Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.
A/N: The holidays are coming up! Here's December's update. (:
You will never be hurt by what you have not said.
XXX
"Man, is she for real?" Leorio muttered indignantly, glaring at Menchi.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the next anxiously. "It doesn't look as though she's joking," I professed. "But I'm really hoping for a miracle."
"Worst case scenario," Kurapica said, "is that we'll all fail and have to retake the exam next year."
"But I can't wait another year!" I cried, horrified. I couldn't even imagine my mother letting me escape to take the dangerous hunter exam for a second year in a row. No doubt I wouldn't be escaping anywhere once my mother was through with me.
"It doesn't sit right with me, either," Kurapica concurred gloomily. "To have to wait for another year is…"
"Beyond terrible," Leorio finished.
"Where are Gon and Killua, anyway?" I changed the subject, searching the crowd. "We kind of lost them in the middle of the exam."
"They're somewhere over there," Leorio answered vaguely, waving his hand off to the side.
Before I managed to find them, Number 255—Todo the Wrestler, if I recalled correctly—stepped forward and smashed a table with his bare fists.
"Wow," I said blankly. "Wasn't that thing made of metal?"
"I can't accept this," Todo seethed. "There's no way I'm going back like this! I'm not striving to become a cook or a gourmet! I'm training to be a hunter! And not just any hunter—a blacklist hunter! I can't let a petty gourmet hunter like you decide my future!"
I sort of felt that calling Menchi a 'petty gourmet hunter' wasn't exactly the right way to make her change her mind.
"That's just too bad," Menchi retorted, looking affronted as expected. "You just got unlucky with the examiner for this test. Try harder next year."
Todo growled, taking a heavy step forward. "You… Don't mess with me, you—"
With an almighty slap, Buhara sent Todo flying backwards, and he crashed through the warehouse's window and landed harshly on the ground. He didn't move.
"Buhara," Menchi snapped, "why'd you get involved?"
"Because if I didn't," Buhara replied evenly, "you would've killed him."
Man, this lady is crazy, I thought wildly. Kurapica was wrong—the worst case scenario isn't that we'll fail. We might all die!
"Hmph. Of course." Menchi sat up from her seat, twirling knives that had appeared out of nowhere. "A blacklist hunter? Don't make me laugh! You couldn't even stand a single blow from a gourmet hunter. It doesn't matter what kind of hunter you're aiming to become. Any kind of hunter has at least one form of martial arts that he or she can rely on!"
She flipped her knives expertly in the air, taking menacing steps towards us. "Even gourmet hunters have to enter beast lairs to look for rare ingredients. And if we come across poachers, we have to fight and capture them! You naturally learn how to fight if you're a hunter! What I want to see is the spirit of challenging the unknown!"
"But even so," a magnified voice said out of nowhere, "isn't failing everyone a little too much?"
We all rushed out of the warehouse in astonishment as a gigantic blimp floated towards us. On the side of the boat was the symbol of the hunter association.
"Is it the judging committee?" one optimistic examinee suggested loudly.
I crossed my fingers. Please, give me another chance!
From the sky, a small blob came hurtling towards us. As it descended, I realized it was a person—an old man, at that!
With a nimble hop, he landed directly in front of us.
I realized he must've been a powerful individual to survive that jump, meaning this guy must be…
"Chairman Netero of the judging committee," Menchi said, confirming my suspicions. "He's the head director of the hunter exam."
"I'm just a figurehead," Netero said modestly. "All I do now is sit around and show up to take care of the little troubles we run into." He stared pointedly at Menchi. "Menchi," he began.
"Yes!" she answered tensely. I was impressed that there were people in the world whom even Menchi feared.
"You sought to find from them the spirit of challenging the unknown, and the result is complete disqualification because of a problem with their attitudes?" the aged man asked in a rebuking manner.
