A.N.= A small fight ahead. Read slowly to imagine it well.
September 2014
"This is getting annoying," Masaki spoke to me with a whisper, his eyes on the carefully disguised men keeping watch on us.
I agree.
Standing on the deck of a large ship, we were finally able to get out of the city for a while. Although Japan was fun in itself, we had some work to do in our adjacent continent by the name of Yorbia. More precisely, our destination was a famous city on the west side of Yorbia.
Yorknew City.
One of the most popular cities in the world, it was also the host of the largest auctions in the world. People came from all around the world to this city in hopes of making a fortune or just gambling away their luck and money. Every year, they held the apex of all auctions, the SouthernPiece Auction.
But that wasn't the reason the two of us were here.
No. We had an entirely different reason.
"How about we start it now?" Sending a look toward Masaki, I asked him if he wanted to start the plan now. Scowling at the bodyguards that were keeping a watchful eye on us, Masaki nodded. I guess the staring was starting to really annoy him after 2 days of constantly being watched.
The entire situation was rather easy to summarize. Our aim right now was to attend the entrance exam of a prestigious school for Hunters in training called the Advanced Nurturing High School or simply ANHS. It was the only Government funded school for hunters, made for the purpose of finding the hidden gems of Japan and polishing them.
A lot of the graduates of the school were known throughout Japan, with a rare few of them even being famous worldwide. And they guaranteed results. Boasting a 100% recruitment rate, if you were able to graduate from this school, you would become one of the most sought-after people for companies, either as bodyguards for extremely famous VIPs or by the government.
It was a dream come true for many aspiring hunters in Japan. Not minding the lack of outside contact for 3 years, many of them would set their sights on it.
This also brought us to the reason why we were on a ship surrounded by watchful bodyguards, and tourists, mixing perfectly. Under the pretext of visiting the city, we were actually aiming to attend one of the two entrance exams being held in Yorknew City.
The reason behind our choice was the distance it had from Japan. Taking Japan's exam would have caused unwanted problems if the two of us were seen by anyone unfortunate. The one in Yorknew gave us a larger chance of going unnoticed.
But for now, we had to lose the guards on us.
"Yes. I hope you still remember the plan, 4-50." Adopting a serious tone, he reminded me of the plan again. Seeing me nod in confirmation, he continued. "Let's get back to your room now."
Sighing, I quietly followed him. While his plan wasn't that different from mine, his was more tiring of a job for me rather than for him. While I had planned to utilize his nen beasts as a distraction, he wanted to go straight for the kill. Literally.
It wasn't like I was against his plan. No, I had no problem in killing the bodyguards. The main problem was hiding everything from the tourists on the ships. The security here was also bound to be high, considering how luxurious this ship was. If I remember correctly, this ship was owned by the only company that had a monopoly over sea travel, the Nishida Group. And they were known for their luxury over anything.
Being a close contender to the Koenji Conglomerate, both the families had a long past against each other and had butted heads a lot of times. Their monetary power was said to be higher than the government, something that was rather noteworthy.
I suppose being members of the group called the 13 Pillars did explain the two families' fame and wealth. From what I had learned in the past few months, these Pillars of Japan were at the top of Japan's hierarchy.
A while ago, Masaki and I had stumbled across an online article on these Pillars. While the article had nothing but praise for them, a single comment by an anonymous user happened to catch our attention. It had frankly given its opinion on the Pillars in the form of a summary.
It went something like this:
The 13 Pillars
Strength, authority, uncountable riches, talents, all these were something that the people with the highest authority of Japan had. I have no doubt believing that even if any one of them ever wished to, they could take over the entirety of Japan.
The fear, respect and fame regarding them were immense.
Fame due to their various actions leading to the protection of Japan, respect because of their status and strength and fear because of the power they could display... No, the power they had displayed.
While they have often been called the 'Grace of God', some still won't hesitate to call them a necessary evil. Perhaps some may have a mixed opinion about them, while a few may not even care about these Pillars.
But in the end, Japan stands untouched for more than a century because of their efforts. If they are a God's grace, then I am thankful to God and if they really are a necessary evil as some say, then I would wish to highlight the word 'necessary'.
If I considered their political and monetary power, I could say that there was a very high chance that many of these Pillars had knowledge of the White Room, and had most likely also sponsored it. After all, the WR had shown results, if we ignored the inhumanity of it.
Although, I still lacked any valid proof on this theory.
