In the previous episode:

Nicky agreed. 'Bring him too,' he tilted his jaw in Kurapika's direction.

I nodded.

~oOo~

'Why are we here?' I asked.

It was Sunday night yet the bar was dim and crowded. We were sitting in a corner, but it did little to block out the rancorous clinking of glasses and slaps on backs ringing throughout the bar. I struggled to see the faces of Kurapika and Nicky who were sitting an arm's distance around a round table, which was sticky. I peeled my elbows off, feeling disgusted.

'Ah, little sister,' said Nicky. 'Thou knowst nothing at all.'

I glared at him. He was much recovered from the initial shock of Sumi's photograph. He leaned forward on his elbows. 'Noisy places make sure we're not overheard, obviously.'

'That is true,' Kurapika said in his eggbert voice. 'Noisy environments increase both the challenge of listening and processing rapid changes in frequencies. As a result, it is more difficult to eavesdrop in such places.' He cleared his throat, 'Which brings me to this question: why the secrecy?'

I swirled the ice in my drink and took a sip. 'We need to pool info,' I said with as much authority as possible. Seeing them nod solemnly, I continued. 'So, first: we know that the Lisbon collection went missing on my birthday.'

Kurapika interrupted. 'When is your birthday?'

'September twelve,' I answered.

'You met us about two days later in the woods,' said Nicky slowly.

'By which time Sumi had been missing for about two days,' I finished.

Nicky picked up an ice cube with his fingers and put it in his mouth. It bulged out of his cheek angularly. 'It could just be a coincidence,' he said, slurring around the ice.

'That's what we thought, until that photograph.'

'The one from Hisoka?' asked Kurapika.

Nicky pulled it out of his shirt pocket and placed it on the table. We all looked at it. '

She really does resemble Risumi,' said Kurapika.

'Only in appearance,' Nicky said. 'I remember Sumi to be a nice sweet-tempered girl.'

'So, can we conclude,' I cut in, 'that the two events are too closely linked to be a coincidence?'

Nicky shook his head. 'It doesn't make sense. It doesn't explain the fire.'

Kurapika's eyes met mine. We were thinking the same thing.

'Have you heard about nen?' asked Kurapika.

'Hey,' Nicky exclaimed, pointing at me. 'That's what she asked me.'

I licked my bottom lip nervously. 'Nen is the lifeforce within people and we can harness this energy to fight and protect ourselves. That's what Kurapika and I have been learning from our teacher.'

Nicky nodded, looking unsure.

'Some people have a huge explosive amount of nen. They are considered oddities, and they're very strong. I was thinking that Sumi could be one of them. If the fire erupted spontaneously in her moment of danger, it is possible that it was created by her nen'.

'Okay,' Nicky said, rubbing his chin. 'But how does this relate to the Spiders?'

Kurapika folded his arms. 'If the fire was indeed caused by Sumi's nen, that means she has amazing combat potential. Nurtured correctly, she would be a force to reckon with.'

Nicky's brows furrowed deeper. 'So she was an asset.'

Kurapika nodded.

'But how did they know about the fire?' Nicky burst out. 'We hadn't told anybody by that point!'

Suddenly, an image flickered into my head. 'If,' I said slowly, 'if by chance that the Spiders passed the charcoal tree on their way to my grandmother's house, if by a slim possibility they noticed the nen traces on it, if somehow they traced that nen back to where Sumi was…' I trailed off.

No one said anything for a while. The bar scene moved around us – the rowdy conversation, the footy on the television, cheers and jeers, drinks being shaken behind the bar and slammed down on the counter with gusto.

'That is a lot of "ifs",' Nicky said, finally.

We all agreed.

'The Spiders have no qualms about morals,' Kurapika minced. 'They simply take what they want, no matter the cost, or consequences.' He angrily took a sip of his drink and set it back down with more force than necessary. I knew that behind his contacts lenses, his irises were beginning to stain crimson.

I felt Nicky glance at me, and knew he wanted to ask but I studiously looked away. It was not my place to tell, so it was best that it was never asked.

Nicky said, instead, 'Do you think your grandmother had anything to do with Sumi's disappearance?'

I shook my head. 'She played a hand in the Lisbon collection, that is confirmed.' I told him what Kurapika and I had seen the day before. 'But I don't think she had anything to do with Sumi.'

He nodded slowly, then downed his drink with his trademark sound of swallowing rocks. He tipped the ice into his yawning mouth and crunched them between his teeth.

At this moment, a waitress stopped at our table and set down a basket of wings. She told us it was on the house and gestured to the kitchen window where a square-bodied man was waving. I waved back. I had worked for the owner the summer before last. I was still smiling when I turned back to the table where the waitress was telling us to let her know if we needed anything else. I watched my stupid brother drink in her doleful eyes, slender neck, and bountiful breasts. In a flash, he was out of his seat and jabbering away.

I helped myself to a wing and pushed the basket towards Kurapika. It was hot and had a smoky barbeque flavour. Mm!

Nicky sat back down. 'Now, where were we?' he said, nonplussed.

'Are you okay?' asked Kurapika.

'Don't worry,' I said with my mouth full. 'For Nicky, dating is all about quantity. He knows that if he asks out ten girls, one of them is bound to say yes.'

Nicky shrugged, sticking a wing between his teeth and tearing the meat off. 'The others are just shy.'

I rolled my eyes. And again, for good measure. Nicky ordered another round. A different waitress brought the drinks over. She had red hair and dainty freckles.

Nicky wasted no time. 'Hey,' he said, sultrily, leaning forward on his elbows. 'If you were a tropical fruit, you could be a fineapple.'

I gasped with horror and covered my mouth with my hand.

Nicky followed this up by blowing a kiss.

My brother. Blowing a kiss. How disgusting. I fought the urge to barf.

To my surprise, the waitress giggled. She made her way back to the bar with hips swaying, looking over her shoulder at my brother with a sexy smile, and bit her lip. It was rather different from the way I bite my lips. My technique, borne of anxiousness, had too much chewing involved. The redhead waitress took a tiny piece of her bottom lip between her pearly teeth, and released it so that her lip bounced. Smile.

After that, the meeting was effectively over. Doomed would be a better word.

No sooner had the waitress disappeared behind the bar did Nicky slide out of his seat, check his reflection in the back of a spoon and tell us not to wait up. I screwed up my face in disgust. The relief of knowing Sumi was alive, even though she seemed to have been raised by murderous bandits, combined with tonight's drinks must have addled his wits. Well, addled them more than they were already addled.

'Let's go home.' I stood up and the floor tilted. I held my hands out for balance. Whoa. I squeezed my eyes shut. The light felt harsh when I blinked again.

'You are not a very good drinker,' Kurapika commented as he took my elbow and started steering me to the door.

'I don't normally drink,' I sighed softly as I allowed myself to be pulled along with him.

'What is the legal drinking age here?' Kurapika asked.

'Sixteen,' I said.

'You have not been sixteen for very long,' he commented as he opened the door and guided me out.

I hiccupped in response.

'A long walk should sober you up.'

~oOo~

A/N: What a YEAR. It was just one thing after another. I handed in my last assignment on Christmas Eve. I hope everyone is well, and that the second lockdown didn't mess up your heads too much – it sure messed with mine.

This little piece was written in January of 2021. The scenes after it weren't working so I never posted the chapter. This bit is pretty dialogue-heavy, but I figure just this once. Let me know what you think! I've missed you all ToT