Third person POV
Gon swiped his Hunter License entering his license code and Leorio began handling the computer, typing anything that is necessary to attain the information needed.
"The search result is coming out," Leorio said and a few seconds later, an image of a map popped on the screen.
"Whoah, that's way too many... How are we gonna find the right place?" Rin said crossing her arms as her eyes trained on the map with multiple red dots on it.
"Guess we'll need to narrow it down a little..." With a few clicks, the image zoomed in but the red dots are still too much to count.
"Why don't we try places that are within ten minutes from here?" Killua suggested.
"I'll try that." Leorio worked with his hands and type everything that was necessary until a search result came out.
"The Totoria district, huh?"
"Is that man's hideout somewhere in there?" Gon inquired.
"Yeah, but the range is still a bit broad, and we'll have to check the spot one by one," Leorio noted with knitted eyebrows.
"Why do you make it sound so impossible? It's not like we can't handle it." Rin scoffed.
"Rin's right. This many should be doable." Gon agreed.
"Yeah." Killua nodded.
"As much as I'd like to go with you..." Leorio trailed.
"Leorio, you stay here and take care of Kurapika." Gon said.
"Yeah, you can leave that to me."
"Well then, let's get started right away! I'm itching to have a look at that creep's face!" Rin pounded her fist in the air with a wide grin splattered across her face. The excitement wired her body like she was plugged into the mains.
"Yeah!"
Not wanting to waste any second, Rin dashed out of the cyber cafe leaving Gon and Killua with a low chuckle. They knew she was excited for any action alright. After all, it's been a while since they had a challenging job to do.
Gon followed Rin action and headed for the exit when Killua halted his footsteps.
"Huh, wait! Gon, you forgot your Hunter license!"
"Hold it for me!" He turned to face Killua before opening the entrance door. Just then, Rin head popped out of it and eyes searching for her friends.
"Guys! Hurry up, we have a lot to cover!"
With that, Gon and Rin left the building. Killua looked at his excited friend with a deadpanned look and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Guess I'll have to." He placed Gon's Hunter license in his pocket before running towards his friends who were waiting outside.
"Alright, here I go! ... Hey, wait up!"
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The Totoria District stretched before them like a great quilt of golden, brown and green squares held together by the thick green stitching of the hedgerows. Occasionally there was woods and hills that separated the fields, or river or even the town. The three of them could see their whole day mapped out before them, rambling through pastures and over stiles just to find the place that fits with the description of Leorio's ridiculous drawing.
"Is this the entire area of Totoria district?" Gon stood atop the rocky surface staring down at the entire green landscape outstretched before him.
"Yeah. Checking each place one by one will take at least a couple of days." Killua stepped beside him looking at the same view.
"Not if you have a bird's eye view." Rin let out a triumphant smirk while tilting her chin up.
"I should probably cover a lot more area by air. That way we can find the place in no time. What do you think?" She turned to look at her friends with a cheerful smile.
"Rin, that's a good idea! If you use your flight, then it's only the matter of time for us to find the place." Gon exclaimed.
"Wah, It's rare for you to come up with something useful," Killua snickered with his arms crossed.
"Excuse me? I'm sensing hidden message behind that. FYI I have contributed a lot of useful ideas." She gave him a pointed look.
"Oh yeah? like offering yourself to get your own bounty?" Killua gave her a taunting smirk.
The words he said was able to relive Rin's memory about the incident she had with the Phantom Troupe and even more so with the leader of the Troupe, Chrollo Lucifer who happens to be her long-lost adoptive brother. The memories only made her fumed in embarrassment as her cheeks were tainted red.
"God! Killua, it was ages ago! You still have a grudge on that?"
"Well, the memory is still crystal clear in my head." He smirked at her response.
"Then, I'll just have to bust your head off for you to make you forget about it." Rin started to crack her knuckles.
"By then you'll be missing me." He gave her yet another mocking smirk causing the black-haired girl to roll her eyes.
"Uh! You're so full of yourself."
Amidst they playful teases and remarks, Gon could only look at his two friends as they kept on sending those harsh words at each other. Although they may have sound hurtful sometimes, Gon knew it was their way to show their affections to one another. After all, Killua was not the type to be open about his feelings, teasing Rin is just one way to go.
Gon smiled at the thought before realizing why they were even there.
"Hey, I know the two of you kinda have a moment there but I think we should hurry."
Jerking their heads to Gon in perfect sync, Rin and Killua shouted.
"WE DO NOT!"
Gon chuckled in response. True, it was cute seeing them like that.