Even then, this wasn't all just a baseless speculation. The ships and boats owned by the Nishida Group, one of the Pillars, were known to be one of the most secure modes of transport. It didn't make sense that they wouldn't notice around 10 or so suspicious men on their ship, especially when they were all coordinating and keeping an eye on a couple of teenagers.
So, in conclusion, the WR higher-ups would have to cooperate with the Nishida Group to even allow one bodyguard on the ship.
Hearing the door creak open in front of me, I stepped inside my room with a small sigh and stopped my thoughts from continuing on a tangent. The room looked beautiful and luxurious as always with a large silver bed in the corner of the room. Beside it stood a bedside table, just a few feet away from a chair and table. Completing this entire perfection of a room was a large window that somehow didn't have any bars attached to it.
Someone's bound to fall from it for sure.
Looking around once again, the beautiful decorations on the room once again made me admire the connections Matsuo had to even arrange a couple of tickets for us. The ridiculous amount of talking and persuading would have even made me give up.
Anyways, that's a thought for later. For now, I quietly took a secure position behind the door and nodded at Masaki in confirmation.
Understanding my signal, he crouched down and put one of his palms onto the floor. Releasing a small burst of nen, it quickly traveled towards the center of the room and turned into a humanoid white figure. Lacking any facial features, it just stood there staring confusedly at its creator. But Masaki still looked like he wasn't finished.
Taking his other hand, he lifted it towards his mouth and bit into his thumb finger, releasing a drop of blood. Immediately putting a coating of nen around it, he let the nen-infused blood float in front of him. Like a moon, it rotated around his finger for a couple of seconds before he suddenly closed his fist.
Similar to his fist, the nen-coated blood flattened. Less than a second later, it had taken the shape of a small card, small enough to fit into a phone's SD card slot.
A satisfied smile on his face, he caught the card-shaped blood with his fingers and observed it. Finding nothing wrong with the blood-card, he flicked it towards the white humanoid figure, where it went inside its body.
Something changed with the white humanoid figure as its face started molding and gaining color. A second later, a Masaki lookalike stood in front of us, dumbfoundedly staring at another identical Masaki beside the door. The one at the door clearly being the original, the copy just stood there waiting for orders.
I had to admit that it was just as satisfying to watch as the first time.
This was Masaki's main hatsu called the Bloody Doppelganger. Its name coming from its requirement for blood, it created a copy of a person, or a doppelganger. Utilizing his emitting skills to its fullest, it also required relentless training in Manipulation and Conjuration.
No wonder he wasn't able to conjure them mid-fight. After all, shaping them would require his utmost concentration which he always gave to the opponent.
In short, he could create nen beasts that looked like a white humanoid figure by default. Inserting another person's blood into it would give it a face and body of the blood donor's choice and make it mimic said person's behavior or a particular characteristic. Depending upon the amount of blood he could provide, he could either create a similar-looking person or a temporary independently thinking person. Although, to make an intelligent copy, he had to give his own blood as tribute.
What an interesting Hatsu.
But that also explained why he initially hadn't created two abilities as we were ordered to by the WR instructors. Our actual orders were to create two hatsus, one for supportive combat and one for pure combat, with the 'combat' part being the highlight.
So, anything that wasn't harmful to others wouldn't be counted.
But Masaki's Bloody Doppelganger fulfilled both of the conditions at once. He could send a couple of the copies forward to attack, stay back and deal with any leftovers. The only problem his ability had was that he needed his total concentration for creating copies.
So, he would be somewhat defenseless while he created his copies. After all, he was splitting his total amount of nen and was basically in Zetsu form for the given time.
Although, he couldn't be considered entirely defenseless if we took his newer Hatsu into consideration. From what I knew about it, he coul~~
"Copy-01, go and dramatically play dead in front of the door." Breaking me out of my thoughts, I watched as Masaki ordered the copy. Loosening my tie so that the suit wouldn't be so cramped, I looked around for something to use as a weapon, preferably something blunt.
Anything would be fine, really.
Spotting an ashtray on the table nearby, I immediately picked it up, broke it in half and tossed one part to Masaki. Blunt weapons equipped, the two of us stood there watching the clone throw a spectacle as it pushed the door open and fell down like he had been knocked out.
With only the lower half outside the door, it then slowly pulled itself inside as if someone else was dragging the body. From a third point of view, it was rather amusing to watch it act around, something that Masaki agreed upon too, if his amused smile was of any indication.
Shaking my head mentally to get rid of any thoughts, I focused on the task at hand. Using a rather advanced nen technique called In to hide our aura or life force while keeping it active, both of us stood hidden beside the door.
Now we had to wait for them to take the bait.
...
Any second now.
...
...
