[Hunter x Hunter] Scamming My Way to the Top

[Boumargood]

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Chapter 45: Twenty-Eight Possibilities

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​

Lippo gave Tonpa no time to count the ways the next phase might kill him.

The examiner finished congratulating them, closed the file, and tucked it beneath his arm.

"Follow me. It's time to explain the Fourth Phase."

The applicants moved after him, some with an enthusiasm Tonpa could not understand and others with the caution of people about to open a box of unknown contents. He rose more slowly than the rest. His side immediately protested, and he had to suppress a groan as his ribs shifted beneath the bandages.

Leorio passed beside him, dragging his feet.

"If the Fourth Phase involves another staircase, I'm withdrawing."

Killua spoke from ahead of them.

"I think you'll collapse before you get the chance to withdraw."

Leorio launched into an angry protest, but Tonpa did not join them. He was too preoccupied with the passage Lippo was leading them through. He recognized neither its turns nor the metal door at its end, nor anything else happening around them.

In the anime, the story had moved straight to the explanation of the Fourth Phase with suspicious ease. He had never watched the applicants walk through this corridor, nor learned how far the final chamber was from the tower's exit. Those details had not mattered to someone sitting safely behind a screen.

Now that he was trapped inside Tonpa's body, every minute he could not remember had become a convenient place for disaster to occur.

'Wonderful. I've entered the scenes the camera didn't consider important. I hope my death isn't one of them.'

Lippo opened the door. Daylight flooded the passage and forced Tonpa to narrow his eyes. They emerged into a stone courtyard at the base of the tower, where the wind carried the scent of salt and a faint chill that cleared the stale air of the corridors from their clothes.

An island stood in the distance, a mass of green surrounded by water on every side.

Lippo stopped near the edge of the courtyard and pointed toward it.

"Only two phases remain. The Fourth Phase will take place on Zevil Island."

The applicants turned toward the island. Gon raised a hand above his eyes and tried to make out its details, while Kurapika studied the distance separating it from the shore. Tonpa did not need an explanation to know what awaited them there.

Seven days of hunting, stealing Badges, and sleeping in a forest occupied by Hisoka and Illumi.

He would have preferred the island to remain a little farther away.

One of the Hunter Association officials moved from the side of the courtyard, pushing a small wheeled cart. A broad black box rested upon it, with an opening in its lid large enough for a single hand.

It did not look threatening.

That did nothing to stop Tonpa's stomach from tightening.

The draw.

The applicants formed a semicircle around the cart. Gon stood near Tonpa, staring at the box with open curiosity, while Killua leaned slightly to one side in an attempt to see inside it.

Kurapika remained still, but his eyes moved between Lippo and the other applicants as though he had already begun analyzing the rules before hearing them. Leorio regarded the cart as though it were personally responsible for his injuries.

Lippo rested one hand upon the box.

"We will use this draw to determine the hunters and their prey."

The surrounding whispers faded.

"Inside this box are twenty-eight numbered cards. They bear the same numbers as the Badges you received at the beginning of the Hunter Exam, and each of you will select one."

Lippo gestured toward the applicants before him.

"You will draw in the order that you reached the bottom of Trick Tower."

His eyes then moved to Tonpa and his companions.

"As for you five, your arrival was registered as a single group. You will draw last, and I will call you in order."

Twenty-eight cards.

In the future Tonpa remembered, the box should have contained only twenty-four. The course of events had not merely allowed four additional applicants to survive; it had altered the draw itself to make room for them.

It was as though the future had not only opened its doors to unexpected guests, but also set out extra seats before they arrived.

'Excellent service. I hope it prepared targets other than me for them as well.'

Gon raised his hand.

"How will the card decide who hunts whom?"

Lippo's eyes settled upon him behind the red lenses.

"You will learn what the number means once everyone has finished drawing."

Gon lowered his hand but continued watching the box, trying to guess the answer.

Leorio released a long breath.

"Wonderful. We survived the tower together, and now they're going to make us hunt one another."

Tonpa said:

"At least we won't have to vote."

Leorio looked at him for a moment, then folded his arms before the pain forced him to lower them again.

"That's the first advantage I've heard since we entered that route."

Tonpa did not need the rest of the explanation to understand what the cards meant. The applicant whose Badge matched the number drawn would become the drawer's target on the island, and somewhere inside the box was a card bearing the number sixteen.

His number.

He studied the Badges worn by the applicants around him. The numbers he knew surfaced in his mind one after another: Gon was 405, Kurapika 404, Leorio 403, and Killua 99.

Hisoka was 44.

Gittarackur—the needle-faced man Tonpa knew was merely Illumi Zoldyck in disguise—wore number 301.

Tonpa tried to recall the remaining numbers and received only a mixture of faces and brief scenes. He remembered Hanzo, Pokkle, and Ponzu, along with several applicants who would disappear from the story before the anime gave him any reason to memorize their names.

As for the four additional survivors, he knew only one troubling fact about them: they were not supposed to be standing here.

'Twenty-eight cards. That means my chance of drawing Hisoka is less than four percent.'

The number reassured him for exactly one second.

Then he imagined his fingers turning over the card to find forty-four waiting on its face. He imagined tracking Hisoka through the island's forest and reaching for a Badge attached to the chest of a man capable of killing him with a playing card.

His fingers trembled, and he closed them around the edge of his jacket.

'And there's more than a ninety-six percent chance I won't draw him. Let's focus on the statistic that doesn't end with my corpse.'

The danger did not lie solely in the card Tonpa would draw. Someone present would draw number sixteen, and Tonpa would have no idea who it was.

It might be a weak applicant he could handle, one of the four unfamiliar survivors, or someone the draw decided to reward with an easy target by sending Hisoka after him.

Tonpa retreated half a step until Gon stood between him and the magician. It offered no real protection, but it improved the picture aesthetically.

Killua noticed the movement.

"Are you trying to hide again?"

"I'm choosing a position that lets me observe everyone."

Killua looked at Gon's back, which concealed half of Tonpa, then said:

"A true expert's position."

Before Tonpa could answer, Lippo raised his hand toward the first applicant to arrive.

"Hisoka. You're first."

The magician pushed away from the wall. The few conversations still lingering around the courtyard stopped, and the applicants parted before him without needing to be asked.

Hisoka approached the cart and slipped one hand into the box. He stirred the cards for several seconds, then withdrew one and turned it between two fingers.

He read the number.

His smile did not change, but his eyes rose slowly and traveled across the assembled applicants.

The muscles in Tonpa's back tightened when the gaze neared him, only for it to continue past as though it had found nothing worth stopping for.

'Either he didn't draw my number, or he did and has already started enjoying the idea. How reassuring.'

Hisoka stepped away, and Gittarackur approached after him. His hand disappeared into the box before emerging with a card. He examined it without a single change passing over his needle-distorted face.

Tonpa had been unable to read that face before the draw, and the card did not grant him a sudden miracle.

A third applicant followed, then a fourth.

Every hand that vanished into the box had a chance of emerging with number sixteen.