Gon turned his attention to the landscape before him and pointed to a specific location.
"I'll start with that town first."
"Alright, then I'll cover up that side." Killua pointed to the opposite direction from where Gon had pointed.
"And I'll be searching through the air," Rin clarified.
"That's decided. So, where we should meet up?" Killua questioned.
"Do you see the clock tower right at the center of that town?" Gon pointed to a town located northeast from where he was standing.
"Yeah."
"Why don't we meet there tonight at nine?" He suggested.
"Sounds good to me!"
"Roger that."
"Alright! Then, let the search begin!"
And so, the three of them split up heading to their own designated area. Gon and Killua went down the mountain path that winded ahead as effortlessly as a blanket laid on a bed while Rin leaped up the air and fly off to the sky.
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Gon ran through the list of places it could be in his mind, checking off the ones he had already searched. He gazed around the town as he situated himself at the tallest building he could find. As he sifted and sorted, his eyes were constantly on the look-out for any rocky mountain that might be part of the mountain ridge drawn by Leorio he was looking for.
But to no avail, he couldn't find any.
"Not here either."
A cacophony of applause and cheering caught Gon's attention as he searched for the source.
"Huh?"
There was a small crowd gathering under a monument as if they were distracted by a show. Wanting to know more about the situation Gon found himself heading towards the crowds sliding in between them to see what it was; turns out it was a puppet show.
Gon was truly fascinated by the movement of the puppet, Its movements flowed with a dazzling grace that took away the breath of every person in the audience. To be able to handle a puppet in such a way must've required an excellent puppeteer.
That's when Gon caught sight of the one handling the strings and his topaz eyes were entranced by the puppeteer who seemed to be around his age. His eyes were almost translucent, glossy, like the palest blue glass, too soft to be turquoise, too bright to be baby blue.
The puppet show ended up with the puppet clumsily fell to the ground and the juggling club fell on its head earning a burst of heartwarming laughter from the audience with a loud applaud.
"That was amazing!" Gon too clapped his hands as the show finally ended.
As the show had finally ended, people started to place coins inside a small basket provided by the young puppeteer. While they were at it, the blonde puppeteer bow in gratefulness along with his little puppet.
Then, there was a little girl with brown pigtail running towards the basket at placing the coins inside of it.
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome!" The girl smiled giddily before running back to her mother. In doing so, the little girl tripped in front of an overloaded horse carriage causing the horse to lift its hind legs off the ground threatening to kick.
"W-whoa! S-stop!" The rider panicked and the horse made a sharp turn.
The rope holding the load in place was severed and the barrels threatening to fall on the girl.
Paralyzed in fear, the little girl's terrorized feet refused to move and all her hands agreed to do was cover her frightened face.
"W-watch out!" The puppeteer held the girl in her arms before the barrels fall over them in a loud crash.
CRASH!
A cloud of dust scattered everywhere and the rider could only watch the scene with his mouth agape.
"Oh my..."
The mother of the little girl covered her mouth fearing of her child's doom. But as the cloud of dust subsided, they could see that the little girl was clutching on to the puppeteer's waist while the puppeteer himself couldn't process what just happened.
"You okay?" Gon asked as he kneeled beside him.
Luckily, Gon was in time to save both of them from the crash and the puppeteer was filled with gratitude.
"Th-Thanks!"
He then looked at the girl who was still clutching his waist tightly and when the little girl realized she was not in danger anymore, she stared at the puppeteer and they broke out in laughter.
"See you, mister!" The little girl waved goodbye before leaving Gon with the puppeteer.
"Wow, I'm really sorry about that, guys!" The rider of the horse carriage apologized.
"We're fine!"
Hearing that, the rider waved goodbye and left the vicinity.
Once everything had cleared up, the puppeteer turned to face Gon.
"I should give you a proper thank you... Thank you." He bowed.
"My name is Retz. I'm a puppeteer." He said offering a handshake which Gon was happy to return.
"I'm Gon! Your performance was amazing! It looked just like the puppet was alive!" He exclaimed.
For some odd reason, Retz was taken aback by Gon's statement and mutter a small thank you but his eyes never left Gon's.
"Th-Thanks..."
When he met his gaze, Gon felt drawn into his eyes. The blueness generated a feeling like he was being pulled into a lake of frozen emotions. It was like all the myriad shades of blue swirled together to form a whirlpool of apprehension. He could tell by his body language that the boy was hiding something and those flickering shadows in his azure orbs confirmed his thoughts.
"What's wrong?" Retz asked aware that Gon had been staring at him longer than a normal people would.