A rush of footsteps could be heard as 8 adults rushed into the room, all armed with a gun or a knife. Although they were dressed like tourists, they were clearly trained. Their stances were good, something that may be bit troublesome for us.
It's a good thing they don't have their aura awakened. It would have been even more annoying then.
Slowly turning around as they searched for the supposed culprit that could have attacked the two of us, they came face to face with us. Their eyes widened in confusion, turning towards the copy lying on the floor and then back to the actual Masaki.
Perfect. Time to attack.
Dashing straight towards the disguised bodyguards, we shrouded the broken ashtrays in our hands with aura, enforcing them and bashed it down onto their heads. A smashing sound could be heard as 2 of the 8 bodyguards were knocked out.
Good. Now, there were just 3 more for each of us to take out.
Seeing as Masaki was able to handle himself easily, I stopped paying attention to him, and instead decided to pay a bit more attention to my set of opponents.
Instantly ducking downwards, I heard the swish of a knife slash directly above my head as one of the 3 guards foolishly decided to approach me. Although his posture was a guarded one with not many openings, his posture wasn't stable for a split second because of his attack missing.
Capitalizing on his mistake, I twisted my body, reinforced my leg with a bit of aura and sent it high towards the head of the closest bodyguard. It was enough to send him flying towards the other side of the room where he landed on the floor out cold.
Done with another one, I set my sight towards the second last person by my side who had started charging towards me. At first glance, he looked extremely muscular which told me things would be a bit different with him. Flattening my hand, I applied the same amount of aura as before and sent a deadly chop towards his throat, or more specifically, to his carotid sinus.
In the carotid sinus, there are some cells called baroreceptors. Their function was to measure the pressure of blood flowing through the arteries there and send the information to your brain.
A strike to the carotid sinus would cause the baroreceptors to signal the brain that blood pressure was too high. In turn, this would signal the heart to slow down in an effort to lower that pressure which results in Bradycardia, or the heart rate dropping below its normal resting rate.
Reduced blood pressure and flow, resulting from bradycardia would then cause a drop in oxygen to the brain and other organs including the heart itself which will cause fainting, almost instantly. Again, I was thankful for the teachings of the WR instructors about the human body.
Anyways, as expected, it was enough to send him out of the fight. Infusing the attack with nen just made it hurt even more.
Getting back to the fight, a swishing sound came from my left, making me duck downwards. Just a second later, a small knife cut through thin air, its blunt side facing exactly where my head was before. It looks like I am dealing with a quicker opponent now.
Swiftly snapping my arm forward, I firmly grabbed his hand that was just above my head. Realizing that his right hand was already screwed, he gave up on it and brought down his left hand, this one also having a knife on it. I had to applaud his quick thinking as he prioritized getting his opponent out of the fight at the cost of his own limbs.
It was a smart move that would give him the edge in any fair fight.
But, unfortunately for him, this fight was unfair from the start.
Grabbing his other hand too, I twisted my own arm slightly so that the knife's sharp edge didn't poke me. It would be troublesome if I got injured. The main reason being that I didn't want any blood on this rather nice suit.
Now that both of his arms were in my palms, I decided to take this one out just as quickly. Crushing his right hand. I forcibly made him drop the knife as his face twisted in pain. Dropping his, now crushed arm, I snapped my palm forwards and chopped him on the side of his neck, swiftly knocking him out cold.
Phew.
Getting up, I dusted my suit and looked around the room. Somehow still in pristine condition with only a bit of blood on the floors and a couple of teeth rolling around. Looking towards Masaki, he seemed to be almost done too, dealing with the last guy on his side.
Finishing with a roundhouse kick, he spared no mercy on the bodyguards. While my side was rather neat and clean, his was a mess of bodies and a bloodstained floor.
Brutal as always.
His eyes went towards the door, which was open and the soft sound of footsteps alerted us to someone approaching it. A second later, two more 'tourists' rushed in.
No. These were also bodyguards, but more well disguised and also had their nen awakened. This could get a bit annoying now.
"So this was your plan? Kill us all and then escape?" The male sneered at us, while the women just glared at us. Conjuring a bo staff, she held it expertly and took an offensive stance against us.
The final male guard himself took out a black sword, sharper than what I had ever seen. It had a fierce glow around it, something that definitely didn't appear to be aura. It was most likely an artifact. Giving it a couple of casual swings, he faced me with a defensive stance.
This might actually be difficult.
"Unfortunately for you, we two had expected that. And I doubt that you two are going to take us out that easily without making any noise."