Tonpa stood among his companions and watched the applicants' faces after every draw, trying to distinguish relief from fear—or from a sudden interest in his direction.

He could not tell which of them had drawn his number.

For the first time, he was not merely waiting to learn the identity of his prey.

He was waiting to discover which one of them had become his hunter.



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Chapter 46 drops in two hours as a bonus chapter! Thank you all for reading and supporting the story. Enjoy!

Want to keep reading?

Advance chapters (up to 12 ahead) are available here:

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[Boumargood]

Thanks for the story, it's enjoyable.
My one real criticism is the dialogue between the characters often consists of a short series of bland witticisms. Very often each person uses less then five words per line. They are not particularly witty or funny and half feel like they just exist to have someone talking.
If not for this I'd be enjoying it a lot more.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate the honest feedback. I see what you mean about the short back-and-forth dialogue. I'll pay more attention to it and work on making future conversations feel more natural and purposeful. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

[Kazumaa23]

I just noticed but this fic has a Chinese webnovel feel to it with how much you repeat the same thing in different ways just to pad the word count.

 

[Boumargood]

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Chapter 46: A Useful Divergence

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​

Hands continued disappearing into the box and emerging again.

Each time an applicant stepped away from the cart with a card partially concealed between his fingers, Tonpa's eyes moved to his face, then to the direction of his gaze, then back to the Badge pinned to his chest.

He was waiting for one thing.

A glance that lingered too long on number sixteen. A sudden change in posture. A smile that did not belong.

Anything.

He found nothing.

Some applicants left the cart with expressions that were suspiciously rigid, while others avoided looking at the crowd altogether. A few did not even bother pretending. The moment they hid their cards, their eyes began moving from one Badge to another.

Those people, at least, were comforting.

Idiots were easier to read.

Unfortunately, whoever had drawn the card bearing number sixteen was under no obligation to be an idiot.

A stab of pain pulsed beneath Tonpa's ribs, and he shifted his weight to the other leg.

It did not go away.

Food, rest, and fresh bandages had made it possible for him to walk without leaning on Gon, but they had not erased what the prisoner had done to him. The longer he stood still, the more the dull ache in his side began to throb again.

Another applicant stepped away from the cart.

Then another.

Each card removed from the box reduced the number remaining without giving Tonpa any better idea where his own number had gone.

Quite the opposite.

With every passing draw, it became more likely that the person holding sixteen had already finished and returned to the crowd.

'Wonderful. My hunter may already be standing in front of me, and I'm giving everyone equal attention so I don't discriminate.'

Tonpa and his companions had been the last to reach the bottom of Trick Tower, so they remained where they were while the line in front of the cart steadily disappeared.

The space around the box widened.

Then Lippo raised his head.

"Gon."

Tonpa's attention snapped away from the other applicants.

Gon stepped forward.

The open curiosity he had shown before the draw was gone, replaced by quiet concentration. He paused in front of the cart, then slipped one hand into the box.

Tonpa watched him more closely than he had watched anyone else.

'Originally, he drew forty-four.'

His eyes shifted toward Hisoka.

The magician stood some distance away, idly turning his card between his fingers as though the number written on it deserved no more than a few seconds of thought.

It was not a reassuring sight.

Hisoka could look that relaxed while considering how to kill someone.

Tonpa looked back at Gon.

Part of him wanted the boy to draw forty-four again.

His jaw tightened slightly.

A grown man hoping that a twelve-year-old boy would become Hisoka's target.

When he phrased it that way, it sounded terrible even by his standards.

But he was not wishing for Gon's death. He was clinging to the only version of the future in which he knew Gon survived. A different card could send the boy after someone Tonpa did not remember, or into an event he had never seen.

'It's not cruelty.'

He paused.

'It's confidence in the only version where I know he doesn't die.'

The revised wording did not help much.

Gon withdrew his card and shielded its face with both hands before looking at it.

His eyes widened slightly.

Then the reaction vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

He slipped the card into his pocket and returned without looking at Hisoka—or anyone else.

Tonpa followed him with his eyes until he stopped beside them.

Nothing.

'Either canon survived... or Gon suddenly learned how to keep a secret.'

Lippo's voice came again a few moments later.

"Killua."

Killua walked toward the cart with a lightness that made Tonpa watch him for a moment.

After everything the boy had endured inside the tower, he still moved as though injuries were a problem that only happened to other people.

Killua reached into the box and withdrew a card quickly.

He read the number once.

Nothing changed on his face, though his thumb paused against the edge of the card for a fraction of a second before he hid it.

When he returned, Leorio leaned toward him.

"Did you get someone you know?"

Killua looked at him.

"Maybe."

Leorio frowned.

"What does maybe mean? The number is right there."

A small smile appeared on Killua's face.

"It means I'm not telling you."

Leorio opened his mouth, but Lippo called Kurapika's name.

Tonpa's stomach tightened.

Kurapika.

In the events Tonpa remembered, Kurapika had drawn number sixteen.

Tonpa's number.

Kurapika approached the cart with his usual calm.

When Tonpa had watched this draw from behind a screen, it had been little more than a convenient coincidence that arranged the hunts of the Fourth Phase.

Now he was watching the hand of a man who still doubted a large portion of what Tonpa told him disappear into a box that might contain the number officially turning Tonpa into his prey.

The card came out.

Kurapika exposed just enough of the number to read it himself.

His expression did not change.

A moment later, his eyes rose and moved across the crowd.

They passed near Tonpa.

Or over him.

He could not tell.

His shoulders stiffened before he forced them to relax.

Kurapika concealed the card and returned.

'Excellent.'

Tonpa knew exactly as much as he had known a minute ago.

The card bearing number sixteen might be with Kurapika.

Or it might not.

Trying to read that man from his face was an exceptionally slow method of wasting time.

Leorio's turn came next.

At least Leorio did not suffer from the same problem.

The instant he saw his number, his brows drew together.

He looked at the card a second time, then tightened his fingers around it as though whoever owned that number had personally offended him.

Tonpa watched him return.

Originally, Leorio had been Tonpa's target.

Four hundred and three.

Tonpa looked at the scowl that had appeared on the man's face from merely seeing a number.

'And I was supposed to steal his Badge later.'

He paused.

'Yes. I'm sure that would have ended in a calm and mature conversation.'

His gaze moved to the bandage wrapped around Leorio's head and the exhausted way he carried himself.

Practically speaking, he would not have been the worst target in the courtyard.

As for their relationship...

'Stealing his Badge would be an excellent way to turn fifteen percent Trust into a sincere desire to kill me.'

Leorio rejoined the group.

Gon started to speak.

"After the draw, we can—"

Killua interrupted him.

"After the draw."

Gon fell silent.

Leorio eyed their pockets suspiciously, while Kurapika remained still, his gaze shifting between the cart and the applicants without giving Tonpa a single useful piece of information for free.

Then Lippo raised his head.

"Tonpa."

His thoughts stopped immediately.

'All right. Time to stop observing everyone else's problems.'

His eyes settled on the box.