"Oh, nothing." Gon shrugged it off with a smile.
"You've got an interesting name, Gon," Retz said with the intent to start a conversation with the new boy he met.
"So do you, Retz."
"Oh, right. It's nice that both of our names are easy to remember." He replied amused by the fact.
"Yeah, both our names have only two characters!" They broke into a peal of laughter.
"Oh yeah, are you familiar with the area?" Gon questioned hoping this young puppeteer could help him with what he needs.
"Huh? Well, more or less." delighted by his answer, Gon started rummaging through his pocket.
"I'm looking for a certain place. Do you know this place?" With a bright smile, Gon revealed his drawing leaving the boy with his mouth ajar.
To say that his drawing was nice was totally out of the context.
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Killua POV
It was sunset. I watched with an unwavering gaze, as a fiery red orb of light slowly sank beneath the horizon, and threads of light lingered in the sky, mingling with the rolling clouds, dyeing the heavens first orange, then red, then dark blue, until all that was left of the sunset was a chalky mauve, and then that melted away in turn as stygian darkness took over the sky.
I found myself looking at a mountain ridge with a circular hole in it, unfortunately, it didn't really match the description Kurapika had given earlier today.
That thought made me sigh.
"Guess I'll call it a day and regroup with the others."
The streets that were once sleek new tarmac are now greyed by the bleaching of the sun. The road is a monochrome patchwork, each one lined with a shiny border of tar. The sidewalk for most of the part is still smooth concrete, albeit scattered with crowds even when the sun had finally set.
With my hands still in my pockets, my eyes searched the crowds in hopes I could find a spiky-haired boy or a glimpse of a bright red shirt when suddenly I heard my name being called by a familiar voice.
"Killua! Hey!"
Turning my head to the source of the voice, I finally saw her.
"Rin?"
Skipping a few steps towards me, she bent and clutched her knee in ragged breath indicating that she's been running around for a while now.
'Jeez, don't push yourself too hard.' I muttered in my mind as my eyes were still fixated on the panting girl.
"I've been looking everywhere for you." She beamed with a smile once she finally caught her breath.
"Why is that whenever we separate ways, you were always the one to find me first?" I cocked my eyebrow as I watched her.
"Well, duh~ If you haven't noticed your hair is freakin white. Not many young people have white hair if they're not old geezers." She crossed her arms with a mocking smile.
A cross-popped vein ticked on my forehead while the corner of my lips twitched.
"You're seriously trying to pick my nerves right now?"
Instead of shooting me with another remark, Rin somehow had something in mind as her body language intended to tell me something.
Her brain was probably tingling like a hand that's been sat on for too long. A smirk was playing at the corner of her lips with her eyes shining in anticipation, fingers fiddling together.
I chuckled at the sight.
'She's too easy to read.'
"Okay, what's up?" I crossed my arms staring at the girl in front of me intending to give all of my attention to her at the moment.
Happiness flowed through her, warming her skin like the rays of early summer sun. Her customary cautious grin exploded into a radiant smile allowing my steady phase heart to skip a beat.
"You know what, while I was searching in the air, I found a whole lot better place than we're searching for!"
"Really? You sure you're doing your job right?" I cocked my eyebrow, smiling at her words.
"Of course I am, who do you think I am anyway?" She crossed her arms fuming on the inside.
"Uh... Rin?" I teasingly thought of an answer before saying her name.
"Come on, just hear me out!" Her lower lip protruded in a sulky pout.
'How cute.'
"Okay, okay, so what about the place you found?" Raising both of my arms in defeat, I gave her a chance to say what's on her mind.
Smiling ever so delightfully, she began;
"I found a waterfall at the top of that mountain northwest from here. It has the perfect view of the Totoria district and what's more, there's a Cherry blossom tree!"
Her words stopped me in my train of thoughts.
"Uh... A cherry blossom tree growing here? You mean at the Totoria district?"
"It was just a single tree and it hasn't even bloomed yet. But I bet it will make a breathtaking view if it were to bloom. I wish the three of us could go there and just relax..." She let out a breath, smiling as her mind picturing the three of us sitting underneath the tree, relaxing like how we used to do.
"Sounds peaceful..."
While my eyes were still gazing at the black-haired girl, I caught sight of a familiar face a few meters behind her. That spiky haired boy was definitely Gon but something stopped me from the urge of calling him out.
Rin must've noticed my hesitation and decided to turn her head only to find Gon talking with a blonde-haired boy around our age.
"Who's that?"
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Love,
Pink.