He was right. Taking them out noiselessly was going to be extremely difficult. But, it wouldn't be impossible. Also, he was wrong about one thing. We weren't planning to escape. We were just taking a slight detour.
...Actually, now that I think about it, we were technically escaping.
"How outrageous! You mean to say that we are thinking of escaping?!" Adopting a somewhat offended look, Masaki questioned the two guards. Caught off guard at even being talked back to, their stance relaxed minutely for a second as they thought over their next actions. After all, if they knew about the WR, then they would also know how capable we two were when faced in combat.
But this also gave me time to arm myself. With my hands behind my back, I conjured my revolver. Since using any of 5 today's special bullets would be bothersome without any advance planning, I just conjured bullets enhanced with my aura and smoothly loaded them into the revolver.
Hearing the click of my gun loading, he dashed towards me with unusual speed and swung the sword. I once again ducked downwards as a sword slash went closely above my head, almost shaving me bald. Instantly, I dashed backwards till my back was a few feet away from the wall. The close contact with death aside, I had a rough guess what this man's speciality was.
Considering the speed and strength behind the slash, he most likely was Enhancer. Sparing a quick glance to the other fight, it looked like the other instructor was more focused on Masaki who was simply dodging all her strikes.
It looked like neither of us were in the mood to attack much.
"You should be paying more attention to your own opponent, little boy." The man advised mockingly, as if he had gained his confidence after that close attack. Focusing back on my opponent again, I saw him dash towards me to close the distance while his sword hand was raised for a strike. Looking at the angle of the blade, it was impossible to dodge. There was only one option left.
Attack back.
Bringing my right hand in front of me, I raised the fully loaded revolver and fired two quick shots. As expected, he instantly stopped and swiftly swung his sword and blocked the bullets in two quick slashes.
I guess a revolver was too slow for this.
Dropping the revolver, it disappeared mid-air and I conjured it back. Instead, this time it was in the form of a pistol. Pushing and holding the slide backwards, I instantly summoned a magazine and fitted it in its place.
Click.
Looking back at the enemy, I saw him dashing again towards me with the same attack stance as before, feeling more confident in attacking me when I was paying less attention. I suppose, in the eyes of observers, my movements must have felt insanely fast and potentially dangerous.
Firing a warning shot, I watched him deflect it with his sword. Good.
While his sword was stuck in the same position, I quickly pulled the trigger thrice, a bullet aiming at each of the man's free limbs. Instantly, it tore past his aura protection and dug itself deep in his limbs, one of them even falling out after passing through the bones cleanly.
Seeing him try to back away but fail, stumble and fall, I pulled the trigger and fired at the last limb of his. Out of the original 13 bullets, I had 8 more left.
Spotting a chance as the guard dropped his sword in pain, I pulled the trigger 8 more times, straight up emptying the magazine on the man. Lying on his own puddle of blood, the man twitched a bit before becoming still. Along with the dead body, the Artefact slowly stopped glowing and lost its texture, as if saddened by its owner's death.
So it was one of those soul-bound Artifacts. Such a shame, I was interested in it.
Oh, I forgot to mention it but my Hatsu also had a pistol form too. More specifically, I could turn it into any type of gun, but it had to be one-handed as a restriction. I could also not summon two guns at once and since one-handed guns lacked power as compared to two-handed ones, the two restrictions were enough to add some power to this versatile Hatsu.
Anyways, turning towards Masaki, it looked like he was still engrossed in his fight, having been able to land a couple of hits on the female guard, if the blood on her face was of any indication. On the other hand, there was something different about her bo staff. It looked like it had another ability in itself, intriguing me more about it.
Was she a pure conjurer or a Transmuter like me? After all, if I had a reason to avoid using my transmutation Hatsu, then she could also be ignoring her main type. But it made more sense for her to be a conjurer, seeing how durable the bo staff was.
Detaching the pistol magazine, I flicked the gun to remove the empty magazine and conjured another one. Swiftly reloading the gun, I raised it and fired a warning shot at her.
Just as expected, she saw the shot and swung her staff at it. Unlike normal bo staffs that would have broken under the force of the bullet, it somehow rebounded back towards me. Catching it while coating my hands with nen, I examined the bullet to see it immediately turn to dust in my hand.
Was this the staff's unique ability?
It seems that the staff was able to rebound back physical attacks with twice the force. That did make sense, considering how the bullet crumbled to dust under the pressure and how Masaki was somehow getting beaten up a bit.
What an interesting ability.