'Now I get to buy one of my own.'

He moved toward the cart.

Several gazes passed over him as he walked. He could not tell whether they were simple curiosity or whether one belonged to the person who had drawn the card bearing number sixteen.

He did not turn to search.

If his hunter was intelligent, he would not reveal himself now.

And if he was an idiot, he had seven full days to prove it.

Tonpa stopped in front of the box and looked at the dark opening in its lid.

Then something obvious finally pushed through the tension clouding his thoughts.

Twenty-seven people had gone before him.

He was last.

Only one card remained.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

'They even took away the illusion of choice.'

Tonpa slipped his hand into the box.

His fingers moved along the bottom until they touched the edge of the only card left.

He took it and withdrew his hand, keeping the number covered beneath his palm.

His fingers hesitated.

He knew waiting would not change what was written there, but that did nothing to stop his mind from presenting the worst possibilities one after another.

Hisoka.

Illumi.

Someone he didn't remember who would later turn out to be even worse for some ridiculous reason.

'Let's see what kind of disaster they saved for me.'

He shifted his thumb aside.

The first digit appeared.

Then the second.

His eyes fixed on the final covered space.

He moved his thumb a little farther.

Tonpa remained still for a moment.

Then he read the number again to make sure.

Three hundred and three.

His eyes remained fixed on the number.

At least he had not drawn sixteen himself.

The thought stopped him.

'Actually... what would they do if that happened? Would I become both my hunter and my prey?'

A trace of amusement crossed his face.

'I'd demand all six points for not robbing myself.'

The thought remained amusing for another second before the number in front of him pulled his attention back to the real problem.

Not the number he had expected.

Some of the tension drained from his shoulders.

'Good.'

For the moment, that was enough.

'No deranged magician. No professional assassin in disguise. For once, the result isn't the worst one available.'

But the relief shrank when he lifted his eyes from the card.

If he was holding 303, then someone among the applicants in front of him had already drawn sixteen.

Twenty-seven faces.

And Tonpa had no real reason to rule any of them out.

'Excellent. I know my prey, and I still have no idea who my hunter is.'

His eyes moved across the crowd for a moment before he stopped himself.

Anyone with enough sense to draw sixteen and keep quiet was not going to answer Tonpa's question by staring at him.

He looked down at the card again.

He clearly remembered that his original target should have been 403.

Leorio.

Tonpa raised the card slightly, then lowered it.

'So even this changed.'

The divergences were no longer just a few additional people standing in the background.

They were beginning to reach events Tonpa had personally relied upon.

'Four extra survivors were annoying.'

His gaze settled on 303.

'But when the future starts changing what's in my own hand... that's a problem.'

He raised his head and began searching through the Badges.

He found the applicant wearing Badge 303 near the edge of the gathering.

The number was pinned to the chest of a man Tonpa couldn't tell whether he remembered from the original events or not.

He studied him for several seconds.

Average build. Standing away from the larger groups. Feet planted steadily, hands resting loosely at his sides.

Tonpa's eyes narrowed slightly.

He might be one of the four additional applicants who were never supposed to reach this stage.

Or he might simply be someone who had appeared in the anime background for a few seconds and given Tonpa's memory no reason to preserve his face.

After his failed attempt to identify the extra survivors inside the tower, Tonpa was not prepared to pretend he knew the difference.

He continued watching the man.

There was none of the cold stillness he associated with Hanzo, nor the unpleasant sensation that made Tonpa's body begin searching for exits whenever Hisoka came too close.

But the man had reached the Fourth Phase.

That alone was enough reason not to assume he was weak.

An unknown target, but not an obvious disaster so far.

Tonpa hid the card inside his clothes and returned to his companions.

Killua needed only one look.

"You look happy."

Tonpa settled his expression.

"I'm happy the draw is over."

Killua's eyes dropped briefly toward the place where Tonpa had hidden the card, then returned to his face.

"Of course."

Tonpa did not like the way he said it.

Leorio spoke next.

"You got a good number, didn't you?"

Tonpa raised an eyebrow.

"I got a number that doesn't make me regret it immediately. That's all I know so far."

His eyes drifted despite himself toward the edge of the courtyard.

The applicant wearing Badge 303 was still there.

Tonpa watched his posture for another moment, then looked away before his interest became obvious.

His body was no longer the one he had entered the exam with. He was stronger and faster now, but he had learned painfully that numbers alone did not tell him who knew how to fight and who did not.

The prisoner had made that lesson quite clear.

'This time, I'll try not to learn it with my face.'

The divergence had not suddenly become a blessing.

Four additional applicants were still here.

His draw had changed.

And whoever had drawn the card bearing number sixteen remained unknown—and might be far more dangerous than the applicant wearing Badge 303.

But for once, the change had not left him with only a problem.

It had left him with something he could work with.

Tonpa fixed his gaze on the applicant wearing Badge 303 one last time.

He memorized the man's face, his stance, and his position near the edge of the courtyard.

Then he looked away as though the man had never caught his attention at all.

The card bearing 303 remained hidden inside his clothes.

As for the card bearing number sixteen...

It was hidden somewhere among the other twenty-seven applicants.

And somehow, his new target was no longer what worried him most about the Fourth Phase.



_______________________________

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[Boumargood]

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •

Chapter 47: Things That Don't Change

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •
​

Tonpa remained beside his companions, the card bearing 303 hidden inside his clothes.

A few moments later, Lippo placed a hand over the box.

The draw was over.

Nothing in the courtyard had visibly changed, yet the atmosphere felt heavier. Minutes ago, every one of them had simply been an applicant trying to survive the Hunter Exam. Now each of them had prey, and Tonpa himself had become a number in someone else's hand.

He swept his gaze across the faces only once.

Hisoka idly turned his card between his fingers, as though the number he had drawn meant nothing. The needle-faced man stood not far from him, perfectly still, his expression difficult to read even before the needles had rearranged his face. Hanzo had already hidden his card and folded his arms without sparing anyone a glance.

Three faces.

Not a single clue.

'I might not find out who drew my number until my Badge disappears. Or my neck along with it.'

His mouth went slightly dry.

A moment ago, 303 had seemed like the only good thing to come out of the draw. Now he remembered that having a target who did not look like an immediate disaster would mean very little if the person hunting him happened to be one of the worst people here.

Worse, whoever had drawn sixteen had no reason to look at him at all.

A smart hunter memorized his prey, then acted as though it did not exist.

Among the other twenty-seven applicants, far too many were capable of doing exactly that for Tonpa to feel reassured.

Lippo raised a hand, and the murmurs spreading through the courtyard died down.

"The number each of you drew corresponds to your target in the Fourth Phase."

The explanation did not surprise Tonpa, but several faces around him tightened. Somehow, hearing the word "target" spoken in that official tone made the little cards feel heavier than they had a moment earlier.

Lippo continued.

"You will be taken to Zevil Island, where you will remain for seven days. Your Target Badge is worth three points, and keeping your own Badge is worth another three. Any Badge that belongs to neither category is worth one point."

He raised five fingers on one hand and one on the other.

