Chapter 3: Cards x And x Blood
Despite being a decent runner, she could still sense two people following closely behind. One of them had to be Hisoka, but the other? Could it be... that guy?
Before she could find the focus to find out, a card whizzed past her ear, lodging itself in a nearby tree. She instantly slowed down, eyes darting around the eerily quiet woods.
"I thought you didn't want me stuck to you." She called out, annoyed by his lack of response.
A rustle of leaves to the left. Just a passing animal. There were many in the forest but as long as she kept her aura faded, she was sure they wouldn't bother her. In such dark surroundings, she doubted they relied on merely their sight.
"That is true." A familiar voice whispered by her ear.
She did her best to suppress her shudder but of course he noticed.
"But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy your company, darling." He chuckled softly as she glared up at him. "Oh. Did I offend you with that now?"
"No." She shot back, following his slow precise movements around her.
"Hand me what you found in the water." Despite his expression being the same slightly amused one as usual, she knew it was an order.
"I don't have it anymore." A lie- except
Hisoka gave her a smug smile, flicking his fingers up to display the piece of paper. "Of course, you don't~"
"Hey!" She glared up at him. "Give it back!"
"Hmm..." He slowly read the message, ignoring her. "Under the woods, huh? Where do you think that would be-- running off in such a hurry as you were?"
"I-"
"Or was it simply another one of your hunches?" He stared down at her.
Hanako turned her head away. "Sort of." It was not like she could ever convincingly lie to him. "If it's under the woods, the way down is probably somewhere in the woods too, so-"
"Fair point." He cut her off nonchalantly. "Well, let's see who gets there first." With that, he abruptly disappeared.
Hanako took a deep breath to steady her nerves. The shinu guy-- probably him-- was still somewhere around, watching them. She hated how he had been privy to their exchange. Maybe I should kill him? Waste of time. Hisoka had challenged her to a race. It would be one of the rare moments where she could prove herself to him and no way in hell she could waste the opportunity.
As she broke into a run once more, she began wishing-- not for the first time-- that she had learned En. Hisoka had once fought a Samurai-looking with a seriously good En, with her as the spectator. Ever since then she had been nagging at him to teach her En. But every time, he'd simply brush her off. That narcissist. He claimed it made fights way too boring. Regardless, she promised herself that she would learn it one day.
Maybe if she became a hunter. Her heart thudded too hard in her chest with the prospect. She could finally be free of him. That sounded almost too good to be true.
Abruptly, the eyes that had been boring into the back of her head faded away. What? She stopped in her tracks, examining the surroundings. Why had he stopped tailing her? Was she going the wrong way? Did he find the right one?
Utilising Gyo, she looked around for him. There. He was leaping from tree to tree off her left. He must have spotted something-- or maybe, someone?
Worth a shot. She decided to follow him instead of wandering off randomly. Even before she passed the first thicket of trees, she could spot something out-of-place in the distance. As she drew closer, it slowly took the shape of a creepy-looking wooden cabin.
Shinu was standing in front of the door, as if weighing the risks. So, he had been the one following her after all.
"I'm going in." She declared, crossing the threshold. The door had been torn off the hinges and lay worn and discarded inside. She kicked it as she walked past, just for the sake of kicking it. Or maybe she was nervous. Had she won the race?
Shinu knocked his boots on the wooden floor as he entered. "Hollow." He explained when she turned around to him. "Maybe there is a basement downstairs. See if you can spot any stairs."
"Or better yet-" With a bit of Ten in her shoes, she stomped down on the wooden planks, splitting the fragile floor open with a loud crack! "There. Faster." She shrugged with a smug smile, before carefully jumping down.
It was a crudely built passage, walls rough and unsteady. Shinu was still on the first floor, peeking down at her. "You sure it's safe?"
"I think so..." She took a confident step forward... another... and then she was walking in what she was sure was the direction of the sea, with Shinu close at her heels. She had been careful to keep it in mind. Under the woods. Check. Maybe following this passage would bring her somewhere over the sea as well. Or maybe it wasn't supposed to be literal and-
A card whistled past her ear and she flinched, brows twisting into a frown.
"I win~" Hisoka's self-satisfied voice echoed across the passage. Of course, he did.
She huffed, doing her best to ignore him as she walked past. She could feel his amused eyes on the back of her head as she kept walking, speeding up her pace. She paused when she realised he was simply standing there, as if waiting for something?
"You're not coming?" She glanced back at him.
Hisoka grinned, eyeing Shinu with a hungry look. Oh he was so dead. "I am in no hurry."
"You're going to kill him?" She tilted her head towards the nervous assasin.
Hisoka seemed thoughtful for a moment before he simply mumbled a "who knows~"
Exasperated by his antics, she continued on forth. She could tell the Shinu guy was definitely stronger than he looked... but then again, he was going up against Hisoka. Poor dude. At least that would make her the first to clear thr exam-- if she was fast enough. Alright then. She confidently put on her max speed.