Sadly, Masaki didn't seem to share the same thoughts as me. His eyes darkened in quiet fury as he sent a flurry of punches at her, these ones being a lot faster than before. Taken aback at the rise in the speed of her opponent, she stumbled backwards as she tried to dodge or block them all.
That was a bad move on her part. Unknowingly, she had fallen down the pothole that was Masaki's trap.
"Grab her."
A victorious smirk broke across Masaki's face as he opened his mouth and uttered a single command at the copy lying on the floor just behind the guard.
And just like that, the female guard stood in front of us, a scowl on her slightly beaten up face, her staff fallen on the ground and her hands being held behind her back by the copy. If someone else entered the room right now, they would have misunderstood this situation.
And then run away screaming at the sight of the dead bodies.
Fortunately for us, the two of us were rather silent and cautious. Just like me, Masaki too was most probably keeping an eye and an ear on the corridor outside the door.
"That was a good fight to watch. Her Hatsu was well designed." Firing another bullet in the guard's direction, this one didn't get rebounded back and pierced her forehead, killing her in the process.
Fixing his suit, Masaki responded back. "It was getting a bit annoying, seeing as I was just using basic enhanced punches." I found it interesting that he was still rather good in close combat despite being an Emitter who were either ranged users or users who summon nen beasts due to their ability to detach their aura from their bodies.
Although, I guess being close to the enhancer type also allows him to enforce his aura into his punches.
How handy.
Sending a look around the room, Masaki turned towards his copy. "Clean the bodies any way you see fit. Just don't be seen." The copy just saluted at him and turned towards the bodies and adopted a thinking posture.
"You know, your ability is too overpowered." Voicing out my thoughts at him, I saw him ponder over my statement for a few seconds. And I wasn't wrong. When he made his own copies, they could be just as intelligent as the user was, making it rather smart. And instead of them doing exactly what he wanted, they listened to simple orders he gave them, making it less taxing of an ability.
The only thing that he required other than that was nen and his own blood. And both were renewable. Hence, I found his ability to be unfairly strong. But, it had weaknesses too, something that I wasn't going to tell him anytime soon. After all, he needed to learn more about it himself.
Suddenly bending down, Masaki checked the pockets of the two dead nen users. A couple of seconds later, he smiled and brought out two cards, tossing one of which to me. It was the same size as a credit card.
Flipping the card, the first thing I noticed was the two connected Xs. A hunter license. Unfortunately, it would be useless for us.
"We can't use it since it's not ours but it's still spare cash, you know." Almost reading my mind, Masaki gave a better use for the card. He was correct too. Money was something we were going to need soon desperately. These two cards solved that issue.
Exiting the room, we both heard the sound of the door's lock closing, most likely because the copy wanted none of the other tourists to enter the room when we were out.
See, I told you it was smart.
"I don't want to hear that from someone who brought his ability into existence by pure will." Responding back with a snort, he pointed out my own Hatsu's strength. He was half wrong, though.
"I had to start resisting electricity for a long time to actually use it properly. Besides, me being a transmute helped more." And it came naturally to me, seeing as my main type was Transmutation.
"That just makes your gun overpowered." He responded back with a smirk. The Gun aside, another difference between our abilities' strength was that I had to recharge myself with electricity. Although, I had developed somewhat of an immunity to it, so absorbing it was an easy task.
Sighing, I didn't respond back as he picked up speed and went back towards the deck. Not feeling like following him, I decided to go to the restaurant. This was one of the most luxurious ships across the world.
So there's bound to be some delicious food here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{ExH}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking around, I could see hundreds of teenagers my age, many of them were alone while a few had started talking to people near them. Thankfully, I wasn't alone as Masaki was also there with me. Looking at all the people talking with others, I wondered if they would even be in the same class together to make friends with each other so quickly.
Class distribution would normally depend on luck, unless there was a condition in the division of classes. There most probably was. After all, inciting competition between people was one of the best ways to improve steadily.
Eyeing the boy sitting beside me, I hadn't ever seen Masaki so bored and restless. It seems like the tour around the city still hadn't tired him and had left him even more restless. For once, both of us had the same bored expression, his one temporary while mine was permanent.
"Number 98 and 99, please enter room 4." A female voice came from the loudspeaker. Both of us stood up, since they were our numbers. Finally, after half an hour of waiting, it was our time.
Taking quiet and calm steps, we both entered through the door to see a large and beautiful room. Walls draped with a stylish pattern that contrasted well with the tiled floor, the room was pleasing to look at.
Right in front of the door, there was a desk pointing to the right wall. Two seats on our side stood comfortably, while two more sat on the other side. The two seats on the other side were occupied, one having a middle-aged man with grayish hair and another one having a younger man with natural Japanese black hair and faded white eyes.
