The eldest son of the Zoldyck sat down on the comfortable chair beside your bed, you could barely move and it has already been a week. You were laid on your soft and comfortable mattress with a basket of fruit on your bed side table.
"Being able to manipulate your body to get temporarily stronger and deceive your targets are quite straightforward. Tell me, Y/N, why have you decided on that?"
"Am I really required to answer that? I don't even know about your abilities, why must you think you deserve an answer?" You asked back with a slight irritated tone.
"You know I'm a manipulator, same as you. So answer me now. Why have you decided on that ability?" His tone was accompanied with impatience.
"It's not that interesting of a topic, Illumi. But if you really want to know,"
"Go on."
"I am technically a mere outsider. I do not possess the natural talent that a Zoldyck posses. So, that's why I decided to develop a sensible ability. One that would assist me in my assassinations and to keep up with the trainings you put me through. So technically, my ability revolves around assassination."
"How practical of you. Your ability is a reminder of your dedication for the art of killing." A hint of admiration and amusement can be traced from the eldest son's tone.
The room had gone silent so you decided to speak again, "It's quite unfair that you know about my ability but I don't have a clue about yours, don't you think?"
"Perhaps." Illumi just shrugged, having no intentions of revealing it to you, however, this doesn't stop you from being persistent despite knowing that you wouldn't get an answer.
"You don't trust me?"
"No, I do. Don't get it wrong." He denies.
"Then at least just tell me the reason why you've been hiding it from me?"
"Nothing special really. Your ignorance of my ability might be useful in the future."
"What a lame reason."
"Your ability is 'lame'. Look at you, bedridden because of overusing it. It's quite a downside, Y/N." He turns the conversation against you.
"I'm aware of that, but, that just means I need to train more to be able to endure it."
"You're right. However, every time you train your endurance, you are left incapacitated and incapable of taking on a job and even train right after. You turn useless. You're improving too slow and it's hindering your tasks. You'll die of exhaustion before you even improve."
"That's harsh."
"I am merely stating a possibility."
"That's not the only thing that's possible."
You blinked your eyes open, adjusting to the brightness of the room that was lit only by the torches on the walls. You grunted, your body felt heavy and drained. Your eyes lit up as if you had an instant doze of caffeine as you realized where you were, How long was I knocked out? You mentally panicked.
"Oh, Awake already? I was getting worried that you wouldn't make it to the next phase. It would be a shame. I'd get bored if you weren't there~" Hisoka's face was the first thing that greeted you.
You sighed, only finding Hisoka and yourself in the same room. No one passed yet, except for the both of you so far. Worry started to ensue your mind, How long has it been? How's Killua? You scolded yourself for overthinking. You realized that it hasn't been that long since there was no one, other than Hisoka and you in the base of the tower at the moment.
"How long was I out?" You asked as you lost track of time. Hisoka chuckled at your amusing behavior, you looked lost and innocent, it was unlike your calculating and cold demeanor.
"5 hours and 58 minutes." Hisoka responded with a kind smile. He stood up from his position, walked towards you as he positioned himself a meter away from you. Hisoka squatted down to match your height. "Hmm?" He hummed with his usual closed eyed smile that never fails to make you frown. What is he up to? You looked him down suspiciously.
almost 6 hours? Not bad considering I clocked myself out. You thought, acknowledging your improvement.
"I'm quite surprise you were able to recover that fast. Perhaps you've gotten use to it?" Your frown was prominent as if you have woken up from the wrong side of the bed because of how close Hisoka's face was now. You caught him off guard as you reactivated your nen ability without any notice, he had another close up of your transformation back to your disguise. Slightly startled.
You were now back with your disguise.
"Hmm." He pouted distancing his face from yours, "Back to it again? I was enjoying the view." Hisoka mused, referring to your normal appearance. His pout irritated you.
You didn't know what else kept Hisoka attached from you, you already fought him. Although you might've passed out in the middle of it, still. You did what you promised. He didn't asked you to fight him any more, Maybe because he was disappointed? That couldn't be it, before you passed out, the last thing you saw was was his satisfied and contented expression, but if he really got disappointed, why was he still bothering you?
Suddenly, you felt a heavy hand on your head, this woke you up from your thoughts. Hisoka's palm rested atop of your head. You didn't know what to feel, you were frozen and weirded out.
All of the sudden, the door from your side slid up, revealing another applicant who passed, "Second to pass the third phase, number 301, Gittarackur. Time elapsed 12 hours and 2 minutes." Hisoka's hand was still on your head as both of you looked at Gittarackur who just entered. The man only displayed a smile but he was clearly confused on what was happening.
You were glad you woke up before someone else passed the third phase and got to reactivate your ability.
