Assassins and Thieves are the Same
Assassins and Thieves
Chapter 02
Now that Star Bar was clearly a waste of precious time. Though, Chrome was able to snatch a few wallets along the way out; that half-naked man and the two others who tried to comfort her during the commotion. Placing them in her book bag, she started to jog north. That sailor earlier seemed to know more than the man in the bar. Unfortunately, she could probably have gotten more information out of the bartender, but the other man lied, saying that he knew the direct way. Chrome sighed and evaluated her performance at the bar as she took that jog. The little trip to the bar wasn't a pickpocket fest, never meant to be. It was just to obtain some information on the Hunter Exam. Chrome wasted at least thirty minutes in there, and left with only three wallets.
Chrome didn't really have a reason to anger the people in the bar. There was no reason to run out the bathroom door in panic. Such unreasonable action, Chrome sighed. Papa would have been so disappointed, she thought. Jogging straight, the girl realized that she has no real destination. That really needed to change soon. No matter how many times she would ask around the town, she doubted that there'll be one person who knows where to get started.
Sooner or later, she reached to what seems to be the town's square. There're a lot more people around than when she was near the bar. With nowhere to go, Chrome decided to sit down on a nearby wooden bench. Instead of just wandering around, it's better to just watch and observe the civilians. There's a reason why she came here. Perhaps, it's the closest town to the Hunter Exam. There will be bound to have at least some people here who are looking to become a hunter. All she needs to do is just watch and observe them; just to see where they're heading.
It didn't take too long to see a handful of men who all wore nasty cheeky grins. Tiny scars marked a few places on their skins. Staffs, daggers, and swords were hanging from their hips and backs. It doesn't take a genius to categorize them as thugs and brutes. They're most likely on their way to the Hunter Exam. It wasn't a secret. They're nearly informing everyone about their plan.
"The Hunter Exam will be so easy!" and more obnoxious statements were made from the group. Chrome felt unease if she follows them. Not because they look dangerous. They don't even look dangerous at all…just stupid. There's a possibility that they have been fed misinformation. If that's the case, then Chrome would have waste so much more time. However, there's still a chance that they are going to the correct path. There's no real harm if she does follow them.
After the group of five thugs had vanished pass a building to the north, Chrome had finally weighted the pros and cons, and came to the decision to follow them. Though, she still needed to take precaution while stalking them. Slowly she walked behind the group, making sure she's at least two streets behind them. If they're as dumb they look right now, then the thugs would not be able to notice the child is stalking them. The vague instruction from the sailor is to walk to the north from the town.
After two hours of walking in the town, they have reached to the end of the town. However, they didn't stop. There was a single path leading to a different area. Chrome decided to take the risk to follow the applicants out of the town. Yet after few hours of walking, they haven't shut up for even a minute. They continue to laugh and ridicule the Hunter Exam. Chrome hasn't gathered a lot of information about the test she's going to take, but everything the thugs had said it's probably the opposite. The only real information Chrome got out of them was their destination is to a hole near the foot of the mountain. To be honest, she could just leave with that information. However, she kept a mind to continue to stalk them.
Soon the group of applicants had reached in a what-seems-to-be an abandoned town. A rural area has nothing but dust being swept across the cemented ground. The emptiness felt really unease to the child. There should be a reason why there's no one here. The town looked quite strange. Ever since entering the area, there's just one straight path. No turns, just a long road of houses and apartments. Something is clearly going on here.
Slowly travelling behind the group, Chrome stopped just a couple of yards away because they had stopped at the end. They were confronted with another building blocking their path just like a dead end. When the group has reached the building with confusion, two old ladies had appeared from two buildings from the sides. They were rolled out behind strange wooden booths. There was several of awkward silence. No one said a word. The thugs were just speechless, which is quite rare.
"Welcome to the Two-Choices Quiz!" the two elders said in unison. "We shall ask you a question. Answer correctly; you shall pass!" They pointed to the two wooden doors on the blocking building. It seems like the road ahead is just pass the building. Chrome slowly approached behind the thugs, curious about the two elders. It doesn't matter to her if the thugs know that she had been stalking them to this run down area. As the thugs finally realized that they have been stalked by a little girl, the two ladies started their quiz. "One of these two doors is the correct door." The left one had said.
"Choose the correct one, and you may pass." They alternated their turn to speak a sentence of the riddle.
"You can only ask one question to only one of us."
"However, one of us only lies, and—"
"the other speaks the truth."