And just opposite the door that we two had entered from, stood another door. Paying it an inattentive glance, the two of us stood in front of the chairs, prompting the older gray-haired man into action.
"Please sit down." Following the request, both of us took a seat, immediately noticing the difference in comfort these chairs had in comparison to the stiff ones outside. "I assume you two are Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and Hitoshi Masaki, right?"
Seeing us nod, he continued. "I am Sakayanagi Narumori, the current Director of this school and the man beside me is..." Seeing it as a chance to introduce himself, the younger black-haired man took the opportunity quite cheerfully. "Himura Hayato. The school's resident healer and I hope you don't mind my lack of eyesight."
Nodding again, the two of us waited for the interviewer to ask us questions. At first, the questions were on general topics like our name, age, date of birth, likes, dislikes, families, why we wanted to be a hunter, what we wanted to become a hunter and much more. It was somewhat boring, seeing as both of us had preplanned answers for these types of questions. While Masaki answered the questions flawlessly, I intentionally hesitated and added frequent pauses, making it sound like I was socially inept.
While there was nothing for me to be suspicious of, I still wished to conduct a small experiment on the school.
"Now, do either of you know anything about nen?"
Suddenly snapping me out of my rhythmic answer pattern, they asked an interesting question. It seems that after probing out our personalities a bit, they were finally going to ask us the important questions.
A smirk on his face, Masaki pointed a finger up, most likely molding his aura into an alphabet or a number. A common way to show someone that you were proficient at nen techniques, it also depicted your skill in controlling your aura.
Seeing the figure above Masaki's finger, the two of them widened their eyes in surprise. It looked like Masaki wasn't holding back that much in this school, after all.
Finally done with asking Masaki questions about when he had learned Nen and what his main type was, the two of them turned to me with expectations shining in their eyes.
Sadly, I was going to be a ball of disappointment for them. "Ummm...I have heard about it and seen its effects but I haven't unlocked it yet. Our instructor has told me to just keep meditating for now." Although the two of them were a bit disappointed, what I had said also meant that I would unlock my aura nodes soon.
Suddenly, the director asked us another question. "Do you mind telling us the name of your instructor? It would be helpful to us." Sharing a look with Masaki, the two of us came to an immediate answer.
"I am sorry to say, but our instructor has asked us to keep his identity anonymous."
Seeing the contemplative look on the director's face, The younger of the two instructors took the reins of the conversation merrily. "Seeing as the director's thinking something, why don't we move on to more important things?"
Wait a second.
How did he even see... Oh. It was most likely the advanced nen technique called En. In simple words, En was a nen technique where one would extend their aura further than normal, then contain and give shape to that aura, normally a sphere. Someone using En could feel the shape and movement of anything within the area covered by their aura, with the degree of awareness and finesse depending on their level of skill.
Although it is extremely tiring and draining for the Nen user to constantly expend so much aura constantly, using it at short bursts when required would technically not be a problem for an advanced nen user.
Taking out 2 large bundles of paper, he plunked them down in front of us, not bothering to be quiet about it. "Here are the terms and conditions that you have to read and sign before you are officially a student of the school. I advise reading it all before you sign it, in case you miss anything important." Not bothering to hide the sadistic smile on his face, he knew that either of us two was bound to give an amusing reaction.
And he wasn't wrong. "What the fuck, there are 92 pages here, Kiyo!" Masaki's pale face and slight swearing must have been like music to the healer.
"I am surprised too. That's a lot of reading we have to do." About 92 pages of rules and conditions would most likely also hide some really important information. And who was I, but a simple seeker of knowledge.
As the old saying went, knowledge was indeed power.
"And after you are done reading it, I would suggest going through that door. After all, we need to test your physical abilities too." Interrupting us even before we started reading the dreadful T&C, the chairman addressed us with an amused smile. He must have seen similar reactions before.
Sighing, I nodded and went back to the sheet of paper. Now, should I read this entirely or just skim through this? Skimming through it would save time but I might also miss something important. After all, it would be really bad if one of us signed away our life or something.
Sharing a look with a pale-faced Masaki, the two of us came to a similar conclusion.
Neither of us has any love for contracts.
"By the way Hitoshi-kun, what aura type do you think your friend here would specialize in?" Suddenly, the director faced Masaki with a surprising question. Was this some sort of test? I couldn't see any way a random guess would help the school.
