SOUR CANDY | killua z. ✔

6 | wile

tw: death (non-human creature), mentions of vomit (bc of that frog scene in the swamp)

"YOU," KILLUA shoved Sen, "are a nasty cheat,"

Much to Gon and Killua's dismay, she won their impromptu race. Sen relished in their defeated whining. Music to her ears. 

"Fried tofu," she reminded them. The whining increased.

The three of them had emerged on the top of a hill, moments after their examiner. The guy was completely taken aback by their enthusiasm. 

Sen wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed since the start of their run. It had been early morning when she first arrived at the Exam site, but it was probably afternoon by now. She couldn't tell for sure because the sun was completely clouded over. The area around them wasn't any clearer. 

Wet mist shrouded the exit from the sewers, leaving an uncomfortable sheen on Sen's face. Wiping at it with the sleeve of her ugly blue sweatshirt did nothing.

The smart thing to do would've been to use the mist as a cover and ditch the boys who'd wordlessly decided she was their third Musketeer. 

Instead, she was sitting on the dusty ground with them making bets on when the fog would clear up.

"We'll be sitting here all day," Sen predicted.

"Shut up, we will not," Killua grumbled.

"Hmm," Gon squinted into the fog with intense concentration. "It'll go away in... seven seconds!"

It was still foggy seven seconds later.

As Killua berated the other kid's stupidity, Sen stifled her snickering behind her hand. She tried not to think about lounging on the bathhouse's veranda with Mai and Kotaro during their break, sipping on pineapple smoothies and spying on unsuspecting passersby, whispering fictitious stories about their lives into each others' ears.

She felt like a traitorous little fox, sitting there and having fun with other kids.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

The other applicants slowly trickled from the exit, panting and clutching their chests. They looked inches away from death's door. Sen stared at them unabashedly. It had been a while since she last saw people that exhausted. Were they out of shape? 

"Stupid, quit staring at them!" Killua tugged her ponytail. "You're asking for trouble."

"I like trouble," Sen sniffed.

"Kurapika! Leorio!" Gon turned, greeting the next two exiting applicants.

She recognized the blonde and the other sweaty mess as the people Gon arrived at the Exam with. 

The sweaty guy— who had ditched nearly all the layers of his suit save for the tie dangling precariously from his neck— stared at Sen in disbelief.

"Another kid?!" He cried, pointing at her. "Oi, oi, don't you guys know how dangerous this thing is?"

Sweaty Guy proceeded to harangue about the perils of the Hunter Exam. Yes, she knew. No, she didn't care. 

"I'm Sen," she said when he finally stopped to take a breath.

"I'm Kurapika," said the blonde. Their voice was relaxing. "And this is Leorio. I apologize for his outburst, Sen."

"Outburst?" Leorio sputtered. "I'm literally the only responsible one here!"

"Ah, it looks as if the fog is clearing up," Kurapika ignored him, scanning the area below.