I know you already know this but then again, Hunter X Hunter is not mine. This wonderful anime story is owned by Yoshihiro Togashi

CHAPTER 14: Gambling Time

In an instant, Kurapika vanished from Majitani's sight, and before the latter knew it, Kurapika clenched his jaw tightly, lifted him up, and delivered a powerful punch that knocked him to the floor.

Their eyes widened in utter shock and disbelief. Despite his thin and delicate appearance, Kurapika managed to land a blow on someone much larger than him.

"Consider this a warning." Kurapika took a deliberate breath, struggling to keep his voice even. "First: a real Phantom Troupe tattoo has the member's number on the spider. Two: they don't bother counting how many they've killed. Third: never mention the Troupe again. If you do…" Kurapika turned towards the unmoving Majitani. "I'll kill you."

He slowly returned to his team, picking up his bokken and tabard along the way. Despite shadowing his face, the rest of the team saw it for the first time. Behind those blonde bangs were fiery red eyes—daunting and threatening.

Now they completely understood. Their eyes literally turned red, as if on fire. Beautiful, breathtaking... Like a jewel shining in a red glow. Yet deadly.

The sound of stone scraping metal signaled that the path was extending.

"You okay, Kurapika?" Gon asked in concern.

"Is it safe for us to come near you?" Leorio asked cautiously, stepping back.

"Shh…" Sam hissed. "Give him a rest, guys."

Kurapika raised a hand to his face. "From the moment I saw him, I knew he was weak," he admitted, wearing a pained expression. His eyes had returned to their usual gray. "And I knew that tattoo was a fake. But as soon as I saw that spider, everything went red…"

"Well, I can't really blame you," Leorio said sympathetically.

"Actually… Even when I see a real spider, my personality changes, and I enter a frenzy…"

'That's worrisome,' Sam thought. She quickly whispered to Gon to check for spiders around.

"Dude, you need to tell us things like that sooner…" Leorio trailed off, his tone now tinged with nervousness.

He's right. What if a spider decides to hop on their heads, and Kurapika sees it? His switch turns on, and suddenly he whacks them in the head?

Kurapika walked past him, further into the tunnel until he was a good distance away from the rest of the applicants and sat down at the fringe of the shadows.

"We should keep Kurapika away from spiders," Gon whispered to them, and they willingly agreed.

Supposedly, it was Leorio's turn to face his opponent. But they couldn't proceed to the next match because the previous fight hadn't been settled.

They both agreed to have a match to the death, and Kurapika didn't kill the blue-skinned opponent. He was only knocked out.

Leorio cursed, muttering about stupid technicalities. He turned around and demanded Kurapika to finish him off, even though Kurapika had nothing to do with it anymore.

"Leorio, we can't force Kurapika if he's not into this anymore."

"But the match hasn't ended!" Leorio argued.

"Let him handle it. Once he wakes up, we'll have our answer," Kurapika told him.

It's highly doubtful. That guy could be pretending to be unconscious, or maybe he's already on the move now!

The only way to end this is to let Kurapika kill Majitani, but he strongly declined. And Kurapika is one heck of a stubborn guy. Killua stepped in and offered to kill him instead if he didn't want to dirty his hands.

Sam snapped at the silver-haired brat, telling him he's not helping at all. Now's not the time to brag about what he's capable of. Besides, it's a one-on-one battle. None of them are permitted to interfere.

They tried waiting for a couple of hours, but nothing actually happened.

"Say, you do know we're working as a team, so you shouldn't be too selfish," Killua suddenly spoke up, taking a few steps towards Kurapika.

"You do say useful things sometimes! Keep it up!" Leorio was suddenly thrilled to have someone on his side. "Don't you understand that you're screwing up our chances?"

"I'm sorry, but I won't change my mind," the blonde told him again, this time much firmer than before.

"Well, there you have it," Sam pointed out. "That's his decision. We can't force Kurapika."

"I've noticed something," Killua started, grabbing all their attention. "It's quite possible that he's already dead," he suggested.

"Well, it's been several hours, and he hasn't moved an inch," Gon responded, looking over Majitani's body.

Sam hadn't even thought of that possibility. "Damn, we won't be able to confirm his physical state for ourselves."

