Kosai smiled at him with the toxicity of a thousand snakes.
Killua bolted.
(●･̆⍛･̆●)
"Ladies and Gentlemen, congratulations on escaping Trick Tower."
All the passed participants had come outside from the waiting room once the time ran out. They were standing right in front of Lippo—the third examiner—as he introduced the next phase.
"Only the fourth and final phase are left. The fourth phase will begin over there,"
Lippo pointed over his shoulder, to an island behind him, "On Zevil Island. Let's proceed."
He snapped his fingers, and another man brought a cart forward. On top of the cart was a box.
"I need all of you to draw lots."
"Lots?"
"For what?"
"To determine who will hunt, and who will be hunted."
"There are twenty-four numbered cards in here. The numbers correspond with each participant's ID number." He explained, "Now, I need you each to draw a card, in the order in which you exited the tower."
"Will the first person come forward?"
Hisoka walked up to the box, while everyone stared at him.
'Woah~! So Hiso-kun...no, uh, Hisoka-san's the first one?'
Kosai looked on with sparkling eyes as Hisoka reached into the box and walked back to his original spot with a card now in his hands.
The next one walked up, and Kosai cocked her head sideways.
'Creepy purple needle guy was second?'
Then it was the Ninja.
Then it was the Archer.
And so on.
'There's no one going up?' Kosai looked around, 'Oh, it's my turn.'
She walked up to the box, reaching in and took out a random one, before walking back.
"Hey Killua."
"Huh?"
"He said something about hunting and being hunted, does that mean we'll be fighting each other?"
"Yeah, probably." Killua answered, as he passed Kosai on the way to get his own card.
Gon looked at Kosai, who was trying to balance her card on her nose.
She didn't seem to pay attention to where she was heading, as she bumped into another participant on the way, causing her card to drop to the ground.
The man she bumped into glared at her, before heading to the box to collect his own card.
Kosai rubbed her nose, "Owwie~"
She picked up her card, before trying to balance it again.
"Has everyone gotten a card?" Lippo called out, causing Kosai to drop her card again.
"All right, go ahead and remove the sticker."
Everyone did as they were told, while Kosai just looked around, confused. You could tell that she wasn't paying attention.
She did, however, get a peek at everyone's cards, and committed most of them to memory before squatting down to pick up her own.
She slowly peeled the sticker off of her card.
'Huh?'
She squinted at the card, and furrowed her brows.
'Oh! It's his!'
Lippo looked pleased, "That is your target."
He then placed a hand on the box they had all drawled cards from.
"This box has recorded all the cards you have drawn. That means that you're free to dispose of the cards if you wish."
"Your objective is to steal your target's ID badge."
"Oh, so we don't have to kill each other."
A few of the participants sighed out in relief.
"Naturally, you're free to use any method you choose to procure the ID badges. That includes killing your target and taking the badge at your leisure."
"Listen carefully!"
Lippo held up three fingers.
"Your target's ID badge is worth three points, and so is your own."
He took away two fingers.
"All other badges are worth one point."
He held up his other hand, indicating the number six.
"You need six total points to advance to the final stage."
"Do you understand?"
( ･᷄ㅂ･᷅ )
"I'd like to commend everyone on board for their excellent work during the third phase!"
"I will serve as your guide, my name is Khara! It will take two hours for this boat to reach Zevil Island. All twenty-four participants here have been granted an unconditional invitation to next year's exam!"
She winked.
"So if you fail this year, don't feel too bad. Please try...again...next year....."
There was no reaction from any of the participants, except for who raised her hand up at the now dispirited guide.
"Ne~ Ne~ Kha-chan! You have super pretty hair!"
"Y-Yeah, thanks..."
"Well...you're free to do whatever you want for the next two hours. Please enjoy the voyage!"
She waved her hand and quickly walked away.
( ु⁎ᴗ_ᴗ⁎)ु.｡oO
"Yo."
Killua walked up to Kosai and Gon and sat down right beside them.
They stared up into the sky.
"..."
"What number did you draw?"
"What about you?"
"It's a secret.."
Killua turned away while the other Gon nodded in understanding.
They didn't move.
Kosai and Nef—who had just woken up—stared at them, confused.
A second later they both giggled while Killua scratched the back of his neck.
"Don't worry. Neither of you are my targets."
"You're not mine either!"
Kosai grinned and nodded her head in agreement.
Killua looked back at them, "You wanna show them at the same time?"
"Okay!"
Kosai nodded again.
"Ready, and...!"
They all revealed their cards at the same time. Both Killua and Kosai's attention immediately went to Gon's card.
"Number 44 is..."
"Seriously?"
" 'Yer really unlucky, Gon-kun."
"No kidding."
"You guys think so?"
Gon then diverted his attention to the card Kosai held in her hand.
"Eh? Number 99? Isn't that Killua's?"
"What?"
Killua snapped his head to look Kosai's card.
