We've been following the lavender haired man for a few hours and he still hasn't introduced himself.

"Why are we just walking?"

"Are we even going to take the actual exam?"

"Who the hell is this guy?"

"Come one, what is with all this walking. It's tiresome."

"Are we going to fight or what?"

Those were some complaints I've been hearing among the crowd as we continued walking/following this man.

How annoying.

"Sorry for the late introduction" The lavender haired man finally spoke as he stopped walking. "My name is Satotsu. I am the proctor for Phase One of the Hunter's exam. There are 406 of you participating today. We will start the real deal now. Please follow along."

With that, instead of walking Satotsu started running, like really running, at a really fast pace!

"W-What the hell!?" Leorio shouted. "This guys' pretty damn fast!"

We all quickly fixed our pace and ran as fast as we could to catch up with Satotsu.

"First we were walking, now we're running. I guess all that running we did earlier paid off." I said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I find running fun." Gon said with a smile.

"I don't find this fun! We're probably gonna be tired soon." Leorio said.

"Well this is the first part of the exam. I guess they're trying to test our stamina." Kurapika said, unsure.

After another few hours, many participants were collapsing one by one from exhaustion. I maneuvered my way around the unconscious bodies to prevent myself from tripping.

Just ahead of us, I noticed a kid riding his skateboard to follow Satotsu. That's smart.

"Look! He's using a skateboard!" Gon shouted towards us.

"Hey kid!" Leorio screamed running alongside the kid. "That's cheating! Using a skateboard while the rest of us are running!"

"Huh? Cheating?" The kid questioned. "How am I cheating? He said 'follow me', so I am. He didn't say running only."

"He does have a point Leorio." Kurapika said

"Pft. Whatever." Leorio responded.

"Hey. You seem cool. What's your name? How old are you?" Gon asked the kid.

"Gon! Stop making friends with whoever you meet!" Leorio shouted at Gon.

"But I like making friends" Gon pouted.

"Lighten up Leorio." I said, glaring at Leorio. "What is your name?"

"You guys sure are weird." The kid whispered.

"Well, My name's Gon. I'm twelve years old" Gon said with a smile.

"Eh? Twelve? Say, how about you old man?" He said, looking towards Leorio.

"W-What!? Me!? Old man!? Just so you know, I'm 20 years old!" Leorio shouted.

"Really!?" Gon and the new kid shouted.

"Do I look older to you!?" Leorio screamed.

They both nodded their head and laugh.

I couldn't help but to laugh to.

"Sorry Leorio, but I thought you were older as well." I said, still laughing.

"Agree." Kurapika said, nodding his head.

"Huh!? Really!?" You too Aoi?" Leorio said in disappointment.

"Sorry!" I said with a cheesy smile. "Well at least your three years older than me. So you're not THAT old."

"You're 17 Miss Aoi?" said the new kid.

I was caught by surprise.

"M-Miss? And yes. I'm 17." I stuttered.

"Cool" said the new kid

With that, he sped up with his skateboard and reached to the front of the group.

Being called 'Miss' threw me off guard.

There's something about that label that seems strangely familiar.

It feels like I've been called 'Miss' before but it's leaving an uneasy feeling for me. I just don't know why.

"You know Aoi..." Kurapika talked, disrupting my thoughts. "We're the same age."

"Eh?" I blinked rapidly at him. "You're 17 as well?"

"Yes" He nodded. "Well, I guess this is a nice fun fact for us to learn about each other"

Kurapika gave me another one of his charming smile.

I couldn't help but to blush.

I happen to find Kurapika a very charming, handsome guy.

Why am I feeling that way?

"Oof!" Leorio made a grunt as he fell to the ground.

"Leorio!" Gon shouted as he rushed to his side.

"Are you okay?" I asked, kneeling beside him.

"I'm fine" He said, catching his breath. "I'm just tired. That's all."

"Come on Leorio. We need to continue running." Kurapika said, lifting Leorio off the ground.

"I'm so tired man. How long have we been running?" Leorio said, ready to be defeated.

"I don't really know. We've probably been running for a couple of hours now." I said.

"Awh man. I don't think I can continue. I lost all my stamina." Leorio said, still trying to catch his breath.

"No Leorio." Gon said with determination. "I won't let you give up."

With that, Gon wrapped his arm around Leorio and started dragging him along his side.

"What are you doing Gon?" Leorio asked

"I'm not letting you give up and fail the Hunter Exam!" Gon shouted. "I'm going to help you pass this test"

"I agree. We'll be terrible friends if we leave you behind Leorio." I said

Huh. I called each of us 'friends'.

"Don't worry Leorio. We're almost there." Kurpaika said.

"Thank you guys. I owe all of you." Leorio said with a tired smile.

We all looked at each other and smiled towards one another.

"Out of the way! Slowpokes like you shouldn't even take this exam!"

Out of nowhere, one of the participants came running ahead and shoved me.

I fell to the ground, butt first.

"Ouch...Hey you jerk. Watch where you're going!" I shouted towards the person that pushed me.

Unfortunately, that person was long gone. Only laughed and moved forward.

"Aoi, are you okay?" Kurapika asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I guess I'm fine. Nothing seems hurt so I should be good." I said with a faint smile.

"Jeez, that guy was mean." Gon said with a frown.

"Just wait till I get my hands on him." Leorio said with his fist pointing at the direction ahead.

"That guy was a jerk. If I see him again, maybe I'll give him a beating or two." I said.

Kurapika lend me his hand and helped me up.

I brushed the dirt off my bottoms as we continued running.

"Are you okay Miss Aoi?" The new kid asked.

He skateboarded back to us, hopped off and started running with me.

Again with the 'Miss'. Why does it make me feel so uneasy?

"I'm fine. You don't need to run with us you know." I said

"It's okay. I want to run with you guys" He said. "Why do you want to be a Hunter?"

"Uhm. Well, I'm taking it out of boredom." I said. "What about you?"

"Same reason." He answered and then looked towards Gon. "By the way, my name is Killua and I'm thirteen."

"Ah! That's awesome!" Gon said with a huge grin while still holding onto Leorio.

"We're almost at the exit!" Satotsu shouted. "Time to pick up the pace!"

With that, Satotsu actually sped up his running and we all tried to catch up with him.

It practically feels like we're running at 120% with as little rest as possible.

After another half hour or so, we finally reached to the exit and reached to an outdoor environment area.

"Finally! We're out of that stupid underground tunnel!" Leorio screamed in joy.

Gon let go of Leorio as he sat by a nearby tree and rest.

"It's about time we get out of that hell hole." I said with a sigh.

"That was actually pretty tiring. I'm surprised we completed that task without any failure." Kurapika said.

We all took a couple of minutes to catch our breaths until Satotsu had our attention to discuss on the next part.

"Before we head to Phase two of the exam. We will have to cross through Numele Swamp which is just ahead of us. Be careful though, this swamp is full of traps and dangerous creatures. If you get caught in these traps, then consider yourself dead." Satotsu said.

I noticed a couple of amateurs around us looking scared.

"Since I don't see anyone asking questions, we can continue moving. Please follow me."

Satotsu was just about to run off towards the lake until a random stranger approached him.

"Wait!" The stranger shouted. "This man is lying! He is a fake! I'm the real proctor!"

We were all confused. I can even hear whispers going on among the group.

"Hey, what is going on?" Leorio asked.

"No clue." Kurapika said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Apparently, someone is a fake" Gon said

"Whatever it is that is going on, it's a waste of time." I said.

Seriously, who is this stranger and why is he in the way of our exam? Is this another trick for us to figure out?