Itami || Killua Z.

4.5

"But we're making our own way out."
- 'Give it All Back,' by Noah and the Whale

"So, what was it that made you bid on all this stuff?" Zepile wiped his mouth with his folded up sleeve and pointed to the bagged items. After discussing how you three would repay him, he said that he wanted to ask a question. This was that question.

"Should we tell him the truth?" Gon asked, looking over to Killua. Killua was stuffing his face with some pork, but gave a thumbs up as an answer. 

"It's not like he could use it against us," you told him, blowing on your fingers. You had accidentally picked up a hot egg roll, which had burned your fingers. You thought about coating your hand in Nen, but it would still burn your mouth anyway, so you decided against it.

"We just sensed the Nen aura on it," Gon said, eating his own food. "Using Gyo."

"Ah, Nen aura, that makes more sense," Zepile nodded. "But, back to what you were talking about on the way here, why do you three need money so badly?" He picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip.

"That'll, uh, make you poop," you said, pointing to his cup. "Coffee works as a laxative, something about the way the caffeine speeds up your digestive system. So, uh, maybe drink it a little bit slower?" You suggested. While people weren't really sure why coffee is a laxative, you thought that drinking it slower might help.

"You're not wrong," he placed the cup down on the plate and moved it slightly away from him, "but you didn't answer my question."

"We might answer it, but not for free. We have some questions for you as well," Killua said, he seemed to have just finished eating his food. Zepile nodded and waited for Killua to continue. "See, there's an item at the auction we want to buy. Obviously, we need money for it."

"What item?" 

"My question," Killua drank some of the orange juice he ordered prior to the conversation, "you said that this would be worth three million Jenny, do you think that's what we could get at the dealers market?"

'I don't wanna go back to that place,'  you frowned, chomping down on an egg roll. You were really bored when you went there with your dad, which didn't leave you wanting to go back. 

"Kinda depends. If you get there early, it's unlikely you'll get a fair price for it," Zepile said, stirring his coffee with a small spoon.

"Oh," Killua's face scrunched up, as if he wanted a better answer. "Your turn."

"Same question, what item are you wanting?"

"A video game called Greed Island." Killua looked over to the side of him, looking at the wrapped item Zepile bought. "That vase thing you bought, how much do you think it's worth?"

"This?" Zepile pointed to it, "This is a piece of crap, isn't worth anything. Anyway, why would you want to buy such an expensive game?"

'Does he straighten his sideburns? Or are they naturally spiky, like Gon's hair?'  You stared at Zepile, thinking about his hair. How long did it take to grow his sideburns out anyway?

"What about you? What're you doing here?" 

The question was directed at you, but seeing as you weren't paying attention at all, the only thing that came out of your mouth was, "Huh?"

Zepile repeated his question, "What're you doing here? Killua said him and Gon, so I'm assuming you're here for a different reason."

"I, uh, what was I doing here again?" You asked yourself, tapping your chin. When you found your answer, you snapped your fingers, "It was actually because of a promise I made Gon. Well, two promises."

"What promises?"

You waved your hands in front of you, "My turn." You contemplated asking him your real question, but that might've been too insensitive. What else did you want to ask him? You didn't really have any questions for the guy, "So, how's, uh, life been treating you?"

"You moron, ask a real question," Killua told you, leaning over Gon.

You pushed his face back and he relaxed into his seat. "Why did you help us?" You asked, rubbing your cheek.

"You see," Zepile rubbed the back of his neck, "I meet scammers almost daily and it makes me mad whenever they try to con people, especially kids. So, I just felt like I needed to help. What promises did you make Gon?"

"The first one, was that he promised the cake I made tasted good. That was a lie, but I wanted to give him a cake that actually tasted good," you said, fidgeting with your hands. "The second one, the important one, was that I promised I would meet them in Yorknew. It felt nice to be, y'know, wanted, so I didn't want to let him down."

"I see, I see."

After that little confession, you fiddled with the straw on your drink. It was just plain water, all the ice had melted and caused condensation on the glass. You drew a small smiley face on the glass, almost laughing at the wiggleness of it. 

"Time to go," Killua placed his hand on your shoulder, making you jump slightly (and you hoped he hadn't noticed), and shook it lightly. 

"Oh, alright," you stood up and walked out with them, all whilst holding hands. "Why were we asking Zepile so many questions again?" You asked, the sun hitting your face when you walked out. Squinting, which looked more like glaring, you looked down at the ground and relaxed your eyes.

"He's been in Yorknew more times then us, just made sense," Killua shrugged, his other hand going into his pocket. "And besides, might as well milk as much information as possible."

"Egh, what if you milked information out of people like you would milk a cow?" You scrunched your face up, almost appalled at your brain for even thinking that up. "Okay, forget I said that, that's gross."

You heard snickering coming from him, but his head was turned away. "Laughing at a lady, quite brave dear knight," you stuck your tongue out at him and laughed, walking faster. You pulled him along, catching up with Gon and Zepile.

"So, Zepile, could you tell us about those appraising things? The ones you and that guy were arguing about?" Gon asked, holding the items you won in his arms.

"Sure," he walked over to the candy machines, picking a toy one. Placing a 5 Jenny coin in it, he turned the knob until a capsule came out. "Cauterization: the hardest method to detect so far."

'Aw, more learning,'  you mentally groaned, rubbing your thumb against Killua's hand.

"However, a new method surfaced," he opened up the capsule and grabbed a leaf, "it's called an autopsy. It reveals the open statue along with the fake treasure and it's more psychology based. But, this method is old so, of course, a new one came up. Wanna guess what it is?"

"I know this one," you smiled, a bubble of confidence surrounding you, "It's revealing both the statue and the real treasure, based on peoples assumption that it'd be like an autopsy."

"Nope," and like that, the bubble popped. You grumbled to yourself, but let it go after, no use keeping those feelings around.

"I know, the statue is fake and the treasure is fake as well," Gon said, clapping his hands together.

"Nope."

Zepile sure was ruthless, not even a hint was given.

"I got it!" Killua yelled, "It's taking the treasure out from a separate opening."

"Correct! By creating a new opening and taking the treasure out, people will be too focused on the seal on top," Zepile explained, closing the capsule, "This is called ostomy."

"How does it feel, knowing you're dating an, in all definitions of the word, idiot?" You asked, leaning your head on Killua's shoulder. You felt a vibration on your right thigh and recognized it as a phone ringing, "Your phone is ringing Killua."

He grabbed it with his unoccupied hand and answered it. The call ended shortly and he looked at both you and Gon, "That was Leorio, we have eyes on two of the Spiders."