"You need six points to pass the phase. How you obtain them is none of our concern."

As Lippo lowered his hands, Tonpa's mind went straight to the numbers.

His target's Badge and his own would give him the full six points.

In the best case, he only needed his target's Badge. After that, he could stop hunting anyone else and spend the remaining days protecting his own while staying away from the three people whose intentions he had no desire to test.

If he lost his own Badge, however, the entire calculation changed. He would need his Target Badge and three additional Badges worth one point each.

As long as he kept his own Badge, the math was simple. Lose it, and the phase turned into seven days of chasing people who already had no shortage of reasons to dislike him.

'Add points and rules to theft, and suddenly it becomes an official exam.'

Beside him, Leorio touched the spot where his Badge was without thinking, then quickly moved his hand away when he noticed Killua watching.

One corner of Killua's mouth rose.

Leorio scowled as though the boy had personally invented the rules just to annoy him.

Lippo spoke again.

"A ship is waiting for you at the coast. Follow the marked route. The remaining details will be explained before you reach the island."

The examiner moved first, and the applicants followed in an uneven line.

Tonpa walked between Gon and Kurapika. The same group that had barely stopped arguing in the dining room now walked in a silence that made the sound of their footsteps uncomfortably clear.

Gon opened his mouth, then closed it when his eyes met Killua's.

Kurapika kept track of anyone who came too close, while Leorio touched the spot where he had hidden his card every few steps, pretending to adjust his coat.

Leorio was the first to lose patience with the silence.

"Are we going to walk the whole way like this?"

Killua answered.

"You can tell us your number if the silence bothers you."

Leorio pulled his coat tighter.

"I like silence. Silence is excellent."

Gon smiled, while Tonpa turned his face slightly to hide his own.

'Touching. It took the prisoner hours to bring us together, and the box needed one minute to make all of us guard our pockets.'

Tonpa was no better.

The card bearing 303 remained hidden inside his clothes, and he had no intention of sharing it even with Gon. Trust was a beautiful thing, but three points were prettier, and the System had yet to announce any reward for collective stupidity.

They smelled the salt before they saw the sea.

The path opened between the rocks, revealing a ship waiting beside a short pier. The wind drove cold spray into Tonpa's face, and a sharp twinge ran through his injured side beneath the bandages.

He climbed the gangplank carefully.

Killua moved ahead of the others, then jumped onto the deck instead of simply finishing the walk up the plank.

Tonpa stared at his back.

'There was an easier way.'

He paused.

'Which is exactly why he didn't use it.'

Tonpa continued carefully up the gangplank until he reached the deck, then chose a place near the middle of the ship—far enough from the edge to reduce his chances of falling, and far enough from Hisoka to reduce his chances of being shoved overboard.

Gon and Killua did not move far away. They stopped beside the nearby railing, and a few moments later Gon's voice reached him clearly.

"Killua... you didn't draw my number, right?"

Killua leaned slightly toward him.

"No. Did you draw mine?"

Gon quickly shook his head.

The tension between them vanished almost immediately. Then each of them drew out his card just far enough for the other to see, without revealing the number to anyone else on deck.

Killua's smile disappeared for a moment as he read Gon's number.

Then he looked back at him.

"Your luck really is awful."

Gon hid the card again, but the excitement in his eyes looked nothing like fear.

He leaned a little closer to Killua.

"What about you?"

Killua hid his own card and shrugged.

"I don't know who the number belongs to."

"Then... good luck."

Killua smiled.

"You're the one who needs it more."

Tonpa remained still as a single thought slowly surfaced.

'Gon's excited... and Killua says his luck is bad.'

He looked at Gon for a moment.

'In the original story...'

He paused.

'Forty-four.'

If his guess was right, Gon had drawn the card bearing Hisoka's number, just as he had in the story Tonpa remembered.

The exchange had not been identical. Even where they stood was different. The number of survivors had changed too.

Yet the result seemed to have found its way back into place despite everything that had changed.

Tonpa slipped a hand inside his clothes until his fingers touched the card bearing 303.

He had not drawn Leorio this time.

Four additional applicants had emerged from Trick Tower.

Even his target's number was one he had never expected to draw.

As for Kurapika, Tonpa still had no idea what he had drawn.

And yet it looked as though Hisoka's number had ended up in Gon's hand again.

Tonpa looked toward the widening wake behind the ship and felt some of his earlier relief fade.

'Why do some events change whenever I get involved, while others find their way back into place?'

The future no longer seemed like a road he had simply strayed from.

It was beginning to look more like a web. Some threads shifted whenever he passed through them, while other knots remained fixed no matter what changed around them.

But that was only a theory.

No blue window appeared to confirm it. The System offered no free explanation, and Tonpa was not stupid enough to turn a comforting idea into a rule simply because it sounded clever inside his head.

His fingers tightened around the card.

Maybe there were no fixed knots at all.

Maybe, if his guess was right, Gon drawing forty-four again was nothing more than a coincidence.

Or perhaps some events simply required larger changes before they moved off course.

None of those possibilities helped.

All Tonpa knew was that he could no longer rely on the future he remembered, but neither had it dissolved into complete chaos.

Some things had changed.

Others had not.

'It's like walking through a room full of fragile things. I don't touch anything on purpose, and somehow I still hear something break behind me every few steps.'

That was, in its own way, more disturbing than either alternative.

Tonpa fixed his eyes on the wake stretching behind the ship.

A more unsettling question surfaced.

Did some events simply find their way back into place, no matter how much the road leading to them changed?



_______________________________

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[Boumargood]

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •

Chapter 48: The Cheapest Sacrifice

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •
​

The question lingered in Tonpa's mind until the coastline disappeared behind them.

The deck shifted beneath his feet with every wave, while his fingers kept brushing the card inside his pocket to make sure the number 303 had not changed. It was ridiculous. Ink did not rewrite itself, and the System had not yet reached the point of replacing his target with Hisoka halfway through the voyage.

Even so, he did not take the card out to check.

Some fears were better left folded away.

The applicants had scattered across the deck in small groups, keeping their distance from one another. No one spoke loudly anymore. Whenever someone moved, eyes followed them, then looked away before they could be noticed.

'An hour ago, we were congratulating each other for surviving. Now everyone's trying to figure out who they're going to rob first.'

The thought was not quite as funny as he wanted it to be. Every quick glance around him confirmed that the others had reached the same conclusion in their own way.

After a while, Tonpa grew tired of watching people pretend they were not watching one another and leaned back against the cabin wall.

As the voyage wore on, the pain in his shoulder took the opportunity to remind him it was still there. He watched the sea instead of the other applicants, trying not to seem interested in anyone—especially now that he had realized whoever had drawn number sixteen might be smart enough not to look at him at all.

A short, fair-haired attendant stepped out of the cabin, a clipboard in one hand and a small microphone clipped near her collar.

She waited until most of the applicants had turned toward her.

"Before we arrive, there is one final detail regarding disembarkation."

What little conversation remained died down.

