Now, now, that's not true at all.
Sure, all these places have been explored before, but they haven't been recorded so intimately as they have been in this journal. It makes them new and special all over again for any reader to experience.
Have you ever considered becoming an author?
You weren't believed in either, huh Buddy?
That makes two of us.
After the second phase, we all were herded onto the Chairman's airship again to head to the next phase. That same evening, we all stood in an open room in a crowd surrounding the Chairman. He was going to be talking apparently
The Chairman began, "I will now take the opportunity to introduce myself properly to the remaining 42 applicants. I am Netero, the chairman of the selection committee for this year's hunter exam. It is a pleasure to meet all of you."
"And I'm his secretary beans," the small green person next to the chairman said. He was the one who gave us our badges at the beginning of the exam.
The Chairman said, "I had originally planned to make my appearance during the exam's final phase. Well, seeing as how I'm already here... I have to admit, there's nothing I love more than this feeling of tension in the air. So I think I'll stick around for the remainder of the trip."
"We are scheduled to arrive at our destination tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock AM exactly. You'll find dinner waiting for you in the dining hall." Beans added, "You're also welcome to get some rest of course. You're free to do as you please until we contact you. The evening is yours."
Killua quickly turned to Gon and said, "Hey! Come on Gon! Let's go and explore the airship!"
"Yeah!" Gon said.
Killua and Gon both turned to walk away but Gon ended up yanking my arm. Our arms were linked together and I hadn't even noticed. "Gon, hold on! You're dragging me along with you!" I yelled.
"I know! Come on!" Gon yelled, pulling me along with him and Killua.
There wasn't much I could do except let it happen. We turned down lots of hallways, each one looking the same as the last. The soft cream walls and the bright white lights were enough to start a headache.
As if that wasn't enough of a problem, I somehow managed to lose Gon and Killua. So now, two hyper kids were loose in a giant airship. Off exploring or whatever they said they were gonna do.
However, I did have the displeasure of seeing Tonpa. He was sneaking down a hallway and peaked into a room with an evil look in his eye. I snuck up behind him to peek into the room as well, which was just full of other applicants sleeping. Tonpa was staring intently at Leorio and Kurapika.
"You thinking of crushing them too?" I scared Tonpa.
He practically jumped ten feet in the air and slammed the door shut. "W-What do you..?" Tonpa asked nervously, still keeping up the nice guy act.
"Your fingers," I asked to confuse Tonpa, "Were you planning on crushing your fingers? You were just asking for it with your hands there, very close to the hinges."
"Oh! Heh heh, I was just looking for you! I saw you weren't with them earlier than you usually are and I wanted to make sure you were okay!" Tonpa played along.
"Don't lie to me," I said.
"What?"
"I know what you're doing Tonpa. Try something with us and I'll make sure-"
"You'll make sure what? You can't do anything to me, little kid."
"Try me then," I said.
Tonpa smirked. It was like his whole personality clicked into place. Tonpa wasn't a shy nice guy, he was a conniving little bitch.
Tonpa's fist flew toward my stomach. I sidestepped and locked his arm in a hold with mine.
I spun around, dragging Tonpa along with me, and shoved him against a wall to gain an advantage.
Tonpa's head hit the wall harshly as he slid down it.
I lifted his head and brought my knee to his face, hitting him square on the jaw.
Tonpa stumbled a bit before looking back at me.
His eyes were filled with horror and his nose was bleeding. He looked completely disgusted with me. I would too, covered in blood and all that.
"You're insane!" Tonpa yelled.
"I pride myself on that."
Tonpa hastily stumbled up, running away with his tail between his legs.
The satisfaction of having beaten him didn't last long. My mind wandered off to the look of absolute terror in his eyes.
It was fear unlike any other. It wasn't the normal fear you felt when you were playing a game of hide and seek and you were nearly found.
No, it was the type of fear that keeps you awake at night, that sends your mind spiraling and engraves itself into every bone in your body. The fear that never leaves anyone, no matter how hard people try and just cope with it and accept it. It always fights back, eating away at you every chance it got. Like a parasite that would continue to reside in the back of your mind and make its presence known every time you just barely manage to forget.
"What are you doing here?" asked a voice. Killua.
I had managed to wander away from where I had beaten Tonpa. Now standing in a hallway with benches with a view to the outside.
"I don't know," I answered, "you?"
"I dunno either. Waiting I guess."
"Mind if I sit here?"
"Yes."
"Damn, well now I'm just gonna sit down."
"Then why the hell did you ask?"
I laughed a bit tiredly. Tired. That word was becoming very familiar very quickly. Maybe it was the increase in activity. Maybe the new people I was around were stressing me out. Or maybe it was the new discoveries on my mental health.
Maybe it was a combination of everything that was draining my energy quicker. That and also how time seemed to slow yet speed up at the same time. Time is an ironic thing. Sometimes there seems to be too much of it and other times there's never enough.
Like right now. The city below was dark because of the night. All the lights were turned on and looked like blurry dots from the airship. The airship itself was a good temperature to be at. Warm enough to not feel freezing but also cool enough to not feel light you're on fire. It was a nice balance.
"Here," Killua's voice cut through the calmness. He handed me a small rag, almost like a handkerchief. "For your knee."
There was blood on and around my knee. The crimson liquid felt tight and dry when I moved my leg to look at it. "Thanks," I said and took the rag. The blood was hard to get off, but it came off somewhat eventually.
I handed the rag back to Killua once a decent amount of the blood was gone. He used it to get some blood off of his hand. The blood was dried as well and snaked around his knuckles and fingers. I hadn't even realized he had blood on him.
Killua gave me a questioning look, almost daring me to ask something. But because Killua didn't ask about my situation, I won't ask about his. It was a simple but effective compromise. I shrugged and Killua looked away. I went back to looking at the city. It seemed so small from up here.
"You afraid of heights?" He asked.
"No, not really. It's more of... a fear of falling from them I guess."
"Afraid no one will catch you?"
"What?" I puzzled. Killua was now staring at me. He looked relatively calm and confident in what he was saying.
"Are you afraid of falling because you don't think anyone will think it's important enough to catch you?" He clarified, "What about Gon and those other guys? You don't think they'd try and catch you if you fell? Do you not trust them?"
"I.."
"You don't. That's not a bad thing, but have some faith in them."
I chuckled lowly. "What would you know?" The comment wasn't made to be aggressive, more like a passive question. It seemed Killua understood and took it that way.
"I know that that's what you want to believe."
"And what exactly do you mean?"
A light thrumming filled the air. Probably some sort of air conditioning or air filtration. Killua didn't answer, instead looking away. The lights seemed to pulsate every once in a while. The hallway was still and calm.
"You should go to sleep," he finally spoke after a long time, "you look like you're about to drop dead on the ground."
"..Yeah, I'll go do that," I surrendered. I got up and walked away, down the hallway.
I didn't miss the way a pair of eyes trailed after me.
The way two pairs of eyes trailed after me.
Author's Note:
It was a short episode so short chapter. Hate to end it on a short note but yeah. This is it for New Years. The next update will not be Valentine's day, it'll be Martin Luther King Jr Day, January 21st. Because why not. I'm the one writing so I'm writing when I see fit.
I love you all, till next time 💕