Hanako had expected the passage to contain at least some semblance of booby traps but there was... nothing. Just empty dirt walls stretching on and on and on for miles. Surrounded by such suffocating darkness and no sign of appropriate ventilation, she could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on her. There was not a single source of light, forcing her to rely on her Gyo to seek out any potential threats.
She paused to take a few deep breaths, completely alone in the silent passage. She wondered how the other examinees were doing. Were there other passages like this one they were travelling through? Were they all the same? And Hisoka... If he had started following the same route, he would have caught up by now. Was she going down the wrong way?
Her mind began drifting into panic mode. Was she going to wander here forever? For a moment the atmosphere threatened to throttle her nerves-
-but no. She had to stay calm.
She forced her body to relax, focusing on the aura spreading through her body. She had been using Zetsu the whole time without even realising it, a habit after keeping herself in the shadows for too long. She let herself release her aura and-
A strange thud echoed all around. She activated Gyo once more to check her surroundings, back into alert mode. She noticed the glint of a nen seal in the distance, shaped like a... steps? . A bunch of steps had just dropped from the ceiling. Huh?
She slowly walked closer to inspect. Her had brushed past a rope. Touching the nen seal, she realised it was inscribed on the wooden steps. Okay then... She put one leg up on the first rung of the ladder and hoisted herself up, heart thudding as the rope ladder dangled. Under the woods and over the sea. Was this how she would get to the over the sea part? Worth a try.
Swallowing her fears of falling, she began climbing up.
By the time her head finally touched something solif, her hands were aching like hell. The walls around the ladder were too far away for her to rest on them for support and her legs trembled from the effort to keep herself up.
She pushed up on the wooden block and it gave way to light. A trapdoor. Her eyes squinted as she climbed up the last step out into fresh air.
The first thing she noticed was the dead body lying at her feet. The next thing she noticed were the dead bodies strewn all around. She blinked slowly, attempting to process her sights as her senses struggled to reawaken.
She was on some sort of a wooden ship-- straight out of a pirate novel, really-- with at least half of the remaining examinees' dead bodies littering the ground. There was some platform in the distance with small red flags on stands and she could hear someone yelling.
The world spun as she turned her head to where the yelling was coming from. Gosh she had an annoying headache now too...
"And why not?" Hisoka's smooth voice instantly brought her mind back into focus. He was standing next to a well-built man with messy blue hair. Despite the smirk on his face, she could tell he was pissed. "I shall do as I please."
The other man grimaced, twisting two long curved blades around in his hands. "At least fifteen examinees are to pass onto he next phase. That is what I set as my goal. And if anyone gets in the way of me reaching my goals." His aura flared up. So he can use nen? Who the hell is he? "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM!"
He rushed forward, eyes wide with adrenaline as he brandished his twin knives.
"Hmm..." Hisoka spoke calmly, a finger under his chin. "...I see it now. You're simply unfit to be an examiner."
"WHY YOU-"
Right before the final moment of impact, Hisoka gracefully swerved off to the left. What followed was a flurry of attacks, with Hisoka narrowly avoiding each. "In fact," He continued his speech through the quick movements, completely unbothered. "You don't even deserve to be a hunter."
A swift flick of cards and the examiner was on the ground, writhing in pain as he pressed over the blood leaking from his face.
"Pathetic." Hisoka took out another card, ready to finish him off when-
"That will be enough." A coldly commanding voice cut through the moment, entrancing them all. "Hisoka-" The speaker emerged from a dark corner, seemingly out of nowhere. Black skin and gray hair. Shinu. "-You have officially been disqualified from the two hundred and eighty sixth hunter exam for breaking rule number thirty four, section two."
Hisoka turned his golden eyes to him. "Yes? And who are you to determine that?"
Shinu flared up his aura in warning. "The examiner of the third phase of the two hundred and eighty sixth hunter exam. I was pretending to be an examinee in order to guage this year's crop more closely." He took a step forward, as if daring him to complain. "Even if you manage to kill me, you will not be getting your Hunter's license. Therefore, I suggest you give up on resisting and leave. You're welcome to try again next year of course."
Hanako braced herself for the fight to come. Was she supposed to help?
Hisoka stared at him for a moment, face completely unreadable, before turning to Hanako. "Let's go-"
"Actually," Shinu stepped in between the two of them, "She hasn't been disqualified, so-"
"Hanako," Hisoka's voice reached a dangerously low pitch she knew only too well, "We're leaving." He glanced at the man. "I'm sure there's a different way out than one of the passages, yes?"
"Do you want to quit the exam?" Shinu's gray eyes found hers.
Hanako stood rooted at her spot, unable to decide. The examiner on the ground whimpered.
"Well, darling. Tell him." She could feel Hisoka's expectant eyes on her. There was no way he was going to let her be a hunter before himself.
He left hand twitched. "Yes."
[A/N: aand that marks the end of the first arc lmk what you think about the story so far :) ]