"You will leave the ship in the order in which you reached the bottom of Trick Tower. Applicants will disembark at two-minute intervals."

Something heavy settled in Tonpa's stomach.

He knew the rule.

He simply had not thought about it while his only concern had been getting out of the tower alive.

His group had been the last to reach the bottom.

'Wonderful. Even succeeding came with a late fee.'

He kept his objection to himself. He still wanted to know what would happen to the five of them, since they had arrived together.

As though answering his question, the attendant continued.

"If multiple applicants reached the bottom at the same time, their order will be determined when they disembark."

Then she returned to the cabin, leaving behind a silence slightly heavier than before.

Tonpa turned back toward the sea.

Those who left first would have time to get away, find a suitable position, and perhaps even watch the people arriving after them.

As for him and his companions...

Together, they had managed to finish last.

Now they were paying for it together.

No one announced the island when it first appeared.

It began as a dark line dividing the blue sea from the sky, with trees gradually rising above it. Dense forest covered most of the land, tangled so tightly that the shadows beneath it looked like one long entrance to somewhere Tonpa had no desire to explore. Along the nearest stretch of coast lay a narrow gray beach broken by black rocks glistening with seawater.

Without realizing it, Tonpa pushed himself away from the wall.

He would spend an entire week there.

Seven days to take the Badge of a man he knew almost nothing about, protect his own from an unknown pursuer, and avoid Hisoka, Illumi, and Hanzo.

'A relaxing vacation. All that's missing is a request to rate the service when we leave.'

He remained standing as the shoreline drew closer. The island was no longer a distant shape whose danger could be reduced to a joke. The rocks became clearer, the trees taller, and the shadows beneath them deeper.

Then the sound of the engine beneath his feet grew quieter, and the ship began turning toward a small bay.

The scrape of the anchor against metal rang out, and the same attendant emerged from the cabin again.

She raised her clipboard.

"This is Zevil Island, the site of the Fourth Phase."

Tonpa's gaze moved from the beach to the trees. There were no buildings, no fences, and no safe place to hide. Apparently, the Hunter Association had chosen the island according to a simple standard: the harder it was to find the body, the better the exam site.

The attendant turned a page on her clipboard.

"Disembarkation will begin now. How you use your time is up to you."

She glanced down at the list.

"The first applicant may disembark."

Hisoka moved.

His footsteps crossed the wooden deck with the calm of someone who knew the entire island would be within his reach whenever he wanted. At the gangway, he turned his head slightly toward the remaining applicants.

Tonpa stopped breathing for a moment.

'Damn it. I haven't even set foot on the island yet. Don't start the exam with me.'

He forced himself not to move his head. The last thing he needed was to look like a terrified man trying to check whether Hisoka was watching him.

The magician's gaze passed over the group without stopping on him... or at least, that was how Tonpa chose to interpret it.

Hisoka crossed onto the beach and disappeared into the trees without a single branch making an audible sound.

The two-minute interval began.

It was not long, but Tonpa felt every second granting Hisoka a little more distance between himself and anyone with common sense.

When the time was up, the man with the needles was next.

Illumi walked with the same stiff gait, his distorted face turned toward the island. He looked neither left nor right, giving Tonpa no clue whether he was carrying the card bearing number sixteen.

'One makes sure you know he's dangerous. The other doesn't even need to try.'

Tonpa could think of nothing to add to that, even inside his own head.

Illumi vanished among the trees, and the silent two-minute countdown began again.

When it ended, Hanzo's turn came.

The moment his feet touched the beach, he shot toward the trees, moving so fast that the advantage enjoyed by the first three applicants began to feel less like a head start and more like the island being cleared for them.

The attendant continued calling applicants forward.

With every departure, the deck grew emptier. Some applicants ran the moment they reached the beach. Others walked to hide their urgency. Tonpa tried to memorize their routes, then realized that half of them had deliberately changed direction near the trees.

Everyone was lying—even with their feet.

After a wait that felt longer than the voyage itself, only Tonpa, Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio remained near the gangway.

The attendant looked at her clipboard, then at them.

"You reached the bottom of the tower at the same time, so none of you arrived before the others. Decide your order among yourselves."

Leorio opened his mouth, then closed it.

Kurapika looked at the others, while Gon scratched his cheek as though considering how to settle the matter. Killua, meanwhile, did not seem particularly concerned about a few extra minutes either way.

Tonpa stared at the gangway.

He could ask to go first.

Eight minutes separated the first of them from the last.

Under different circumstances, that might have been worth arguing over.

But ahead of him lay an empty beach and a forest that had swallowed twenty-three applicants, one after another.

Hisoka had entered first.

Illumi after him.

Hanzo too.

'Yes. Eight minutes will definitely change everything.'

He almost scoffed at himself, then stopped mid-thought.

Eight minutes meant nothing to him.

But did the other four know that?

He looked at Gon, then Kurapika, then Leorio, and finally Killua.

His gaze lingered on the boy's faint smile.

'You might.'

He turned his attention back to the other three.

Still, he did not need to convince everyone to the same degree.

He only needed to make his concession look more generous than it actually was.

And with that, the noble persona he had created a few days earlier began slipping back into place.

He softened his expression and raised one hand before the discussion could begin.

"There's no need to argue over something like this. Decide the order among yourselves. I'll go last."

Gon's eyebrows rose.

"Are you sure? You'll be the last one off."

"I know."

Tonpa smiled like a man who had risen above selfishness hours ago, rather than one who had just discovered a way to sell eight minutes he did not need.

"We made it out of the tower together. I'm not going to start the next phase by arguing with you over a few minutes."

Gon smiled immediately.

"Thanks, Tonpa."

Kurapika studied him for a moment, then nodded.

"That's generous of you."

Tonpa gave a modest smile as Leorio let out a breath beside him.

"Fine... thanks. Just don't come back ten minutes from now and say we forced you."

"I'll try to bear this sacrifice bravely."

Leorio gave him a narrow-eyed look.

Killua merely offered a small smile.

"Suit yourself."

Tonpa could not tell whether that was gratitude or whether the boy had understood exactly how much his concession was worth.

Ding!

The familiar sound rang inside his head, and several windows appeared in succession.

[Trust Level Increased.]

[Gon Freecss: 19% → 20%]

[Killua Zoldyck: 15% → 16%]

[Kurapika: 11% → 12%]

[Leorio: 15% → 16%]

[Required Trust Level Reached with Gon Freecss.]

Tonpa's eyes stopped on the twenty percent.

Genuine joy spread through his chest, forcing him to lower his head before his expression gave him away.

Finally.

The first condition of the Side Quest had been met.

'One down. Three to go.'

He wanted another second to enjoy the achievement, but the System did not give him the time.

Before the Trust window had fully faded, another chime sounded.

Ding!

[Group Deception Registered.]

[Number of Affected Targets: 4]

[Reward per Target: +5 Nen Points]

[Reward per Target: +5 Experience Points]

[Total: +20 Nen Points, +20 Experience Points]

Tonpa dismissed the remaining windows before they ruined his performance and kept his modest smile in place.