"Choose wisely," the two elder ladies spoke together for the final line.
The group of thugs were screaming and cursing at the two ladies. "What kind of bullshit is this?" one screamed. "How are we supposed to know?" another asked. They're kicking and screaming like a bunch of children. Chrome sighed at their stupidity, but the riddle sunk into her mind. One of us lies and the other the truth. Two doors, one question, one answer. Chrome swore that she heard of this riddle before. Not because she read it in a book, but her father had once asked her that. She forgot the right answer was. One of us lies. The other; the truth. Two doors. One question. One answer. Chrome cursed at herself mentally. She knew it. Of course she knew it, but it just slipped her mind. One question to ask. That question. That's the key to the riddle, but what's the question?
"Hey bitch!" One of the thugs cursed. Chrome looked up to see what the five thugs are going to do. They do have five chances, since there are five of them. Stupidly, one of the thugs had a sword against one of the guardians' neck. "Which one is the correct door?" he asked.
"The right one," she simply replied. There was no hesitation or worry.
The thug with the sword grinned. "Come on guys, the right one." He opened the door that lead to darkness. Chrome couldn't see what's behind the door. However, she could tell that the door was not the correct one. No way is the answer that easy. It isn't about which door is correct. It's about how you came up with the answer. There's no guessing in this riddle. It's either you know it or you don't; and the thug doesn't know it. Two of the thugs followed and entered the door on the right. After several seconds, there were faint screams coming from the other side of the door.
"Holy shit! What the fuck what that?" the remaining three asked in shock. The rest of the group badgered the quiz makers. Instead of listening to their insults and whines, Chrome had noticed a faint presence coming from the back. Turning around, the girl found a boy behind her just a couple of feet away. Did the boy follow them here? How long was he following? Why didn't Chrome notice this before? The boy had silver hair and had a skateboard tugged under his arm. Once the boy realized that Chrome noticed him, he just smirked. The girl walked closer to the boy, curious about him.
"How long have you been following?" she asked, not trying to assume he was following her alone, or the group of thugs.
"A while," he shrugged. Chrome carefully scanned him from head to toe. Silver hair, baggy clothes, a skateboard. He doesn't seem like a traveler. Is he also trying to become a hunter, too? He doesn't look too prepared for it. Chrome shrugged the needless comments on the strange boy.
The roars of the thugs caught Chrome's attention again. The remaining group got over the death of their friends quite quickly. "Well if they died in that door, then this door should be the right one." One of them tried to apply logic to their situation. He asked the other guardian, "so this is the left door the correct one?" The guardian just nodded her head. "Okay, let's go." The brute opened the door, and the rest of them followed in. Just like before, within several seconds, their screams could be heard faintly.
"Hmm, I guess they all died." Chrome mumbled to herself, but the boy just had to comment her.
"Well of course, they're that stupid," he said with a monotone voice.
"Do you know the answer then?" Chrome challenged him, but he just shrugged her question off again and walked towards the two guardians. Chrome followed right behind him.
Once the two children are standing next to each other, the two guardians repeated the same question again in the same exact way, like if they were just a recording. "One of these doors is the correct door. If you choose the correct door, you may pass. You can only ask one question to only one of us. However, one of us lies, and the other speaks the truth. Choose wisely." After the question was repeated, it didn't help the nagging feeling that Chrome knew the answer, but she just forgot it. However it didn't seem like the boy next to her know it either. He was in a deep concentration.
"So you don't know it?" Chrome asked.
He looked up at her with a frown. "Do you know it?" The boy was clearly mocking her. Now she needs to answer it. No way, she's letting him go with that.
"I knew the answer, but" she paused, not too sure if she should tell him, "I can't remember it."
He just scoffed at her. "So you're useless." He sighed, hanging his head in depression. "A riddle is preventing me from taking the Hunter Exam. Unbelievable." The boy mumbled to himself.
"Maybe we should work together," Chrome shrugged a suggestion. It never really hurt to work together; maybe only for temporary. "We could list the questions we can ask them, maybe?"
"Ask what?" the boy rolled his eyes. "What color is my underwear?"
"W-what?" Chrome nearly choked at his ridiculous question. "N-no, no! Not those kind of question." She sighed, rubbing her temple. This kid is a difficult one. "Questions like," she paused to think of a good example, "which door is the wrong one?"
"Well that won't help since we don't even know which girl is lying, stupid." Again with the insults. "The lying one will pick the correct one, and the other one will pick the wrong door. That'll get us nowhere."
