Gon and Killua stepped foot into our hideout. I was very shocked to see them here. I even felt fear and nervousness. I really hope they don't mention me in front of everyone else. It would make things complicated for them.
I walked back to where Hisoka was sitting and sat next to him.
Hisoka placed his finger to his lips, indicating to keep quiet and act normal.
My eyes locked on with Killua and Gon.
We don't know each other! I thought in my head. Hoping they would get the idea.
"Ah!" Gon said out loud.
Hisoka and I quickly looked away, pretending we don't know them.
"Hm? What's wrong? You know someone here or something?" Nobunaga asked
Gon you idiot! He's going to make his life more complicated!
"Uh...t-that girl!" Killua said
I looked at Killua and he seemed to be pointing at my direction. What is he doing!?
"T-That's the girl we arm wrestled with earlier!" Killua said
"Hm?"
I turned around and noticed that Shizuka was sitting behind us. I think Killua is pointing at her.
"Do you recognize them Shizuka?" Phinks asked
"Hm? No. I don't remember" She said
"Oh? But didn't you lose that kid to an arm wrestling match for a diamond yesterday" Franklin said
I looked at Gon. He's the one Shizuka lost to? That means Gon and Killua has been in Yorknew city for a while then.
"It's not use. She'll never remember. Lucky for them, I do remember them." Feitan said.
I quietly sighed in relief. Thank goodness Shizuka was sitting behind us or it would've made Gon's reaction suspicious.
"So, you beat Shizuka huh?" Nobunaga said, looking at Gon
"Uh...yes" Gon said
"Then play against me" Nobunaga said as he put his hair up
"No! Don't Nobunaga!" I shouted
I quickly got up and hopped down towards them.
"Huh? Why not Aoi?" He asked
I know his strength, he's going to break Gon's arm if he arm wrestle with him.
"He's just a kid Nobunaga. You're going to hurt him" I said
I tried not to make eye contact with Gon or Killua. I know if I do, someone would sense something.
"You're telling me on what not to do?" Nobunaga said, feeling annoyed
Why is Nobunaga ticked off easily today?
"Uh..not really..I just..." I didn't know what else to say.
"Aoi, do these kids mean anything to you?" Paku said as she walked up to me
I looked at her. Should I say yes or no? I don't know...
"They don't mean anything to her. Don't you remember, she doesn't like to see children get hurt. That's all." Hisoka said with a smile.
I still avoided eye contact with the kids. So I just looked at the ground. Feeling bad on what I'm about to say.
"Yeah. I don't know them. It's just the fact that their kids. You can arm wrestle with him Nobunaga" I said as I went back to sitting next to Hisoka.
After hearing around 10 slams on the table, Gon's right hand was bleeding.
Nobunaga easily beat Gon at arm wrestling each time and he kept saying "One more time"
It was really hard to watch. Gon was having a lot of trouble with this. I felt bad for making this happen. I wish I could've prevented this.
"One more time" Nobunaga said. "Go!"
Again, another hard slam on the table.
"You know kid, we had a really strong guy in our group. His name was Uvogin. He would've broke your hand like squishing an ant. Too bad he was killed by the chain user" Nobunaga said cold-heartedly
"W-What? He was killed?" I asked
"Yeah. We heard word around the street that Uvogin died from the chain user" Pakunoda said
Now I understand why Nobunaga is acting like this. He's sad about Uvogin's death.
"Now, I'm going to ask this again, what do you know about the chain user?" He asked
"We told you already. We don't know this chain user" Killua said.
Had they discussed before arriving here? Is that why Gon and Killua got kidnapped?
"Kid, next you talk to me like that, you're gonna die" Nobunaga said in a deadly voice.
This made Killua shut his mouth.
I feared for their lives. Gon and Killua shouldn't have gotten themselves involved with us. They're going to die if they make a mistake.
"I won't forgive that guy" Nobunaga said as he started to break into angry tears. "I'll kill anyone that gets in my way of finding that chain user. I don't even care if it means I kill a bunch of kids!"
He once again slammed Gon's hand on the table. Then they went at it 'one more time'.
"I'm pretty sure you two know this chain user. He was recently hired by the Nostrad family. Judging from what happened to Uvogin, I believe this chain user has some sort of hatred towards the Spiders." Nobunaga said
I don't know who has been hired by what clan. But Nobunaga got to me when he mentioned that the chain user has a hatred towards us.
Could it be? Is the chain user...Kurapika?
I looked at Killua and stood behind him. He made a facial expression as if he has a clue of who Nobunaga is talking about.
Does this indicate that they weren't in contact with Kurapika at all during the past six months?
If the chain-user is Kurapika, then that means, he managed to kill a member of the Spiders.
