"You what?" exclaimed Killua. "He caught you and made you tell him who you are? That's too careless!"
Still aboard the airship, Kiri and Killua entered an empty room. Killua pulled his sweaty top off and threw it on a nearby chair. "You should've disposed of him then and there."
"Well yes but...He seems like an interesting character. I wanted to get to know him more."
"You won't be thinking that when Mum and Dad finds out. Especially Mum. She'll go ballistic." Killua went into the bathroom and flicked the light switch on.
Kiri sat on an armchair and absent-mindedly blow a piece of hair away from her face. "They might even kick me out of the house. Now that they have you. Who knows."
Killua sighed. "Still, I can't believe he found out. No one has ever found out before. Maybe I should pay him another visit…"
Kiri suddenly sat up rigidly. Tension hung in the air between the two siblings. "You do that. And I will not be happy."
"It's quite possible that aniki knows as well, if he does, that I won't need to do a thing." Kiri heard the sound of water pattering against the floor as Killua turned on the shower.
"If Illumi knew he would've done something already." Probably some kind of torture involving pins as well, she thought. "I've had enough of this conversation, I'm leaving,"
Killua heard the door slam shut and punched the bathroom wall in anger. "Even though I was only trying to protect you," he muttered.
Kurapika walked down the corridor, thinking about the conversation he just had.
"She didn't answer me when I asked if she was a human or not...Maybe she's a mutated cat?" Kurapika thought aloud.
Are you talking to yourself? Mewed Kiri. Kurapika looked down to see the familiar black cat. "Oh Kiri, you surprised me there. I must've been thinking out loud,"
You understood me? Said Kiri, taken aback.
"I think I do. I don't know how I can though, but what you're saying isn't unlike another language that I've learnt before. Although I still have trouble with some of the sounds you make," Kurapika laughed slightly. "I overhear your conversations with Killua sometimes. It's good practice."
Do you think the others know what I'm saying?
"Not to my knowledge. Although I can tell that Gon knows you and Killua are talking sometimes. It just baffles him."
Kiri didn't expect that. She has been more careless than usual. It's probably the comfortable atmosphere that she's gotten too used to.
I'm going to stick with you for a while, Kiri said, walking alongside Kurapika.
"What about Killua though?"
Don't worry about that idiot, she replied, still annoyed.
When the airship finally landed on Trick Tower, the group started exploring. Kiri could tell Killua was intentionally avoiding her, still angry at her too, but she tried to ignore it.
The sky was a clear blue colour and the 'roof' of Trick Tower, where they were currently standing on, was large and normal enough.
So the aim of this is to get to the bottom as soon as possible? Said Kiri to Kurapika.
"That seems like it," Kurapika did a quick count of the people left. "Several have already disappeared, they must've found a secret passageway. "
Leorio hurried over followed by Gon and Killua.
"We saw this crazy dude try to climb his way down but these huge birds swallowed him up," said Leorio, with hand imitations. "Climbing is not an option."
"Not that it was an option for us in the first place," replied Kurapika.
"But Killua and I found some hidden doors," grinned Gon, holding up five fingers. "Five! Enough for all of us! Isn't that right, Killua?" He nudged his white-haired friend who was too busy glaring at Kurapika.
"We found four Gon, not five" corrected Killua.
"Oh yea, my bad," said Gon sheepishly.
"Well then let's go! Where are they, Gon, Killua?" said Leorio.
Gon walked around a patch of land, circling for a few moments, then waved them over. "There's one over there, and there, and there, " he pointed. Everyone took up a position. After saying their farewells and goodlucks, they all jumped at the same time….
….And all landed in the same room.
"Hehehe," laughed Gon and Killua.
"That was a quick goodbye," said Kurapika. Kiri was worried for a second that she wouldn't be allowed to enter through the trapdoor as well, but after clinging onto Kurapika's shoulder, she passed through safely.
"Hey look guys, there's door here," pointed Leorio, being captain obvious.
"There's one here too," said Gon. "There's four doors in total!" Each door occupied a fraction of each wall of the room. They all seemed to have a name as well.
"Temptation...Nightmare...Excitement...Normalcy..? " read Killua.
An overhead speaker crackled.
"Welcome, young contestants," a deep voice spoke. "As you are aware, you have 72 hours to get to the bottom of Trick Tower alive. Luckily for you, you have landed in 'Golden Road'."
"Golden Road, is that the name of this challenge?" wondered Gon.
"There are four doors, each leading a different path. You must each choose a door and follow the path to the end. At the end you will all be reunited...Providing that you have all completed the course. There is a time limit of twelve hours. If all of you finish before that time you find yourself at the bottom of the tower. However, if one of you fail to complete the course in the time limit, when you reunite, you will be held for 50 hours in the room. That is all. I wish you good luck." The speaker buzzed and the voice died away.
"In other words, as long as we all finish before 22 hours, even if we have to be held back, we'll be okay," said Killua. "Unless someone dies on the way."
"...Or gets injured," said Kurapika. "We can't go back to look for each other, so if someone becomes injured we won't know."
This challenge may seem like it's testing us all individually, but it also tests our trust and teamwork, thought Kurapika.
"Let's not go too deep into it," said Gon. "In the end, all we need to do it pick a course and complete it right? Hmm let's see...There's temptation...I'm guessing that's to test on how well you can resist things."
"Nightmare is pretty self-explanatory," said Killua. "Excitement could be to do with an obstacle related course? And Normalcy...Is that a normal road?"
I see...By putting a normal road there, if this was an uncoordinated team, everyone would fight over that road, since it's the easiest. They would waste precious time by arguing too.
"Leorio, how about you go down the Normalcy road?" said Kurapika.
"Are you saying I'm the least capable?!" he replied, outraged.
"I didn't say anything, you were the one who said it."
"Screw that! I couldn't be of any help last time so this time I'm going to actually do something to redeem myself!" Leorio shouted.
"You would be of more help if you just went down Normalcy," interrupted Killua.
"Just you watch me!" Leorio pressed a red button in the middle of the door nearest to him and before anyone could stop him, he walked through 'Temptation'. As soon as he stepped through the doorway, metal bars dropped from the doorway to the floor, preventing anyone else from entering.
"That escalated quickly," said Gon. "I'll take excitement, I can handle it."
"In which case I'll take Nightmare," suggested Kurapika.
"Then it'll be me who takes the boring road?" sighed Killua. "Are you sure you want to do Nightmare, Kurapika. I could swap with you. Nothing scares me."
Apart from Illumi, thought Kiri to herself.
"I'll be fine...I want to see what they think a 'nightmare' is for me. If it's what I think it is, it's time I faced it properly."
Killua shrugged and pressed the button to his door. "Well, I'll see you guys later."
"Good luck!" said Gon cheerfully, and he too disappeared through the doorway.
Kurapika just noticed that Kiri was still next to her. "Kiri! You're still here! You should've gone with Killua."
I'll be okay. Plus, I'm interested in what they think a nightmare will be for me too, grinned Kiri. Let's go!
Kurapika sighed with a smile, "I don't know what to do with you."
With that, he pressed the red button. The pair looked into the darkness, wondering what will be lying in wait for them.