'Twenty points for eight minutes. I'm finally starting to understand why people enjoy charity.'

His attention returned to the group.

His concession had solved only one part of the problem. The other four still needed to determine their order.

Gon spoke.

"Shall we settle it with rock-paper-scissors?"

Leorio frowned.

"We're deciding our disembarkation order with a children's game?"

Killua said:

"If you've got a better idea, say it."

Leorio went silent for a moment, then raised his fist.

"Fine. But nobody cheats."

Killua looked at him.

"At rock-paper-scissors?"

"You, specifically, I don't trust."

Gon let out a short laugh, while Kurapika raised his hand along with them.

A few quick rounds settled the order.

Gon first, followed by Killua, then Kurapika, with Leorio in fourth.

Leorio stared at his hand in annoyance.

"Wonderful."

Killua said:

"At least you're not last."

Leorio glanced at Tonpa standing behind them, then shut his mouth.

Tonpa gave him a small smile.

"Glad I could help."

Leorio's eyes narrowed.

"Don't make me regret thanking you."

Tonpa merely raised both hands in innocent surrender.

The moment did not last long. The attendant had been standing beside the gangway the entire time, watching them with patience that was beginning to wear thin.

Once she was sure their game was over, she recorded the order on her clipboard.

"The twenty-fourth applicant may disembark."

Gon stepped forward, but stopped at the entrance to the gangway and turned back toward them.

"See you on the island."

Killua raised a hand without answering, while Kurapika nodded.

Tonpa settled for a small smile.

'Assuming we still have our Badges by then.'

He did not say it aloud. Gon did not need that particular wish before setting foot on the island.

Tonpa simply maintained his smile and watched Gon cross the gangway to the beach.

The moment his feet touched land, he ran toward the trees and quickly disappeared into the dense greenery.

The two-minute interval began again.

Tonpa stayed behind as promised, watching the place where Gon had vanished.

He had not lost his chance to hide. That chance had left the ship with the first applicants a long time ago.

But he had bought a little more trust from his companions with something that was no longer worth much to him.

And in his opinion, that was as close as sacrifice had ever come to being a fair trade.



_______________________________

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[Boumargood]

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •

Chapter 49: A Faceless Pursuer

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •
​

Killua remained by the edge of the ship, watching the direction in which Gon had disappeared until the two minutes elapsed.

The attendant gestured toward the gangway.

"You may disembark now."

Killua passed Tonpa on his way down.

"Try not to lose your Badge the moment you step ashore."

"Your concern for me is touching."

A small smile appeared on Killua's face.

"I was thinking about the poor person who has to hunt you."

Killua descended and headed toward the trees with light steps.

Tonpa watched him through narrowed eyes.

'He hopes my hunter makes it out safely, then expects me to miss him.'

The forest swallowed Killua quickly. Two minutes later, the attendant signaled for Kurapika to proceed.

Before descending, Kurapika fixed his gaze on Tonpa for a moment.

"Don't trust any agreement someone offers you here."

Tonpa nodded solemnly.

"I was about to tell you the same thing."

"I know. That's why I said it first."

Kurapika turned away before Tonpa could answer.

Leorio's turn came two minutes later. He adjusted his coat and looked toward the forest, then at Tonpa's Badge.

"We're supposed to meet again after the Phase. Don't make us come looking for you."

Tonpa did not remember them making any explicit agreement, but he heard the warning concealed beneath the words.

"I'll try to stay alive so I don't inconvenience you."

Leorio muttered something about that being all he asked before descending.

The trees swallowed him. After the final two-minute interval, only Tonpa and the attendant remained beside the gangway. Ahead of him lay an island that twenty-seven people had already entered, and one of them knew that number sixteen was worth three points.

"Your turn."

Tonpa fixed his gaze on the first row of trees.

He saw no movement. But the bushes could conceal a crouching man, and the black rocks blocked his view to the left. Whoever had drawn his number might already be far away—or waiting for him to disembark alone.

His fingertips brushed the edge of his Badge.

'If you're watching me, I'm not giving you a clean trail.'

He descended and walked to the right along the water. He planted his shoes in the damp sand, leaving an obvious trail toward a rocky outcrop. He resisted the urge to look back despite the sensation of an unknown gaze resting between his shoulders, until the rocks concealed the ship.

He stopped.

Holding his breath, he listened.

Water receded over the pebbles, and wood creaked in the distance. No footsteps reached him, and no shadow moved across the sand.

That did not reassure him. A hunter who had waited for Tonpa's turn might also know how to move without making a sound.

Tonpa prepared to continue, then noticed the glint of the Badge on his chest.

His hand moved toward it and paused.

'One hunter already knows my number. I don't need an advertising campaign.'

He removed the Badge and wrapped it in a piece of cloth. After slipping it into an inner pocket, he shook himself lightly to make sure it was secure before continuing.

Tonpa crossed a narrow gap between two rocks and jumped onto solid ground that would not preserve his footprints. Then he turned sharply toward the heart of the island. The moment he reached the trees, he broke into a run.

He changed direction at a fallen trunk, then did so again while crossing a patch of bare stone that would leave no tracks. The image of a faceless figure remained in his mind, discovering the false trail before searching for the branches Tonpa had disturbed.

His jaw tightened.

He would have preferred an opponent he could see. A fist was a straightforward problem. Now he was fleeing from someone who might not even be following him, yet he was too afraid to stop and confirm it.

A raised root stretched across his path. Tonpa pushed off the ground and cleared it with a long leap.

He landed and waited for his thighs to seize in protest.

Nothing happened.

He continued for another five steps, then glanced at the distance he had covered. His chest was rising quickly, and the pain beneath his ribs remained, but his legs showed no sign of giving out.

'How long have I been running?'

Tonpa slowed slightly and tested a longer stride.

His legs responded immediately.

A short laugh nearly escaped him, but he suppressed it before it became a sound.

'Finally, something in this body is improving without trying to kill me first.'

His strides lengthened, and cool air brushed across his face. Tonpa felt his smile widen and allowed himself to enjoy it for several seconds.

He lifted one foot to clear a cluster of roots.

Snap!

A dry branch shattered beneath his shoe.

The smile froze on his face, while his momentum carried him another half-step before his body locked in place.

'Well done. You've informed the entire forest where you are.'

He immediately ducked behind a bush. His limbs went still as his eyes moved between the trees.

'Did anyone hear that?'

He did not search for an entire person. He searched for a color moving against the wind, a shadow stopping a moment too late, or a hand pulling away from a trunk after its owner had slipped behind it.

A nearby bush shifted against the breeze.

Tonpa froze, his eyes slowly turning toward it. His fingers tightened, and he braced himself to bolt in the opposite direction.

The leaves parted.

A small lizard emerged and scurried across the dirt.

Tonpa followed it with his eyes until it vanished, then remained motionless for several more heartbeats.

'I nearly ran from a lizard.'

He might have accepted the humiliation if it had come with a warning from the System, but he heard nothing. Tonpa waited for the chime that had preceded Hisoka's appearance in the tunnel.

