Remember. Smile. [Hunter x Hunter FF]

2. Names' Kosai!

The owner's suspicion seemed to ebb away as he resumed work on his noodle dish. He casually instructed them, "Let yourself in the back room."

--༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ--

The girl stretched casually after the navigator and the test-taker had disappeared into the back room. With a mischievous glint in her eyes, she approached the front counter where the owner awaited her.

"Welcome!" the owner greeted her warmly. She simply nodded in response, wearing her characteristic grin. He then inquired, "What would you like?"

Despite the tempting aroma of food around her, she decided to stick to the script she had overheard.

"Is the back room open?" she asked, echoing the words she had heard moments ago, hoping that the password was not personalized and would grant her entry.

The owner couldn't help but give the young girl a suspicious look, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. It wasn't every day that someone so young and seemingly frail walked into his restaurant and inquired about the Hunter Exam. The girl noticed his reaction but maintained her cheerful demeanor, hiding any annoyance that might have crept in.

"What would you like?" he asked again, this time with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

Unfazed, the girl responded confidently, "A steak combo that opens your eyes to the light, for one!" Her grin widened as she gave the correct password, noticing the subtle change in the owner's demeanor that signaled her success.

"Just one? How would like it cooked?" Asked the man, getting more and more suspicious by the second.

"Grilled over a low flame until cooked," she replied confidently, her grin stretching even wider as she completed the password.

The owner looked back to the food he was cooking and said "Got it. Go ahead into the back room."

"Hm?" She wondered, her curiosity piqued as she glanced around the empty room. Suddenly, she heard the door close behind her felt the room begin to descend. "Ah, it's an elevator!" she exclaimed with a childlike enthusiasm, quickly taking a seat on one of the chairs.

As the elevator descended, she couldn't resist the temptation of the fortune cookie she had snatched behind the front desk—they surely wouldn't mind. She snapped the cookie in half, and a small piece of paper fell out. She picked it up and read it out loud:

"You will die alone, and poorly dressed."

"Huh." As the girl read the rather morbid fortune, she fell into a moment of contemplative silence. The unexpected words from a simple fortune cookie seemed to briefly give her pause.

'I just got dissed by a piece o' paper.' she thought with a hint of amusement, 'That's kinda sad.'

"Ooh! I'm here!" she exclaimed as she felt the elevator stop, hopped off her seat, and stuffed the remainders of the fortune cookie in her mouth.