"Help me think." Chrome sighed in frustration. "I know that's not the correct question. It was just an example."
"Okay, okay, bossy" the boy mumbled under his breath. Chrome could still hear it, but decided against it to reply back. That'll just start another argument, and that won't really get them anywhere closer to the answer. "We can't ask them which one is lying. We wouldn't figure out which door they would choose." The boy pondered on a little bit more on his statement. Chrome could nearly see gears working inside his head. After several seconds of thinking, he gasped as he reached an epiphany. "I got it! If I ask which one is lying, then you can ask which is the correct door! Genius, right?!" He suggested it so proudly.
However, Chrome seemed to have a different opinion on it. "That wouldn't work."
"Ehh, why not?"
"They might change answers; like the lying one would change into the one telling the truth when I ask." Chrome thought about it a little bit more. "Since they said we can only ask one question, we can answer it with only one question. We just need the right question."
The silver haired boy sighed in frustration. "Let me ask them if they can change position." He turned towards the ladies to ask, but Chrome had grabbed his arm before he could.
"Don't. They might think that is your question. One of them will still lie to you." The girl paused. "Just let me think. I just need to remember the question."
"Why do you always have to ruin my plan?" he mumbled to himself again. Chrome just smiled at his poutiness, and continued to focus on the riddle.
"Ask for the correct door, and which one is lying at the same time." She mumbled out loud. "Which door, which one? Which door is the other one?" So close, Chrome could just feel it on her though. She already has the pieces; she just needs to piece them together.
"Which door and other one," the boy repeated after her. Which door and other one! Which door! Other one! Oh! Oh! I remember it!
"I remember! I remember" Chrome shouted happily. "Which door would the other one would choose!" the boy just stared at her as she clapped to herself in joy. It's clear that he didn't understand what's going through the girl's mind. "Which door would the other guardian would choose?" Chrome repeated again this time with his hands in hers. She hoped that he would figure it out by himself now with the answer.
"Which door would the other one choose?" he repeated. Chrome waited a couple of seconds to give him a chance to think about it. Once the answer clicked to him, a wide smile grew on both their faces. "Yeah, yeah! That would totally work!" Chrome grinned widely with him.
The question is which door would the other guardian choose? The lying one will point to the wrong door, since she'll be pointing to the opposite of what the correct guardian would choose. The correct guardian would choose the wrong door, since that's the door the lying one would choose. So the two children just need to choose the opposite door!
With large amount of confidence, the two children approached the front door. They both looked at each other with large smiles. "You get to ask, you're the one who solve the riddle." The silver haired boy offered while having a hint of blush and gratitude. Chrome nodded in agreement.
The black haired girl turned to the old lady on the right. "Which door would she choose?" Chrome pointed to the lady on the left. The two old ladies smiled.
"Left." She simply replied.
"Then the correct door is the right one." Chrome pointed to the suggested door.
"Correct!" the two quiz makers said in unison. On cue, a third door had opened up. Instead of opening upon the blocking building, the door was located on the building to their left. Two large doors slid open, revealing a path to the mountain.
Once satisfied with their job well done, Chrome looked at the silver haired boy. "We got it right!" she couldn't stop grinning. Her hand stuck up, waiting for a high five from the boy. He complied with her gesture. With a loud clap, they had officially passed the Two Choice Quiz. "Thank you for your help!" Chrome turned to the two old ladies and bowed politely.
They both gave her a toothy smile. "Follow the path and you shall encounter a hole. Good luck on your Hunter Exam!"
Chrome thanked them again.
"Why do you do that?" the boy asked, as he dropped his skateboard and skated just a few feet in front of her and through the sliding doors. Chrome shrugged at his question and followed quickly after her new partner. "Whatever."
"You know, you have to admire them." The old lady on the right chuckled as the door closed. "The two children had answered what most adults couldn't."
"Well, that's all part of the whole teamwork, sister." The left lady agreed.
"They have quite a bright future together." They smiled. "They'll achieve a lot together."
Author's Note: Thank you for reading Chapter 02 of Assassins and Thieves. I'm not too sure if this chapter was quite entertaining. However, you've get to see a certain silver haired boy that we all know and love. I'm not too sure if I got Killua's personality on the spot yet. I'm working on it. If you notice anything strange that Killua would not have say or done, would you please tell me? As always, please review. Every review will receive many thanks. If you have any question or anything to say about the story, you can PM me. I wouldn't mind the extra thoughts and feedback. See you on Chapter 03.