His head remained silent.

'Either no one is watching me, or your service doesn't cover anyone below Hisoka's threat level.'

He was not prepared to wager his Badge on the first possibility.

Tonpa rose and continued at a slower pace, choosing exposed roots and patches of stone. The person who had drawn number sixteen was no longer his only concern. Whoever had drawn Hisoka's or Illumi's number might decide to keep their own Badge and collect three ordinary ones rather than attempt to take their target's.

To those applicants, Tonpa was only a single point walking on two legs. Taking that point would still be far easier than approaching Hisoka or Illumi.

After about an hour, fatigue began to gather in his thighs. It was not the crushing exhaustion he remembered, but a manageable heaviness warning him that he had run long enough.

He decided to postpone his search for the owner of Badge 303 until after the first day. Before hunting his target, Tonpa needed to make sure he was not delivering himself to that target as prey.

He selected a broad tree whose leaves concealed most of its upper branches. The lowest branch was slightly above his head. Tonpa backed up two steps, ran forward, and jumped.

His hands caught the branch.

His weight pulled against his injured shoulder. His feet slipped against the bark, and he remained suspended for a moment, trying to hoist a stomach his Speed upgrade had apparently forgotten about.

His fingers slipped.

Tonpa fell onto the layer of dry leaves gathered around the base of the tree.

He looked up at the branch.

'Apparently, the Speed upgrade didn't include tree climbing.'

On his second attempt, he wedged one foot into a crack in the bark, jumped, and caught the branch with his uninjured arm. He pushed with his legs instead of relying on his injured shoulder and dragged himself over the branch while suppressing a groan.

Tonpa continued climbing until the leaves surrounded him.

His body disappeared among them, with only one eye peering through a narrow opening toward the ground.

He waited for his hunter to appear.

No one did.

One bird passed, then another. Patches of light moved slowly across the trunk as the heat of the day began to fade. Whenever Tonpa considered descending, a leaf rustled or a fruit dropped, causing his body to stiffen all over again.

When his stomach finally growled, he raised his head toward a sky that was beginning to lose its clear blue color.

He had remained in the tree longer than he intended.

Tonpa tried to swallow, but his dry throat scraped painfully, making him grimace. He could no longer postpone searching for water, especially now that the shadows were beginning to stretch between the trees.

He freed his numb leg and pushed the leaves aside before lowering one foot toward the branch beneath him.

Snap!

Tonpa jerked and pulled his leg back against his chest. The leaves around his face trembled, and he froze at once, before their rustling could further betray his hiding place.

'I didn't touch anything.'

He slowly lowered his head and examined the ground through the leaves.

He saw no movement.

A faint scrape came from below, followed by the sound of a dry leaf breaking beneath something's weight.

'Not a small animal.'

Tonpa pressed himself against the branch, trying to reduce the amount of space his stomach occupied. The sound drew closer, then cut off on the other side of the tree trunk.

The tip of a shoe appeared between the roots.

A leg followed, then the body of someone whose face Tonpa could not see from his angle. The stranger was passing directly beneath the tree. He did not raise his head, and nothing in his stride suggested that he had noticed anything among the leaves.

Tonpa held his breath.

'All right. Don't look up, and we'll both come out of this deal happy.'

_______________________________

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[Boumargood]

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •

Chapter 50: Half a Percent of Silence

• ────────── ◆ ────────── •
​

Tonpa remained curled among the leaves, one hand gripping the branch he had been about to use to climb down.

The sound that had broken the forest's silence had not been his imagination.

A shoe scraped against the dirt, followed by another twig snapping beneath a heavy foot.

Tonpa's eyes moved between the narrow gaps in the canopy while his head remained perfectly still. A shoulder appeared first, followed by a man forcing his way through the bushes with uneven steps.

Tonpa's brows furrowed.

'An unfamiliar face... Could he be the one hunting me?'

He swept his gaze over the newcomer, searching for a badge, a weapon, or anything else that might give him an advantage. The man was broad-chested, and one sleeve of his jacket had been torn all the way to the shoulder. Dried blood covered his arm, while a wound near his thigh forced him to drag his left leg. He was not dying, but he had clearly not emerged victorious from his last encounter.

The man stopped beneath the tree and braced one palm against its trunk.

Tonpa stopped breathing.

The narrow branch pressed into the sole of his foot. One careless shift of his weight would be enough to shake the leaves above the stranger's head. Tonpa held himself still despite the pulse of pain in his shoulder and lowered his eyes to the man's chest.

The badge was still there.



Tonpa searched his memory for the face. He could not remember seeing the man in the anime, though he had noticed him near the back of the gathering during the draw.

'Probably another guest the divergence invited into the story.'

The man raised his head slightly, freezing Tonpa's eyes in place. But instead of looking into the branches, he closed his eyes, drew a ragged breath, and pressed a hand against his wound.

"That damned blond..."

Tonpa's eyes widened.

The man wiped the sweat from his mouth with the back of his hand and muttered,

"He tells me I'm his target, then expects me to hand over my badge as if he were making a polite request. I'll make him regret it once I recover."

Tonpa's breath caught.

'Blond... and politely asking for the badge?'

Only one face came to mind.

'Kurapika?!'

Tonpa needed a moment to rearrange the draw in his head.

Kurapika was hunting 277.

But in the future Tonpa remembered, Kurapika was supposed to be hunting 16.

Tonpa.

The fact that badge 277 remained on the man's chest meant he had escaped Kurapika before the latter could take it. The man had occupied Tonpa's place in the event he remembered.

Relief seeped into Tonpa's chest, only to die before it could settle. Escaping Kurapika's target list did not mean no one had drawn his number. It only meant an unknown hunter had taken Kurapika's place.

'It could be Hisoka or Illumi... Why can't it be a normal person for once?'

His gaze dropped from the badge to the man's pockets.

'Wait... What if he has my card?'

Tonpa's fingers went cold against the branch.

'Maybe he didn't stop here by accident. Maybe he was searching for number sixteen and found the right tree.'

He waited for the chime that had begun accompanying major divergences.

One second passed.

Then another.

Nothing appeared.

One percent remained the last divergence rate the System had shown him. What he was seeing was not a new deviation, merely a delayed consequence of the previous one.

'So it isn't a new disaster. It's the old one continuing its work.'

His chest remained tight, but his attention finally returned to the man.

The stranger pushed away from the trunk and started walking. Before he could leave the shadow of the branches, Tonpa fixed his eyes on the badge once more.

It would only earn him one point. That was not enough to justify starting a fight, but it was enough to keep him from simply letting the man walk away—especially if he happened to be Tonpa's unknown hunter.

Tonpa's fingers tested the branch beneath him. He could drop onto the man now, taking advantage of surprise and a body weight he possessed in abundance.

Then he imagined missing and landing in front of the man instead of on top of him.

His enthusiasm disappeared at once.

'If he has my card, climbing down in front of him would be a gift-wrapped delivery.'

The man took another step beyond Tonpa's jumping range.

Tonpa made no attempt to stop him.