"To me, he looks like a conjurer, Sakayanagi-san. You know, all of them are normally so serious and stoic." the healer commented, resting his chin on his fist, bored. Disregarding the fact that the healer once again used the word 'see', I found his comparison interesting. I could see why he called me a conjurer.
"Ha! I can see why you think that." laughing at the healer's words, Masaki continued on with a smirk before he could be interrupted. "This guy is most likely going to be a Transmuter or a Manipulator. He has the personality to be one for sure."
Personality, huh.
I personally found it unreliable to determine a nen user's aura type just by personality alone, but who knows, there might be a way to do so. I for one am quite interested in a method like that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{ExH}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A can of juice in hand, I was sitting at a bench beside Masaki, who was busy reading a book on Yorknew City. Throughout the entire day, we had spent most of our time looking through the attractions in the low-end auction of Bull Market, which was more like a combination of garage sale and a flea market.
Here, the bidders would write the amounts they are willing to pay on the tags attached to the auction items. Whoever wrote down the highest bid within the time limit won, but vendors would often sell before the time was up if they could reach an agreement with the buyers on the price. Overall, it was an interesting concept.
Although we had spent almost the entire day there, we hadn't bought anything. An entire day in an auction had made us realize an important fact.
We needed money here. Lots and lots of money. Preferably without selling the hunter licenses we had taken from the dead hunters before.
"Well, you do realize what we need to do now, right?"
"Of course."
"Good. Now suggest some ideas, dammit! You are sipping that can of juice noisily while I am doing all the hard work!" Oh. So, he was still salty about losing the bet. It was just his bad luck so he shouldn't complain.
"You lost the coin toss fair and square. So, this drink is mine." Seeing him frustrated at the logic was quite amusing. "Anyways, did you actually find something after reading that book for so long?"
Sneering, he replied. "I actually did, you know."
My eyes widened unconsciously at that. How surprising.
"You don't have to look that surprised." An offended look on his face, he closed the catalog and placed it on his lap. His gaze suddenly went towards a figure in the dark standing just before the Vending Machine, a distance so far that it was hard for me to notice any characteristics of the figure except that it was a male.
"Ha. Look who's coming." with a chuckle, Masaki pointed towards the figure who had started approaching us, making me wonder how he could see that far.
Fortunately, it looked like he knew what I was thinking and explained himself. "I left a nen beast near that machine so I can share its sight with me. It's finally useful."
That just raises more questions.
"Anyways, what did you find?" Mentioning the catalog, I questioned him curiously. "And will it provide us with as much money as we need?"
"Reading this book, I noticed many ways to earn money." Holding up a close fist, he raised a finger. "First idea, stealing and selling items. But it doesn't give us the money we require immediately and is a troublesome job."
I nodded at his reasoning. Stealing and Selling items may sound appealing but it would take us a long time to finally be able to sell anything.
He raised another finger. "Second idea. Hosting challenges. But that's an unreliable source of income."
I nodded again. There was the problem of attracting challengers consistently.
He raised the 3rd finger. "Third idea. Odd jobs. We can take on odd jobs in cafes and restaurants but that will pay us too less. And it would be one hell of a boring job."
I nodded once more. Masaki was actually taking this seriously. Wow.
He raised the 4th finger with a scowl. "Before I continue, stop insulting me in your mind, Kiyo. I can practically read your thoughts despite your emotionless face."
I nodded apologetically. Or at least, I hoped my expression was apologetic. I doubt it was but the thought counts.
"Now, the Fourth idea. We take small jobs from an agency. In my opinion, this is the best option available of them all."
"I agree with Masaki here. Guilds or Agency are a good way for us to earn quick money and also get some actual battle experience, something that we need desperately right now." Before I could nod again, a familiar voice interrupted us.
Looking behind us, I saw the figure from before had finally reached us, his face in full view under the streetlight.
Messy purple hair, purple eyes, a lean figure clothed in a casual t-shirt and jeans and a black backpack on his back, the teenager raised a hand in greeting towards us. A smile on his lips, Shirou looked the same as always.
"You sure took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?" A smirk on his face, Masaki greeted the newcomer.
"Oh, please. I don't want someone as impatient as you lecturing me." Shirou retorted back as he took a seat beside me. "Good to see you again, Kiyotaka."
"I feel the same." I nodded in acknowledgement. "Anyways, what were you saying before?"
"Ah, about that." Handing the two of us a can of coke each, he opened his one with a loud pop. "Do you guys still remember why the WR was created?"
The atmosphere around us got thick in an instant.
"Wasn't it to create weapons capable of taking care of anything magical and sinister that may happen to Japan?" Instead of Shirou or me, it was Masaki who answered. Surprised, Shirou looked at him as if he had grown another head.