Leorio ran over to the edge, peering over intently. His aim is becoming a doctor - he would surely be able to know. "Damn, it's too far away for us to tell," he admitted. He addressed the criminals on the other side. "We need to check his body," Leorio suggested.

"I just told you, he's unconscious," the cloaked prisoner stated.

"Listen, criminal…" Sam started, sounding irritated. "Even if that guy were to wake up, he might 'sleep' until our time is up. After all, your purpose isn't victory; it's to keep us here as long as possible, right?"

"Exactly as she says," Leorio seconded. "We can't trust the words of a criminal!" He yelled.

"… Well, in that case, would you like to bet?" The criminal asked slyly. "Is he dead or alive? Let's bet on it."

"A bet?" Leorio repeated, confused. "What are we betting on? We don't have anything."

The prisoner laughed. "Time! We'll bet, and the winner will receive time. Take a look at that black screen over there." They looked where she was pointing and saw the number lit up on the screen. "We can bet up to hours. The minimum bet is 10 hours. The game will be over when one of the gamers is at zero hours. We'll take turns betting. If you lose, the time you have to exit the tower will be reduced by 50 hours. And if I lose, my sentence will increase by fifty years. If you accept the game, I'll let you check to see if he's still alive or not."

"It's a girl's voice," Sam notified.

"And she's insane—ready to bet her prison sentence," Leorio muttered.

"Don't trust her, Leorio," Kurapika warned. "If we lose, we'll only have twelve hours to exit the tower."

"You're the one saying this?!" Leorio growled. "We're only doing this because you didn't want to give the final blow!"

"Leorio!" Sam nagged.

Kurapika pressed his lips together. "I understand." He said. "I won't say anything more." He looked almost like he was sulking.

"Still, he's right." Sam supported his warning. "If she's betting on her sentence, she must be extremely confident."

"It's better if I go." Leorio asserted. "We'll just be waiting for him to wake up. It will still waste our time."

"Ah, that's true," Sam murmured. "If she's betting on her sentence, she must be extremely confident."

"I accept the challenge!" Leorio called to the other side.

"As I decided the terms of the bet, I'll let you choose the stake in hours." The criminal said.

Leorio thought for a moment. "I bet 10 hours he's alive." Leorio said.

"You're prudent." Kurapika said approvingly.

"This is common sense, isn't it?" Leorio replied, crossing his arms.

"Alright, we'll let you go across and check." The female criminal said.

The bridge extended, and Leorio quickly strode across. He knelt before Majitani and rolled him over, checking his pulse.

"You see?" The female criminal asked, sounding bored. "He only fainted."

The numbers on the screen changed to 40 and 60, in the candidates' favor.

"Yay, Leorio has taken the lead!" Gon cheered.

"I don't like this," Killua mumbled. "It's strongly possible that he won't open his eyes for a very long time. For them, it's more interesting if he's alive, lying down on the ground. If he lies there during the remaining time, their sentences will be reduced by 72 years."

"Your turn now," the prisoner spoke to Leorio. "Choose the next bet."

"Has he really fainted or not?" Leorio posed the question. "This is the bet."

"Ok, I bet 20 hours he's still unconscious," the prisoner replied. "But how are you going to check?"

"That's easy," Leorio said as he picked up the big freak and hauled him to the edge. He propped the man up, holding him from falling only with his foot and hand. "I'll let him fall. If he's really fainted, he'll die from the fall."

"Are you serious?" the prisoner protested. "Might I remind you that the last match isn't over yet? Such a method won't be accepted!"

"Don't worry," Leorio spoke. "If he dies, we'll admit Kurapika's defeat. You'll have 2 victories on your own. Any objections?"

"No, that's okay," the prisoner sighed. "But in that case, I'm making a change. I'm betting 40 hours that he'll open his eyes."

"Here we are," Leorio smirked. "You're showing your true face. Well, I release him."

"WAIT, NO!" Majitani shouted, scrambling in the middle of the arena. "DON'T RELEASE ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! You're dumb and I'm silly to mix with you! It's ok! I've lost! I feel more secure in jail!" He ran back to the stage and to safety.

"You knew he would wake up," the prisoner stated.

"So did you," Leorio countered. "Even if I'm just a cadet doctor, I can still tell if he's fainted by his eye movement."

The screen changed to 80/20.