Gittarackur's eyes met yours, he was clearly caught off guard with the scene. On the other hand, you couldn't stop blinking again and again from awkwardness. You came back to your senses when Gittarackur walked over to a wall so he could rest, his eyes returned to you once again as he sat down, you looked away.
"I will cut your hand off if you don't get it off me in two seconds." You threw a warning at Hisoka, ignoring Gittarackur's stare. Why is he still staring at me? You asked yourself, feeling a little uneasy from Gittarackur's gaze. Not to mention, Hisoka's strange gesture.
With your threat, the enigmatic magician chuckled, patting your head first before removing his hand on it. What the hell was that for? You thought, brushing off Gittarackur from you thoughts.
Hisoka stood up as he chuckled at your frowning appearance as he walked back to his position. Gittarackur's body moved stiffly, turning his head to Hisoka's direction.
"Something told me you'd already passed the finish line. However, I'd prefer you wouldn't go farther from that." You didn't know if you were half asleep but you didn't get what the tall purple-skinned man meant. It was probably something the two of them only knew about, so you acted to mind your business.
With Gittarackur's statement, that sounded like a warning, Hisoka smirked at his direction, almost provokingly. The tension between them made you all the more curious, it made it feel like you were part of their issue.
You looked at Hisoka to find some kind of answers, but he just chuckled and looked away. You remembered the interest that Gittarackur developed for you. You can sense that you and him are quite similar, you had a gut feeling that he was most likely a manipulator.
You scratched the thoughts that were fogging your mind. You still have to be cautious, the exams are still on going. and in an exam, there are competitions. You wanted to sleep but you couldn't let your guard down.
You could see that it's possible that Gittarackur only took interest in you because he might think that you're a threat, another theory of yours is that he sees you the same as how Hisoka sees you. A toy. Or maybe someone he can manipulate and use. You weren't really sure, the man was unreadable, he doesn't take any unnecessary moves and only displays a stiff smile on his face. You only assumed from what you've observed.
Thankfully, another door slid up as an applicant entered, "Applicant 294, Hanzo." "Yeahh!! I'm the first one to finish!" The ninja cheered. His overly joyful appearance vanished as he saw 3 more applicants in the room with him. "—is the third to finish. Time elapsed 12 hours and 3 minutes." Wow, it only had been a minute but it felt like an eternity standing between the tension.
"Damn! I don't believe it. I came in fourth place." His body drooped from disappointment of himself. Not bad. You thought.
You sighed in relief, the atmosphere felt somewhat lighter as the tension broke off because of the other applicant.
You waited for Killua to arrive, a day had gone bye, you didn't get a wink of sleep from waiting for Killua to arrive. Did something happen? You thought deeply to yourself.
There were food and water being offered to the applicants that passed, but you were too worried about Killua. You shouldn't be worrying about him, you promised to yourself that you'd trust the boy. Killua also wanted for you to trust him. That kid. You sighed, worried.
Surprisingly, your body recovered well despite not getting any sleep. You didn't felt sleepy at all, and it's not like you'd really sleep knowing that you're in a room full of strangers. You don't trust them for you to let yourself sleep. The room was filled with less than half of the applicants that passed phase two. Most of them didn't passed, some probably got trapped, some died.
You knew Killua would pass but you still couldn't help but worry. "You look troubled." Hisoka commented meters away sitting next to you at his position. You didn't responded, you didn't even looked at him.
You believe that Killua was with his friends, he's at good hands but you weren't sure if they're capable enough to survive because you didn't know what they were capable of. Especially the boy Gon, he seemed strong and determined.
It has finally been the last day, only three minutes remained before the third phase of the exam finally ends but Killua wasn't there yet. You worry. You couldn't wait, your body was once again exhausted from non stop use of your ability, however, you could say that you're improving. You were surprised you were able to hold up despite the lack of sleep for almost three days.
Your eyes were slightly dark and sunken than before, Hisoka took notice of this as you looked at the floor with tired and heavy eyes.
Another door slid up. You hoped it was Killua but, it wasn't."I... made... it..." The applicant entered the room with fatal injuries, he passed but died on the spot.
You heard the magician beside you hum with closed eyes paired with a smirk. Another door slid up slowly, indicating that another applicants had reached the base of the tower.
You hoped it was Killua. Your mind was at ease as soon as you saw him with his dusty white hair and dirty clothes paired with an indifferent expression.
"Kurapika, number 404 is the twenty first to pass. Gon Number 405, is the twenty second to pass. Killua, number 99 is the twenty third to pass. Time elapsed, 71 hours and 59 minutes." Just in time. Not long, Leorio and the man named Tonpa came in quarreling like children.
Killua looked like he wasn't in the mood, "Boy, My butt hurts. Who would've known that the hard and easy path was a slide." He complains with an annoyed expression.
Killua and his friends entered the room further, his eyes were searching for someone, but when his eyes landed on you, Killua's face lit up.
Only 26 applicants remained.