Although looking cowed, Menchi disagreed. "No, it all started with the examinees finding out how to make the dish, which caused all kinds of problems. They all seemed to underestimate cooking, so I got mad…and lost my temper. And then I got full from tasting all their dishes."
"So basically," Netero summarized, "you realized that there was a problem in your judging method, correct?"
"…Yes," Menchi confessed. "I apologize! I tend to lose control of myself when it comes to cooking. I am a failure as an examiner. I will resign as an examiner, so please disregard the results of this test."
I high-fived Kurapica and Leorio excitedly. This was our chance!
"Hmm," Netero hummed. "Even if we were to continue with the test, the chosen menu seems to have been too difficult. Okay, how about we do this? We'll continue with the exam. However, we will choose a new test in which Menchi will first demonstrate it personally before we begin. How about that?"
I frowned. I supposed that would seem easier than making sushi.
"That will make it easier for the test takers to accept the result as well," Netero explained, and I realized this was true. Certainly, I'd feel better knowing that the exam was doable.
Menchi also seemed to be considering the president's words. "I see," she said, nodding. "Then…boiled egg."
Puzzled, I glanced at Kurapica and Leorio to see that they were just as perplexed as I was. What was so challenging about boiling an egg?
"Chairman, could you take us to the top of that mountain over there?" Menchi asked, pointing far in the distance.
"Certainly," Netero agreed.
All the examinees filed into the blimp. Pretty soon, we landed at the top of the large mountain.
"It's here," Menchi explained, pointing down into the deep ridge before us. She took off her boots. "Relax, there's a deep river below. But if you fall in, the currents are so strong that you'd be carried several kilometers to sea. I'll go first," she said, leaping off the cliff.
"Ah!" I exclaimed, rushing to peer over the edge.
"She must've gone looking for the egg of the spider eagles that live in Mafutatsu Mountain," Netero explained. "In order to protect its eggs from land predators, spider eagles hang their eggs on sturdy threads between canyons. You must catch a thread as you fall, pick an egg, and climb back up!"
"Here!" Menchi said, having already climbed back up the edge towards us. "All you have to do is boil the egg now," she told us cheerfully.
"Ah, that's a relief," Killua said from somewhere to my right. I craned my neck to see Gon and Killua standing off to the side.
"Yeah," Gon agreed. "I was waiting for something like this."
Leorio smirked. "Something like this is much faster and easier than any traditional dish."
I gaped as the examinees began to leap from the cliff. What crazy people! I shook my head, exasperated.
"And the rest of you guys?" Menchi asked, folding her arms. "Giving up?"
I scoffed, feeling irritated that she seemed to be underestimating my determination. "As if," I snapped, and dove over the edge.
The wind flapped in my clothes as I fell, and I groped blindly for a thread. I grabbed one, and hastily wrapped myself around it, feeling very terrified. "Insane," I muttered. "All these people are freaking crazy." Butterflies flailed inside my stomach, threatening to claw their way up my throat.
To my left, I saw Kurapica on another thread, looking rather startled. "Why didn't you use your nin ability?" he asked curiously. "You didn't have to jump."
"Nen," I corrected. "To be honest, I was going to," I admitted, "but then I realized that this test was most likely a measure of courage and determination. I felt like I'd be cheating if I used it, 'cause then there'd be no risk. And I also consider my nen usage to be somewhat unnecessary. I mean, everyone else is getting by the exam without it, so I'd feel a little pathetic if I were to rely on it all the time. The hunter exam is supposed to be doable without it. Using my nen to pass is like telling a second grader to take a first year course."
Kurapica looked thoughtful as he grabbed an egg from the hanging nests.
"Plus, it's more fun this way," I added, grinning. I seized an egg as Kurapica rolled his eyes, and together we climbed back up the cliff.
At the top, Menchi had a roaring fire going with a huge pot of boiling water. Each of the passed examinees placed an egg in the pot and began to wait. After a few minutes passed, Menchi began to pass out white eggs.