"You said that you didn't have ours!"
Kosai raised an eyebrow, "I don't?"
Killua was about to retort, when she shoved the card into Killua's face.
" It's #66, not #99. See?" She pointed to the top of the card "The curve makes it totally obvious. The sixes are also way smaller than nines."
Killua sweat-dropped, "Sometimes, it's freaky how observant you are."
Kosai grinned, "I think it's mostly 'cuz I bumped into #66 earlier, I saw his badge super up close."
"Right..." Killua held up his card, "Do either of you know who #199 is?"
"No..." Gon shook his head.
"Ooh! Number 199? He's one of those three weird eye makeup brothers! Don't worry 'bout finding him though, one of his brothers—#198, I think?—got ya' as his target!"
Killua looked seriously freaked out, "Did you seriously remember everyone's numbers?"
Kosai smile got wider, and puffed her chest out, before giving one large nod.
"That's amazing, Kosai!"
"That's creepy, Kosai!"
The boys had mixed reactions.
⁞ ✪ ⌂ ✪ ⁞
"Thank you for your patience, everyone!" Khara exclaimed, "We've finally arrived at Zevil Island!"
"Now please disembark in the order by which you cleared the third phase."
She held up a timer.
"You will disembark one at a time in two minute intervals. You will stay on this island for exactly one week. During that time, you must collect your six points and return to this location!"
She raised her hand up, "With that said, the first person may now depart!"
Beep!
She started the timer and Hisoka made his way into the woods
"Two minutes have passed! The second person may begin."
"The third person may begin!"
"The seventh person..."
"The eleventh..."
"The fifteenth..."
"The eighteenth person may begin!"
"Cya! Killu-kun! Gon-kun!"
She skipped into the forest of trees with Nef in hand.
( ˵ ◐ ︿ ◐ ˵ )
"Looks like it's just you and me again, Nef!~"
Kosai looked over-joyed and was hopping through the branches of various trees to reach the highest one.
Nef, on the other hand, didn't look quite as happy. He eyes were squeezed shut because of the wind from the speed they were traveling.
"Technically, we could just wait at the entrance for that #66 guy, and follow him..."
Kosai finally stopped at a branch she had determined was high enough in the sky, and brushed a few smaller branches out of the way, getting a full view of the entire island.
"...but killing him sounds easy enough, we gotta find a source o' water, first. Right, Nef?"
She turned to the fox in her arms.
It nodded, and she beamed.
She used a hand to prevent the sun from getting in her eyes, and looked around.
Kosai nodded to herself, confident in being able to remember the bodies of water around the map. She then jumped off from the branch — much to Nef's horror.
"Woo!~"
She walked out a bush with dirt all over her face. Twigs were stuck in her hair, making it look even more like a bird's nest than before.
"That was fun! Let's do it again!"
Nef vigorously shook his head.
She did it again.
▐ " ⊗ ﹏ ⊗ "▐
'Step one, determine my target.'
A male with black hair repeated to himself as he strolled through the forest, occasionally pushing a few vines out of the way.
"#138, completed. Step two, determine my hunter.'
He stopped near a stream, cupping his hand together and drinking for it. He wasn't thirsty, but it was good to be prepared if he ended up with no water for a few days.
'Still in progress. Step three, place counter-measures against my hunter—killing them is preferable .'
He continued walking back into the forest, making sure to move in a different direction than where he had come.
'Not started. Step four, determine location of target.'
He suddenly jumped up, intending to search for his target from above.
He was about to leap onto another branch, when he was met with bright golden eyes. The little girl who had bumped into him earlier, he recalled.
The girl was upside-down, dangling on a branch above him.
"Wah~ 'Yer that Number 66 guy!~ Nef's directions really are the best!"
Her words alarmed the male, as he jumped back onto the ground, placing distance between him and the young girl.
'Her words indicate she has been searching for me. One known accomplice by the name of Nef has been helping her. Two possibilities. One, she is my hunter. Two, she is my target, saw my card, and want to kill me before I can kill her.'
His eyes trailed back to the young girl. She was dangling back and forth on the branch, waiting for his reaction. He looked over to the tag still attached to her black long-sleeved shirt, turning his head a little to read the upside-down numbers.
'Not #138, my target. Possibility one, confirmed.'
He got into a fighting stance, eyes glinting with determination.
'Step two, determine my hunter. #151. Completed.'
~~~~~~~
Kosai no longer has a sweater over the black shirt. It got ruined last chapter.
Kosai's Fun Fact of The Day
Kosai's memory is so goof, she has been accused of having a photographic memory multiple times. However, for something she doesn't have interest in, she'll forget about it with in the next minute.
So, since she doesn't have much interest in memory test, she's always been terrible at those. A lot of the examiners thinks she fakes it, since she once memorized the first 100 digits of pi within seconds.
(That was only because she had heard a song about it.)
Published: 7/28/20
Edited: -/-/-