Gon and Killua sat on the bed in their suite. They sat leaned up against the pillows with their legs under the thick blankets. A single candle lit the space from its perch on the bedside table. The two boys were contemplating the events of the dinner.
"So," Gon asked, "Did you find out anything interesting from Circe?"
"I did," Killua responded. "I found out that she is an actual person, unlike Isolde."
"Kill-u-a, that's mean!"
"But it's true!"
"Whatever, just, did she give you any information?"
"No. But I am confident that I can get her to crack sooner rather than later. What about you? Did you pick up any clues from High Priestess Camilla?"
Killua watched as Gon turned his gaze upward and wracked his brain with his finger on his chin. "Hmm," he said. "She gave me a crash course over the history of the village. Aside from that, the only helpful thing I learned was about their culture."
"Oh?" The Valkyrie prompted.
"The Neko-Girls live secluded from the rest of the world on this mountain. This is the homeland for all of them, so any Neko-Girl in the outside world came from here. However, it is rare that they leave. They follow a religion where they worship a Goddess named Nekka. The High Priestess is the religious leader, so that's why she's called the High Priestess-"
"-Oh really? I never would have guessed," Killua interrupted with a mischievous smile.
Gon puffed out his cheeks and then continued, "The religion doesn't require much, other than a special ritual they do every month. The next one is in three weeks, hopefully we won't be there when that happens."
"'Why?"
"Well…"
"Oh no."
Gon smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "So everyone here is female, right?"
"Right."
"It is very rare that a male Neko-Humanoid is born, and has gotten more and more rare over the generations."
"I don't like where this is going."
"For the past three generations, not a single male was born. So that's why there are only females, and not even any super old males."
"Okay…" Killua said with an expression of suspicion growing with every passing second.
"Since males are so rare, whenever there IS a male they sort of have a harem?"
"Stop! There's no way that's true!" Killua said with a look of horror.
"It is! They have to make more Neko-Girls, so if there's only one male-"
"NO! Just cut to the part that has to do with us!"
"Okay, so," Gon said with a look of determination (likely determination to get through his explanation without being interrupted by Killua). "The Goddess Nekka and her ritual revolve around fertility and stuff, and not just of the ground. Of the loins as well."
"You did not just use the word 'loins,'" Killua groaned while dragging his hands across his face.
"Killua, stop interrupting!" Gon ordered with a stern expression.
"I'll attempt."
"Anyways," For the ritual, a select group of Neko-Girls go out into the world and find some males so they can-"
"-No way!-"
"-Stop interrupting! They find the males so they can bear the next generation of Neko-Humanoids. However, the general goal is to try and get some of the males to come all the way back here. Any chosen Neko-Girl that successfully returns pregnant is honored as a hero, but any Neko-Girl who brings a male (or multiple males) back with her is an even higher esteemed hero. The males are treated like royalty! Since they are so rare, males are always treated with reverence when they pass through the village, in an attempt to get them to stay for the ritual. So that's part of the reason why we are being treated so well, but High Priestess Camilla assured me that we are not being treated well only because of that, she said that it is our heroism that is truly so important to them."
"Oh, I'm sure she did!" Killua said with a look of distaste.
"Killua, she was telling the truth!"
"That woman is a snake, Gon. A snake! She only said that so we wouldn't be scared away!"
"She was! Killua, look me in the eye."
Killua listened, and met Gon's fiery gaze. Emotions swirled in their amber depths, communicating just how serious he was at the moment, and how confident he was in his assessment of the situation.
"Killua, High Priestess Camilla was telling the truth. I know because I can sense it in her, something happened with that monster, and whatever happened is what made the situation here so out of whack. Her Majesty said that the last ritual took place about a week before we arrived. And there is always a 75% success rate. Since pregnant Neko-Girls are held in such high regard, then why weren't any of them at the dinner table? And why aren't there any children here? Something is preventing them from completing the ritual all the way. When we came here, for some reason, we gave them a sliver of hope that they could get things back to normalcy."
Killua sighed, "Yeah. I hate to say it, but that makes complete sense. I admit it, you're right."