His gaze shifted to the injured leg, then to the hand pressing against the wound. The man would need to rest sooner or later, and Tonpa could be remarkably patient whenever courage was the alternative.

'I'll follow him until he falls asleep. Then we can negotiate from one side.'

The corner of Tonpa's mouth rose.

'A perfect plan: no courage required, and no conscious opponent.'

Badge 277 disappeared between the trees. Tonpa waited until the sound of the man's footsteps faded, then began climbing down.

His weight pulled painfully at his injured shoulder. He bit the inside of his cheek to smother a groan. Halfway down, one foot slipped, and his stomach scraped against the trunk before he managed to catch himself.

He clung to the bark and waited for the man to return.

Only insects answered.

'Wonderful. I've lost two rounds to the same tree in one day.'

His feet finally touched the ground. He remained still until the pain in his shoulder subsided, then moved after the man.

Tonpa kept a trunk or bush between them and stopped whenever the footsteps ahead stopped. When he found the man's tracks in the mud, he placed his feet in the same spots, taking advantage of the path already disturbed through the undergrowth.

A violent flutter erupted above Tonpa's head.

His body contracted, and one hand dropped to the ground before he could think. At the same instant, the footsteps ahead stopped.

'What was that?'

A small shadow burst from the branches. A bird emerged through the leaves and flew deeper into the forest.

The owner of badge 277 raised his head to follow it.

Tonpa remained crouched, his heart hammering against his ribs. Only then did he notice the dry branch stretched across the ground in front of his foot. Had the bird not startled him, he would have stepped on it.

He waited until the man lowered his head and resumed walking, then carefully stepped over the branch.

'Thank you. You're officially the best ally I've found in this phase.'

The footsteps ahead grew faint.

Tonpa saw the man's shoulder begin to turn.

He dropped behind a bush before the man could complete the motion.

'Don't stop now, you idiot.'

The owner of badge 277 listened for several moments before continuing. When he looked back again at the next bend, Tonpa pressed himself against a broad trunk. The man's gaze passed between the trees, close enough to make Tonpa's heart pound against his ribs.

'Yes, just an unusually fat tree. Keep walking.'

The stranger moved away. Tonpa counted to ten before leaving his hiding place and resuming the pursuit.

He followed the uneven tracks, watching the injured leg.

'He'll collapse after the bend.'

The man passed the bend.

'Fine. At the large tree.'

He passed that as well.

Tonpa's eyes narrowed. He waited for the man to fall, stop to tend his wound, or find somewhere to sleep. Instead, the stranger continued dragging his leg forward with infuriating stubbornness, as though the blood covering his clothes were merely decoration meant to waste Tonpa's time.

'Is that wound decorative? Collapse already.'

At the next glance backward, Tonpa slipped behind another trunk while silently cursing the man, his leg, and the injury that refused to perform the one task expected of it.

This time, the owner of badge 277 waited longer before continuing.

A cold thought passed through Tonpa's mind.

'Wait. Am I following him, or is he leading me?'

Tonpa remained behind the trunk instead of following immediately. He counted the man's steps—three, then four—while watching his shoulders and injured leg.

On the fifth step, the man's knee suddenly buckled. He caught himself against a nearby tree and nearly collapsed onto the ground.

Tonpa's fingers loosened slightly, but his suspicion did not disappear.

'The limp is real. That doesn't mean its owner is stupid.'

He emerged from behind the trunk and returned to the trail, keeping a wider distance this time. Ahead of him, the man slowly straightened and resumed walking.

'Collapse, sleep, lose consciousness... Pick something.'

The man ignored the suggestion he could not hear and continued dragging his leg.

Tonpa followed while counting the steps at first, then the turns, before eventually losing track of both. When he finally paid attention to the forest around him, the light had turned gray, and the spaces between the trunks had become deep enough to conceal an ambush.

Hunger pinched his stomach again while dryness scraped at his throat. He tried to swallow, only to feel a rough ache extending down into his chest.

Then a faint murmur reached his ears.

His foot stopped.

'Water?'

He tilted his head. The sound came again from somewhere to the right, clear enough to pull his eyes toward it against his will.

The man ahead raised his head at the same moment.

'Of course he heard it.'

Badge 277 turned toward the sound.

Tonpa pressed his dry tongue against the roof of his mouth. The water lay in the direction the man had chosen, but the stranger remained between Tonpa and the bank. If Tonpa hurried forward to drink, he would close the distance and expose himself. If he waited, he would have to drag his parched throat along behind the man until the fool finished first.

'Drink your fill, then find somewhere to sleep so both our suffering can end.'

The man moved toward the running water. Tonpa waited two steps before slipping after him between the trees.

The closer they came to the water, the thinner the forest became, leaving wider patches of open ground between the trunks. Tonpa slowed to preserve the distance, but the man's limp was worsening, and every step he took became shorter than the last.

The gap between them refused to widen.

The sound of Tonpa's breathing swelled in his ears until it nearly drowned out the running water. He closed his mouth and breathed through his nose, then carefully lowered his next foot toward a patch of ground clear of twigs.

The footsteps ahead vanished.

Tonpa noticed the silence only after his foot had begun to descend.

It stopped in midair.

'He stopped?'

Tonpa raised his eyes. Badge 277 stood motionless among the trees, and there was no nearby trunk large enough to hide Tonpa. Only a few low bushes separated them, barely concealing his body beneath the growing darkness.

The man slowly tilted his head and turned one ear behind him.

'He heard me.'

Tonpa made his breathing so shallow that his chest barely moved and fixed his eyes on the side of the man's face.

'Don't breathe... Don't move.'

Silence stretched between them.

Tonpa's raised leg began to tremble.

Just as he feared it would betray him, something strange contracted inside his body.

It was neither pain nor heat, but the fleeting sensation of something that had been spread around him suddenly withdrawing inward. His skin turned cold, and his presence seemed to fade into the surroundings in a way he could not describe.

'What—'

The man continued listening. His head shifted slightly to one side, as though he had been tracking a trail only to lose it before he could grasp it.

Not a leaf stirred. Not a twig snapped. After several seconds, the tension left the man's shoulders, and he began turning forward again.

Air slowly escaped Tonpa's lungs.

'I did it... I think.'

Ding!

The chime tore through his concentration without warning.

His foot jerked, and his heel came down on a dry leaf.

It crunched beneath his shoe.

The man spun around.

His gaze swept across the bushes and stopped directly on Tonpa's position.

'Not now, you damned System.'

The darkness prevented him from clearly seeing what was hidden there, but his hand slid toward the weapon hanging from his waist.

"Who's there?"

Tonpa did not answer. He did not even dare adjust his stance while the muscles in his leg continued trembling.

A translucent blue window opened before his eyes.

'Close the window and let me hide!'

The first line appeared as the man took a step toward him.

[Zetsu Activated.]

A second notification followed.

[Zetsu Mastery: 0% → 0.5%]

Tonpa stared at the name of the technique and, for a fraction of a second, nearly forgot the man approaching him.

'Wait... Is this Zetsu?'



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