I lowered my head and stared at the ground. A single tear was shed. Uvo is gone. The family I have with the Phantom Troupe, they really are going to die. It's going to happen to all of us.
"I don't know who the chain user you're talking about is. But, if I do know, I wouldn't have told you anyways" Gon said as he looked at Nobunaga.
"Oh? Really?" He said
"Yeah. I see that you have strong feelings about your friend. But, how about you show some of that sad feeling towards the people you killed!?" Gon shouted
He somehow got the adrenaline to slam Nobunaga's arm to the table.
We all looked at this event in shock. Gon actually beat Nobunaga this time.
In an instant, Feitan showed up behind Gon and pinned him to the table.
"What kind of game do you think you're playing punk?" Feitan said
"Gon!" Killua shouted
Knowing everyone else here, they would kill Killua if he moves an inch. So I took out my flute and held it to his neck. Then I went close to his ear and whispered.
"Don't move, if you do, you will die for sure. So stay still" I whispered to Killua.
He just stood in place. Not moving an inch as we look at Gon.
"Answer this question for me kid. Do you know the chain-user or not?" Feitan asked
"I don't know anything. So I'm not telling you" Gon responded
"Tch. Too bad kid"
I looked at Feitan and I knew exactly what he's about to do.
"Feitan don't" I said
"Don't what?" Feitan said as he looked at me
"I know you're about to kill him. Don't you dare do it" I said as I glared at him.
I cannot let anyone hurt them. I don't want to risk their lives.
"I don't care how much you're important in this group Aoi, but who are you to order me around?" Feitan said
"I don't care either. But I will not let you lay a finger on either one of them!" I shouted
Feitan and I glared at each other for a minute.
"Oh! Feitan. Stop it" Franklin said
"Yeah. Don't break the rules. No fighting with other members of the group" Machi said
"Especially with Aoi. Boss won't like that at all" Shizuku said
"You know better not to mess with her" Nobunaga said. "We'll resolve this in a coin toss. If Feitan get's it right, then the kid dies"
Nobunaga took out a coin and tossed it in the air.
This only gives me half a second to think about my choice. Usually tails get a better result than heads.
"Heads" called Feitan
"Tails" I called out.
The coin landed on Nobunaga's hand as he covered it.
Sweat was coming down my face. If it's tails, then Gon will stay alive. But if it's heads, I will have to find a way to fight off Feitan to prevent him from killing Gon and I know for sure the rest of the members wouldn't allow us to fight.
"Leave him alone Feitan. It's tails. Aoi wins" Nobunaga said
"Tch. Whatever"
Feitan let go of Gon and took a couple steps back. I put my flute away and let Killua go to Gon.
"So, what do we do with them now?" Shizuku asked
"How about we let them go? Since they claim they don't know anything. Right Pakunoda?" Franklin said
I didn't realize that Paku was quiet for a while. However, I did see that she has been staring at me the whole time too.
"I examined them on the way here. There was no trace of the chain-user in their memories" She said
Crap! I didn't think that she'd look into their memories before getting here! Did she see me in their memories then? Could that be why she's been staring at me the whole time? If so, is that why she asked if they mean anything to me? Could she be keeping this a secret from everyone else?
"That's odd. Your suspicions on them must be wrong Machi" Nobunaga said
"I could've sworn they would know something about this guys" Machi said
"Then we can let them leave right?" Franklin said
"Yeah. It's pointless to keep then around." Shalnark said
"No. Don't let them leave yet" Phinks said
"What? Why not?" I asked
"What if, this chain user earned this nen ability after a certain time? They could know this chain-user without knowing this ability. Keep them here. Let's make sure we get every information we can out of them" Phinks said
Damn. Just when I thought we could let them go safely.
"But then these kids have nothing to do with the chain-user. That guy probably acts on his own. There's no way they would know someone like the chain-user" Shalnark said
"Whatever. Then we'll let them go" Feitan said
"They're not leaving my sight" Nobunaga said.
We all looked at Nobunaga.
"Hey kid. You're pretty strong. Join the Spiders" He said, looking at Gon.
What? He's asking Gon to join us? That's ridiculous. He would never do anything like that.
"No way." Gon said
"And why's that?" Nobunaga asked
"I rather die than join this clan!" Gon shouted
I looked at Gon. Those were some strong words coming out from his mouth. I was actually relieved to hear him say that.
"That's rich. We're going to keep these kids here until the Boss returns" Nobunaga said
"What? We're seriously keeping them here?" Shalnark asked
"Whatever. I don't care if they escape from here" Machi said
"We'll keep them in a room. One of us will guard them" Nobunaga said
"I'll do it" I said. I can keep a good eye on them without having anyone else speak to them.
"Why you?" Feitan asked
"Because, I think I'm a better candidate to watch over them. That's all" I said, glaring at Feitan.