Facing me, Shirou gestured at Masaki with a thinly veiled smirk. "Kiyotaka, are you sure that's really Masaki?"
Amused, I played along. "I am starting to doubt it too. He's acting a bit too serious to be Masaki."
"Fuck you two." Replying with a snort, Masaki dodged our teasing. "Anyways, continue please Shirou. I am hungry enough to eat the first nen beast I see."
Dejectedly sighing as Masaki didn't give the response he wanted, Shirou's expression tightened as he continued. "Well, I found something interesting in a study room in the house I was adopted in half a year ago."
Gesturing him to continue, I took a sip from the can, engrossed in the tale behind Shirou's findings.
"The family I was adopted in, the Miyazaki's, had an interesting transcript. Reading it, I found out who actually created the WR and how someone like the Miyazaki's were able to sponsor it."
...Huh. So, the family was a sponsor of WR. It made a bit of sense, since the WR would never let go of its subjects willingly.
"The one who created the WR are some bigshots, right?" Masaki queried after a second, stealing the thoughts right out of my head.
"Yeah." He admitted. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Before I continue, do you guys know anything about the so-called 13 Pillars of Japan?"
"I assume that some of them are related to the WR?" It looks like my hypothesis from before was correct.
"Almost correct, Kiyotaka." He snapped his fingers for added effect before continuing. "According to what I found, it's not just a few of them but all of them. Every single one of them are the ones we called Higher-ups back then."
"..."
"...Every single one?" I had expected about 3 to 4 at max to be a part of the WR project.
This was surprising.
"You aren't kidding with us right now, are you?" Even Masaki had trouble believing what Shirou had said was true.
With a grim look, Shirou turned to Masaki. "Do I look like I'm joking? But I still plan to continue on taking down the Higher-ups, no matter how many there are." How bold. Now, I wonder how strong your resolve is.
"You do know who we are talking about, right? You, a teenager, want to go against 13 of the most feared, respected and strongest people of Japan. Have you thought how ridiculous that sounds?" I retorted back, taking a logical standing in this argument. My words would have been enough to demotivate any normal grown man.
But Shirou still had his unwaveringly firm gaze.
"Screw them. I am still in this with you. I have no plans on graduating from the WR as a human weapon." Letting out a dry laugh, Masaki gave his approval, making Shirou smile a bit. "But what about you, Kiyo?"
There was only one option here.
Sigh.
"It's not really a choice is it? Either chase after the low chance or spend our life as someone's weapon." I finally gave my opinion in voice, further continuing as words came to mind quickly. "After all, I wouldn't mind paying them back for their kindness."
Clapping his hands, Shirou, got up from the bench and dusted his jeans with a smile. "Anyways, in the last few days in this city, I noticed that I was lacking a bit in something just like you two. I am sure you know what it is."
"It's money right?"
"It's food right~?"
...The two of us looked towards Masaki, who received an exasperated sigh from Shirou. Unfortunately my stomach decided to grumble at that single moment.
"I guess a bit of food would be good too. Come on, we can talk later."
The Pillars and the White Room. the ANHS school admission. All of these were entertaining moments of the day. I couldn't help but get excited for the next few months.
*Grumble
...But for now, we should probably get some food and lodgings.
Words/Characters = 8080/44638
A.N.= Well, I did some minor world building here. Also, I revealed both Kiyo's and Masaki's nen type. Here are my reasons behind their types.
Kiyo being a transmuter is pretty natural. According to Hisoka, transmuters were said to be whimsical and liars. They were also prone to deceit, ambitious and had unique attitudes. Kiyo checks almost all of those boxes.
For Masaki, I made him an Emitter cause they are said to be expressive and impatient,which I made him out to be.
For example, Sudo would be an emitter with how impatient and quick tempered he is.
Also, it looks like Kiyo has some theories regarding the school. As expected of him.
Then, comes the blind OC healer. He won't be that relevant, just someone who pops up now and then. Like the Class A homeroom teacher.
Oh, and about the 13 Pillars, well, they are exactly what they sound like. A council of 13 all powerful families reunited for a common hidden goal, which is also related to why the WR created. (Nope, this is different from the v0 revelations)
Finally, I ended things by reuniting the duo with Shirou, making them a trio. And by the looks of things, there will be a few more chapters before they reach the school.
Is there anything else?
I guess no. So that's all, folks.
Follow and Fav if you liked it, comment any suggestions you can think of and flood my notifications.
Hope you enjoyed it! Bye!