so she offered a greeting. "Hello, I'm Mito. It's a pleasure to work with you."
"Indeed," the secretary said, even as she turned back to her screen.
"Let's go then," Lorro cut in. When they were out of earshot, he grumbled, "Hunters really do have unparalleled customer service. I'm telling you, I don't know what we pay them for."
"Why was she so rude to us?" Mito asked.
"Some of the HA doesn't particularly like magical beasts," he explained. "They see us as shady, too much of an unknown. I assume she was one of that lot."
Mito laughed lightly. "You haven't seemed particularly shady to me. Although, you did drug and kidnap me. Can't forget that little hangup." That part had nearly slipped her mind; it seemed almost a trivial matter compared to her ordeal that would come after. "So compared to me, I guess she really doesn't have a right to complain."
"Fair enough," he huffed. "We were only part of your training, though, so you can't hold us completely responsible. The old nutter wanted to give you a little surprise with that cup of tea."
Mito had assumed nearly as much, but it still startled her to hear it. "So it really was her then? I'd hoped I'd just stumbled into some really bad luck."
"All things considered, you're pretty lucky. Fuma might be more than a few apples short of an orchard, but she's seen it all and she knows how to train up a fine Hunter."
They sat outside Room 631, Mito in a velvet chair with uncomfortably hard backrests and Lorro cross-legged on the floor. Twenty minutes passed with little to distract Mito from the ache building along her back. The office was tucked in a remote hallway, behind numerous turns and corners. Every so often, Mito would turn to glance through a pane of glass beside the door, hoping that it might provide some entertainment.
"There really isn't anything all that interesting in there."
Mito swiveled quickly to face the unexpected visitor and tried her best not to look guilty in the least. But she recognized him. He had the same lavender hair and delicate mustache as the man who she'd met on Whale Island. "Mr. Satotz." She stood and nodded politely. "It's a pleasure to meet again."
"Indeed it is, Miss Freecss, although I hardly expected to see you so soon," he said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Lorro interjected, "She's here to register as a Hunter, on recommendation of the board."
Satotz lifted an eyebrow and gave her a surprised smile, although there was a rehearsed quality about it. "Of course, we can file the paperwork immediately. Please, come in."
The registration process came and went in an hour. A few minutes of small talk between Lorro and Satotz that she tried her best to follow, and then an interview. Throughout the process, Mito shifted restlessly in her chair although she wasn't really uncomfortable, and Satotz asked dry, standard questions. Occasionally, he would glance down to scrawl short lines on a notepad, although Lorro assured her that she had little cause to fear rejection. Indeed, Satotz soon set down his pad and pen and printed Mito a temporary Hunter License.
"You'll receive your official license in about a week, once we add you into our databases," he said. "Until then, you'll have access to most of the functions of a full Hunter License. You won't be able to travel with it, although I doubt it will be an issue."
She nodded and stayed silent, although what she really wanted to say was, "So when can I join the investigation for Gon?"
But she knew he would just have closed himself off to her and sent her away with some empty consolation. It wasn't the kind of thing that she could ask for; she had to wait to be asked.
Satotz seemed encouraged by her silence, taking it as an invitation to lecture the newbie. "A Hunter's License is one of the most valuable and useful items in the world. It will allow you to access nearly all public services free of charge and to travel to almost any country and enter restricted areas. Additionally, Hunters receive certain legal exemptions—" he lingered a touch too long here, as though he were weighing the benefits of continuing "—but those should not be of much concern just yet. Finally, you do have the ability to sell your license, and it often sells for an exorbitant price, but I would not recommend doing so. Your license will not be replaced if it is sold or lost; you should keep your license unless it's absolutely necessary for you to sell it."
He finished talking, and then stayed quiet and still. Mito realized she was meant to have questions, so she asked, "What sort of things does a Hunter do?"
"Any sort of specialized job that a civilian couldn't do," he said. "We have countless career fields within our organization and, despite what you may have heard, many of them don't involve much fighting at all. For example, Ging-san and I are both Ruins Hunters—we search for artifacts of ancient societies, so our job almost never involves combat."
"I don't mind combat," Mito assured him. "I know what I'm signing up for."
Satotz sighed a quick puff of air. "Of course. Then I'll register you as a Blacklist Hunter for now. You are aware that it is the most dangerous branch of the Hunter Association?"
Mito nodded again, beginning to grow frustrated at Satotz's hesitance to just sign the form, how he kept glancing up at her, practically pleading her to call it off. There were only a few more lines to go and she was decidedly not in the mood for the "but-think-of-the-danger" lecture. He seemed to have a unique talent for irritating her, now that she thought about it. But all the while, she held a vague, easy almost-smile that would keep things comfortable. Satotz finally checked the box, and the rest of the form was complete in five minutes.
He held the paper above a wire tray on the edge of his desk and dropped it. It fluttered down a few inches and came to rest on a pile of papers hanging off the tray. "Congratulations, then," he said. "You're now a Hunter trainee."
Mito smiled and shook Satotz's hand and kept her thoughts to herself, far away from her face. But she had a final question for him, one last piece that had to find its place. "Does Ging ever talk about us?" she asked on her way out. "Out of curiosity."
Satotz grinned and leaned back, like he meant to project his memories onto the ceiling and watch them play out. "All the time. He would never admit it, and I'm sure he'd be furious if he found out I told you, but he never made me promise not to. He's told me all the stories there are about you. And I know he wonders about Gon too. He does care, even if he's too afraid to say so."
Mito didn't reply, and she barely even waved as she left. She had found what she needed to know, and now there was simply nothing left to say.
A/N: I'm so sorry for how unsympathetically I'm writing Satotz; I actually think he's one of the most morally decent Hunters—along with Melody, my absolute favorite character. Or, I don't know, maybe it's just that we just haven't seen his character flaws in the anime. But I doubt he and Mito are going to get along with one another for a while yet.
Also, since it isn't especially clear in canon, I'm assuming that Whale Island is somewhat behind the major metropolises in terms of technology. Since it made the most sense to me, I'm going to say that they've imported the more useful technology for their situation, such as cell phones and industrial machinery, but they don't have TVs or cars in Whale Island (cars would be practically useless there anyway), and they do have computers, but they are rare because of their price.