"You only have 20 hours left," the prisoner mentioned.

"Yes, but now the score is 2 to 1," Leorio smirked. "Your turn, what do you want to bet on?"

They're on the lead with 2-1 points.

Leorio's opponent lifted her hood, and much to their surprise, she turned out to be a fairly attractive woman. She had magenta eyes and her long, pink hair was tied up into two big pigtails with yellow ribbons.

Her name's Leroute, sentenced for 112 years for illegal gambling. She proceeded to place her second bet. "Let's bet on whether I'm a woman or a man," She suggested.

Sam's eyebrow furrowed. 'She obviously a girl. What was the point of this bet?'

She can already smell something bad from this.

"Even if you claim to be a woman," Leorio pointed out. "there's no way to be sure.

A sly smile appeared on Leroute's face. "Well, you can search me until you're satisfied."

'Wut?' Sam gaped at her indecent words, flushing as the boys beside her shook their heads.

"He's going to bet she's a male." Kurapika commented.

"Yep!" Killua agreed immediately.

Gon, however, looked clueless. "What?" He asked, blinking.

"I'm sure Leorio won't do that. You underestimate him so much." Sam said nervously. "Let's have a little faith."

"I'll bet ten hours that you're a male!" Leorio declared.

'That perverted fool!'

"Just as I thought," Kurapika sighed.

"Leorio!" Sam growled. He's just wasted ten hours simply for his satisfaction! Hadn't he lectured Kurapika for acting selfish just a while ago?

"Perverted old man…" Killua grumbled.

"How did you know?" Gon asked, pouting at being left out.

Killua gave Gon a short explanation of how the minds of perverts worked.

"Sooorry, but I'm a female." The woman simpered. It seemed she'd already known what Leorio would say.

"S-Seriously?" Leorio asked in fake surprise.

"You wanna check?" His opponent asked, folding her arms and glancing at her nails.

Leorio widely smiled. "For sure!"

He's having a great time examining and touching the woman, and his soul is already having a pleased trip to cloud nine.

Sam groaned, burying her face in her palms. Honestly, doesn't that guy have any sense of shame? She wondered. "We're going to lose." She grumbled. "This was a terrible match-up."

Killua shrugged. "True, but now it's Leorio's turn. Maybe he can turn the tides."

They waited intently for Leorio's bet. Maybe he could choose a topic he knew about, like doctor-stuff. The number of pressure points in the body, for example.

There's no more room for error. If he loses the next wager, the overall score will be 2-2 and they will have fifty fewer hours to escape the tower.

"Leorio!" Gon called the oldest teen. "How about you bet if you're a teen or not?"

Sam's spirit lifted up. Gon's right. If Leorio gambles his age, there's a big possibility they'll win. "Yeah, Leorio. Bet your age!"

But instead, Leorio looked back with a pissed off face. "Shut up you brats! I told you I'm a teenager! Why is it an issue to you?!"

And that was it. Everything just seemed so hopeless for this match. For a moment, Leroute looked shocked.

"We're screwed." Killua said.

"That was a good thing to bet on." Kurapika commented.

"Argh! That-" The girl couldn't take it anymore and ended up ruffling her hair out of frustration.

In the end, Leorio decided to play rock-paper-scissors. They were betting on who would win.

Honestly, why did he have to pick such a difficult wager? And Leorio's opponent must have predicted his reasoning and controlled his reactions, defeating him would be so easy.

Leroute declared it's her win for sure, saying she can read minds. Leorio got troubled with it, and he's losing his cool over a blatant lie. That was a good example of a good bluff.

He used rock, same as Leroute. Well, a very nervous person would unconsciously avoid any actions that involve opening up. And Leorio is nervous. Very nervous.

With their next round, Leorio used rock versus Leroute's scissors. Leorio's opponent won the game and he returned to his team with a solemn look.

He shamefully faced the group and apologized. Sam sighed. Though, losing one point could be acceptable but losing fifty hours is a big loss.

She wants to get mad at him, scream at him. She couldn't do so due to the fact that it was thanks to him Kurapika's match ended.

But he lost in his own match instead. Sam turned on the spot and promptly punched Leorio's arm as hard as she could. Leorio yelped, but didn't protest, as he seemed to realize he deserved that.

"Who's next?" He asked.