"Let her do it" Paku said. "I think it'll be less intimidating to them if Aoi is the one guarding the room"
She looked straight into my eyes. I know she knows something about the three of us.
"Thank you Paku" I said
"Alright. Bring them to the room" Nobunaga said as he and Phinks dragged Killua and Gon to a single room with one door and no windows.
"Well Aoi. Have fun watching them. We're going to go out and investigate on the Norstrad family at the next auction. They were the ones who kidnapped Uvogin before." Shalnark said
"Okay. Give me a call if anything" I said
With that, everyone else head out while I locked myself inside the room with Gon and Killua.
It was silent for almost an hour. I wanted to clearly make sure no one was around the junkyard city before I can speak to them.
"Killua. Gon." I called out their names.
"Miss Aoi..." Killua said
"It's good to see you Aoi" Gon said.
"Yeah. How have the two of you been in the past six months?" I asked
"We were training. We learned our nen abilities" Killua said
"That's good. You'll need that if you are to fight everyone here" I said
"Aoi, how come you didn't tell us?" Gon asked
I looked at him. I could tell he was sad.
"I'm sorry I never told any of you. I thought you guys would hate me if I told you the truth." I said as I lowered my head.
"I'm not mad at you Miss Aoi" Killua said
"Neither am I" Gon said
"What about Leorio and Kurapika?" I asked
"We actually met up with Leorio a few days ago. We talked about you. He said that he would like to see you again" Killua said
"I know Leorio said he would forgive me no matter what. I guess he really meant it." I said
A few tears streamed down my face.
"I can't believe you two got involved with them" I said
"We wanted to find you" Gon said
"Why?" I asked
"To bring you back to our group" Killua said with a smile
My eyes widened in shock. They're willing to accept me even though I was a killer?
"T-That's good to hear" I said, preventing anymore tears to come out
"We miss you Aoi" Gon said
"I'm pretty sure Kurapika misses you too. Even though we haven't seen him in six months" Killua said
"Even so, you heard my friends. The chain user" I said
"Yeah. It's most likely him" Killua said
"Huh? What? Kurapika is the chain-user?" Gon said
"Gon, you're such an idiot" Killua said, shaking his head
"Oh! That makes a lot of sense now!" Gon said
"I wish I could see Kurapika. But I prefer not to. For the moment" I said with a slight smile
"Why's that?" Gon asked
"He killed Uvogin. Nobunaga is hunting Kurapika down. I don't think it's the right time to see him." I said
"I guess you're right." Killua said
I looked at them for a while. I'm so happy to see them. It gave me a warm feeling in my heart for a little bit.
"Escape" I said
"Huh?" Gon said
"What are you talking about Miss Aoi?" Killua asked
"I want the two of you to act as if you escaped from my watch. Now!" I shouted
"But we don't want to leave you" Gon said
"No. Go. I have to stay here. I want the two of you to get out of here. It's way to dangerous to stick around them." I said
"Can we tell Kurapika that we saw you Miss Aoi? I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to hear that" Killua said
"Yes. When you have a chance to call him, let him know, I miss him" I said with a smile.
"Gotcha Miss Aoi" Killua said as he gave me a thumbs up.
"Ready to escape Killua?" Gon asked
"Yup. Ready." Killua answered
"See you later Aoi" Gon said
"We will try and get you back with us Miss Aoi" Killua said
"Let's go!"
With that, Killua and Gon broke through opposite walls, away from the door. They broke every other wall they see until they reached outside Junkyard City. They managed to escape in one peace.
I just stood there, tears streaming down my face. I was really glad to see them. I was also happy to know that Leorio and Kurapika are doing fine.
Yet, I'm sad that Uvogin died in the hands of Kurapika. This is happening way too fast. Who is the next person to die if they ever cross paths with Kurapika again?
Just then, my cellphone started ringing. It was Chrollo. So I answered it.
"Hello? Chrollo?"
"Aoi. Just to let you know, our plans has not changed. We are invading the auction as of right now. This destruction, is an orchestra in memory of Uvogin." Chrollo said
I can hear the sound of bombs, gun shots and screams in the background. That is something Uvogin would love to hear.
"I can hear it Boss" I said
"I heard there were two boys with you. How are they?" He asked
"I'm sorry sir. But they just escaped before you called" I said
"What a shame." He said. "It doesn't matter. We're bringing home the treasures tonight. I want you to come to the next auction site now. Assist the others in retrieving the treasures"
"Okay Chrollo" I said
I hung up the phone and started walking out of Junkyard City. I feel like I'm really close to seeing Kurapika again.
However, I do have to prepare myself for anything that happens. I will have to be more careful now that the members of the Spiders has seen Killua's and Gon's faces. I can't let them be seen again. That's another priority for me.