SOUR CANDY | killua z. ✔

19 | loyal

AS SOON as Sen sat down for the post-Exam orientation, the sound of Beans' voice knocked her right out. If someone put her in a traditional school setting, she'd flunk out in a week.

She had a weird, floaty dream where she was chasing Killua down the beach. When he was just within reach, he collapsed into a pile of pins. Sen started sinking into the sand and couldn't move a muscle.

Something gently poked her arm.

Sen woke up violently. Her knee slammed up into the table, hand punching at whatever touched her. The folder containing her brand new Hunter's license was stuck to her cheek with drool. 

It flopped onto the table.

"Ow!" Leorio nursed his shoulder. "Geez. You do not look capable of that kind of force."

She looked around. Everyone else was filing out of the room. 

"Is it over already?" Sen asked, viciously rubbing the dried drool off her cheek.

"Yes," said Kurapika. "I did tell Leorio to wake you up before it started, but he was scared."

"I was not scared, she was practically comatose!"

With no sleep the night before, the nap was refreshing. Sen should've been worried about what she missed, but she already knew the basic benefits of a Hunter's license. Her asshole brother bragged about it all the time.

"Did I miss anything important?" She yawned. I could go back to sleep.

"Nope!" Leorio said, cheerfully. Too cheerfully.

Sen narrowed her eyes at him.

"Gon woke up," Kurapika offered. "Ah, he walked into the orientation just as we were discussing the fairness of Killua's disqualification. Gon was... hm. Quite displeased with Illumi Zoldyck."

Leorio snorted, adjusting his glasses. "That's an understatement. Kid broke the guy's arm! I heard the snap from up here—"

They gave Sen bits and pieces of actual information from the orientation. Mostly, they badmouthed Killua's brother.

Sen felt a chill when she remembered Illumi and Killua's fight earlier. 

That was the stuff from nightmares. 

Even if Killua had been allowed to redeem himself, he wasn't in the right mind for it. He might have killed his next opponent anyway. The dead, dazed look in his eyes imprinted itself behind her eyelids.

"Where's Gon?" Sen asked.

"He went to get snacks," Leorio flashed her a winning smile. A lie.

"Gon went after Illumi," Kurapika corrected.

"Baka," Sen hissed in her native language, already stuffing her license in her backpack and moving to get up. 

The zipper got stuck and she let out a rainbow of expletives in her island's dialect.

"That can't be good for your blood pressure," Leorio frowned, watching her scramble over the back of the bench, snarling and cursing. 

"Why is it always the men," Sen muttered once she got her footing.

Kurapika hummed in agreement.

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

The idea of dragging Gon away from Illumi by the ear and actually doing it were two different things.