"These are normal boiled eggs," Menchi explained, then pointing towards the pot, "and those are the boiled spider eagle eggs. Compare the two carefully."
I peeled off the shell of the normal egg first and chewed slowly. After I was finished, I tried the spider eagle egg. The moment I placed the egg in my mouth, my eyes widened as my tongue did a little happy dance. How delicious! After eating such a rich and flavored egg, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to cheerfully eat a normal egg.
"Can you understand the joy of discovering something delicious?" Menchi asked, looking pleased with herself. "That's the kind of work I risk my life for."
In the end, 42 examinees were able to pass.
XXX
After the completion of Menchi's task, Netero herded us all back into the blimp.
"It might be time for the 42 remaining contestants to know who I am," he told us. "My name is Netero, and I'm responsible for the tasks as a member of the organization committee. I wasn't supposed to show myself until the final round, but I came sooner than expected."
I frowned to myself. Since he was saying that he came sooner than he should've, that meant that there was at least one more round between now and the final task. Judging from the amount of people left, I estimated that there would be at least three more tasks, assuming around ten people would be eliminated per round.
"Your anxiety is palpable, but I believe it's a good thing," Netero interrupted my thoughts. "So if you'll allow me to be among you for the time being…"
"We should arrive tomorrow around 8 at the site of the next trial," a portly man stated to Netero's right. I recognized the man as the one who'd passed out our numbers at the start of the first round. "We are waiting for them to contact us, so you are free to do whatever you want until we arrive."
I sighed in relief. I'd be able to take a nice long shower, maybe get some sleep…
"Hey, Gon! How about going on a tour of the blimp?" Killua suggested next to me, and Gon agreed enthusiastically.
Leorio gave an exasperated sigh. "They're in good shape, those two…," he grunted.
"Yeah," I agreed. "If I had even half of the energy that they possess…" I trailed off, shaking my head.
"I just want to take a good, long nap," Leorio confessed.
Kurapica seemed to feel the same. "Yes, today has been rather long. How many tests are left, do you think?"
"Ah, I was just wondering that," I replied, startled.
"It changes from year to year," a voice replied. I turned to see Tompa, who just didn't seem to take a hint. "The committee decides it, depending on the difficulty of the trials. Usually there are five to six tests."
"So still three or four more," Leorio predicted.
"Assuming Tompa's being truthful," I whispered.
Kurapica shrugged. "So we'd better use this opportunity to rest."
Tompa chuckled sinisterly. "I wouldn't if I were you," he warned us gleefully. "This ship ride might be part of the next exam. Imagine the trial taking place while you're asleep. You won't be allowed to go on to the next round. Even here you'd better not drop your guard!" He continued to laugh loudly, walking away.
We exchanged a glance.
"He's blowing smoke," I decided, and Leorio and Kurapica both nodded.
"It isn't possible that all three of us would somehow miss the third exam taking place," Kurapica concurred.
"And even if by some dumb coincidence we managed to," Leorio added, "Gon or Killua would wake us up or something."
We wandered around the ship until we found somewhere to bathe and eat. As I washed all the grime off my body, the bandages around my throat came completely undone. To be honest, I had forgotten about them. The wound on my neck—my memento from our fight with the kirikos from so long ago—had completely healed. I smiled, wondering exactly when my life had gotten so interesting.
I met up with Kurapica and Leorio outside, and we shared a meal at the food court. Afterwards, we found an appropriate corner of the ship and settled down to nap. Kurapica had procured blankets from who-knows-where, and I accepted one gratefully. The two boys began to deeply slumber almost immediately, and I stifled a smile. It was kind of cute, seeing them curled up against the wall like that.
I hesitated, wondering if I should attempt to call my mother. It had only been a little over a day since she'd last called, back in the cave, so I didn't think she would be feeling particularly forgiving. Besides, all the yelling would probably wake Kurapica and Leorio.
That being said, I shrugged grabbing my blanket. I plopped down beside Kurapica and snuggled up against the wall.