Gon smiled, it was like the sun shining through clouds. "What did you say? Sorry, I didn't hear you quite right."
"Asshole!"
"No really, what did you say?"
"Quit being a douche!"
"Killuaaaaaa, repeat it for me?" Gon held his hand up to his ear, a goofy grin plastered all over his face.
Killua scoffed, "You're right," he mumbled, a blush growing across his cheeks.
"Wha- you said it so quietly-"
"-YOU'RE RIGHT! There, I said it, now quite being an ass-bag!"
"Awwwwww, good Killua!" Gon said with a grin as he crushed the Valkyrie against his side and patted his head as if he were some sort of dog.
Killua sputtered, face heating up to a million degrees. "Get off me, you moron," he mumbled as he pulled himself out of Gon's playful embrace. "What had we been talking about?" He said as he looked away from Gon to attempt to hide his reddened cheeks.
Gon snickered, and then looked up in contemplation. "Oh yeah! So anyways, we don't wanna be here when the ritual returns, cause they'll try to make us a part of it. If a male is present for the ritual, and takes part in that ritual, then he'll sleep with every Neko-Girl he consents to."
"That's… my emotions… I feel so uncomfortable."
"Yeah, it's pretty weird, but you can't expect them to just let their species die out, right? Also, I forgot to mention, Neko-Humanoid genes are always completely dominant, so it doesn't matter what species the male is."
"I'm so glad that we stumbled across a village of horny cat-girls."
"Killua! That's rude! It's not like they WANT to sleep with everyone-"
"-I hate this conversation so much-"
"Well you're the one who started it! I'm just explaining their culture like you asked me to! I haven't even gotten past their religion yet! This is all just their religion, Killua!"
"See, I don't believe in religion-"
Gon gave the Valkyrie an annoyed look.
Killua gave a cat-faced look in return.
"Are you quite finished?"
"I suppose~," Killua said, dragging out the word.
"ANYWAYS…" Gon paused, waiting for the silver haired boy to interrupt again, and when he didn't he continued, "That's pretty much the gist of their religion. Aside from that, the Neko-Girls live peacefully, and do not like contact with the outside world. So whenever males come here, it is either to stay or just for pleasure, nothing in between. They hold respect highly, and are very formal with their High Priestess and any outsider that comes through, no matter the gender… even though they don't necessarily like them being outsiders. That's why they've been treating us like this, it's just their way to be as respectful as possible. Also, they hold their values in very high regard, and can get a little pushy when it comes to assimilating outsiders into their way of life. Like I said earlier, they do not like outsiders, so if any outsiders do come they are expected to live like the Neko-Girls do. Their kinda look at it like: 'we never wanted you to come here, so if you do you have to live like us.'"
"Okay," Killua nodded along, "That makes sense."
"Aside from that, it's just stuff we already know. They wear lots of furs, grow those fancy trees we heard about during the tour, they have all kinds of food, and they all live at a degree of luxury. They have no separate classes, and do not understand how the rest of the world lives with such differing qualities of life."
"So they're socialists," Killua said with a look of judgment on his face.
"No- well… actually, I can't refute that."
"COMMUNISM!"
"Killua. No," Gon deadpanned. "But anyways, that's all I found out."
"Cools. I'm proud of you for remembering all that with that pea-brain of yours," Killua said as he flicked his friend in the forehead.
"Yeah, me too! It was really hard to retain all of that… my brain was getting super full, and I was scared I would run out of room!"
Killua laughed, and patted Gon on the shoulder. "You're such an idiot," he said with an air of affection.
Gon stuck out his tongue.
"But in all seriousness," Killua said, "With all that you found out in mind, it makes the situation even more suspicious. Like we've been saying, something really big is going on here. And if we want to help these women, we're gonna have to solve this mystery. And now we know what the mystery is: what that monster is, and why their ritual isn't being executed."
"Yeah!"
The two boys exchanged their intricate hand-shake, and turned in for bed.
"We'll save this village-" Gon prompted.
"No matter what!" Killua finished.
