Tulips of Truth [Ⓗⓤⓝⓣⓔⓡ Ⓧ Ⓗⓤⓝⓣⓔⓡ]

Chapter 12: Truth x Be x Told

The moon was high that night. Cassandra moved her braid to the side, putting it in her lap. She enjoyed looking at the stars from where she sat in the tree. It was tall and gave her a good view of Zevil Island. Of course, it wasn't the tallest tree, but it was decent. "Hey, Cassandra."

Climbing up the tree was Kurapika. He still had his badge on his clothes as he came to sit beside her. But she only stayed silent, nodding at his presence. "I'm not your target, right?"

She nodded. "And you're not my target either."

Another silent nod from the redhead. Kurapika tilted his head. "Hey... What's wrong? You haven't spoken to me since we were on the top of Trick Tower," he said.

Still, she stayed silent. "What if I tell you what happened to us?"

At that, she looked at him. Kurapika shifted to sit looking at her. "When we entered Trick Tower, we learned that we needed five people. And then Tonpa dropped in. We went through the majority rule things, and each time, the screen would show one person voting for a different choice compared to the others. Leorio was quick to blame Tonpa for it. And it happened at almost every voting session. We fought criminals like a bald guy, a woman, a blue guy, and a guy with candles. And then we were stuck in a room, had to wait 50 hours, and we almost fought until Gon came up with an idea to cheat the system," he explained.

It was somewhat similar to her scenario. But he could've already guessed that by the way she shifted in her sitting position. Cassandra pursed her lips. "We fought similar people. There was a bug-looking guy, a man named Axford, a woman named... Arabella... and a guy who beat Victor at rock paper scissors," she said, finally looking at Kurapika.

When the name "Arabella" slipped out between her lips, it spawned instant memories for the redhead. The evil aura that Arabella gave off when she explained how proud she was to be one of "the four kings of the Phantom Troupe." The way Cassandra lay the beatdown on her. Her body began to shake. Kurapika had heard her voice falter when Arabella's name rolled off her tongue. "That woman, Arabella... she had... a spider tattoo... and it gave me horrible flashbacks..."

Now she was vulnerable. Kurapika clenched his fists, gritting his teeth when he heard the word "spider" come out of her mouth. "Hey, hey... It's alright, okay? ... I don't like spiders either... But... what memories did it generate?" he asked, putting a hand on hers.

"... My family was killed. All of the people in the land of Esmington were brutally murdered. Houses were set ablaze. The land was being utterly ruined."

She began to shake, leaning into Kurapika's embrace. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, letting her lay on his lap. "It's okay... You're alright, Cass... I'm here..."

He never intended to be like this; yet here he was, cradling Cassandra like an infant in the middle of the night. They might as well sleep like this... Speaking of which, Kurapika looked down to see Cassandra had fallen asleep. Beside her feet was her tote bag. She wasn't his target, but he saw something poking out. And it wasn't her badge. So he checked it to see six flower crowns. Kurapika took one that was made of a few hydrangeas and primrose. "Is this... for me?"

The sleeping Cassandra didn't respond, lightly breathing in her sleep. Kurapika could only muster a smile as he put the flower crown on. It fit him perfectly. "Thank you."

...

The next morning, Cassandra was awake, hunting for her target, Derek. She stayed in the trees, watching from above. A trick she was utilizing was using her hair to navigate above the foliage, swinging from tree to tree. She had taken it out of her braid that morning to accomplish this. She felt like Rapunzel. So far, there was no sign of Derek. She did catch sight of Gon practicing his hand at his fishing rod, his hands calloused from gripping the fishing rod. "He's doing great. I hope he catches that guy, Hisoka," Cassandra thought.