[Hunter x Hunter] Scamming My Way to the Top

[Boumargood]

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Chapter 31: Doors Beneath Their Feet

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The crew member's voice faded from the airship's speakers after announcing their arrival at the site of the Third Phase.

Tonpa remained seated on the edge of the bed for several moments, staring at the door as he tried to convince his body that sleep was over. It was not exhaustion that kept him there, but the fact that the Hunter Exam had awakened before him and already prepared another way for him to die.

He planted his feet on the floor. His body responded with greater lightness than he was accustomed to, reminding him of the Speed he had upgraded to Rank C before going to sleep.

The improvement was unmistakable, but the cost of the next upgrade immediately surfaced in his mind.

'Ten thousand Nen Points. Apparently, Rank B is reserved for the wealthy.'

Tonpa rose with a frown.

'At that price, hiring Netero himself might be cheaper.'

He entered the washroom and splashed cold water over his face, then straightened his clothes and left the room. The smell of food led him toward the section of the main hall that the crew had converted into a temporary assembly area while the airship completed its descent.

There, he found Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio gathered around the same table.

Gon was eating as though the next phase would be a competition to finish breakfast, while Killua had taken enough food to feed two people. Kurapika sat quietly, and Leorio held a steaming cup with an expression suggesting that mornings were a form of assault the law had inexplicably failed to criminalize.

Tonpa stopped beside the empty seat.

"Is this taken?"

Gon answered immediately.

"No. Sit down."

Tonpa sat without anyone objecting or moving their drink farther away from him. A few days ago, his approach alone would have been enough to trigger a state of emergency. Now, his presence among them had become almost natural.

'No objections and no wary looks. Familiarity is cheaper than trust, but it serves its purpose.'

Killua looked at him.

"If we need a plan today, try to choose one that doesn't involve the Chairman's mother."

Leorio stopped drinking.

"What is he talking about?"

Gon eagerly explained how they had forced Netero to use all four of his limbs. When he reached the part involving Tonpa's shout, Leorio's eyes moved between Tonpa and Killua, searching for some indication that they were joking.

"You confronted the Chairman of the Hunter Association by asking about his mother?"

Tonpa picked up a piece of bread.

"I distracted him at the right moment. The wording was a technical detail."

Kurapika asked:

"But it worked?"

Gon nodded.

"He had to use his other hand and leg."

Leorio studied Tonpa for a moment before shaking his head.

"The more I learn about you, the less I understand you."

Tonpa answered solemnly:

"That is a sign of depth."

A short laugh escaped Killua.

Their conversation continued until the airship shuddered, signaling the beginning of its final descent. The others tried to guess what form the next phase might take, while Tonpa contented himself with listening. He knew what awaited them, yet that knowledge brought him little comfort.

During the conversation, he noticed that Gon now directed questions toward him without hesitation, and Leorio no longer interrupted every answer with an accusation. Even Kurapika, despite the caution that remained in his eyes, listened instead of treating Tonpa like noise to be ignored.

As for Killua, he now mocked him the way he would mock someone whose presence he had grown accustomed to—not an enemy waiting for him to turn his back.

It was not complete trust, or anything close to it, but it was considerably better than the suspicion with which they had first greeted him.

'A few more days, and they might even let me pour the juice myself.'

Unfortunately, his knowledge of future events was no longer complete.

In the original course of events, forty-two applicants had passed the Second Phase, but only forty had reached Trick Tower. Killua had killed two applicants aboard the airship after leaving the ball game.

This time, Killua had remained until their game with Netero ended, leaving those two applicants alive. On top of that, six additional applicants had survived the Second Phase.

Forty-eight applicants were now approaching the tower—eight more than the number that should have reached it.

'Eight variables walking on two legs, and my memory is the only plan. Reassuring.'

The airship landed upon a vast stone surface. The applicants descended one after another, and the moment Tonpa moved away from the stairs, he saw the edge of the platform and the clouds gathered beneath it.

They stood atop an enormous tower whose sheer walls plunged downward until they vanished inside the mist.

'Trick Tower.'

Beans stood before them and announced that the Third Phase required them to reach the base of the tower alive within seventy-two hours. A large timer began counting down while the applicants looked around for an entrance that did not appear to exist.

A man near the edge spoke confidently.

"We don't need an entrance. We can climb down from the outside."

He lowered himself over the edge and began descending, using the gaps between the stones as handholds. He moved quickly enough that several applicants began to believe he had found the solution.

Then came the sound of wings beating beneath the clouds.

Winged creatures with long claws emerged from the mist. One of them swooped toward the man and tore him away from the wall.

His scream did not last long.

The creatures converged upon him before disappearing back into the mist with their prey.

Everyone retreated from the edge.

Tonpa took two additional steps out of respect for his survival instincts.

He remembered the scene, but a screen had not conveyed the weight of the man's scream or the drops of blood falling into the void.

'Forty-seven applicants left searching for a way down, and one confirmed way to become breakfast.'

The applicants spread across the roof and began examining the floor and its edges. Tonpa studied the stone tiles while trying to reconstruct the scene from the anime, but his memory offered him little more than an image of Gon standing upon gray stones indistinguishable from the thousands surrounding them.

One applicant suddenly disappeared on the other side of the roof.

Two more vanished shortly afterward.

Amid all the movement, not everyone noticed, but the number of people remaining on the surface was clearly decreasing.

A faint headache began pulsing behind Tonpa's eyes.

He knew that the entrances were hidden trapdoors, but he could not remember which ones led to the majority-rule route. If one of the additional applicants claimed the required door before him, he might find himself separated from the other four and trapped inside a route that had never appeared in the anime.

Tonpa looked toward Gon, then Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio.

Remaining with them was not merely a matter of convenience. The success of his Trust Quest depended upon them, and his knowledge of the tower's events was tied specifically to their route. Being separated from them now would mean losing his human shields, his guide to future events, and his four best sources of Nen Points at the same time.

'The moment I lose the route I know, my knowledge of the future becomes a collection of useless memories.'

He approached the group before they could disperse.

"Don't search for a path along the walls. Watch the applicants."

Kurapika looked around before answering:

"Their numbers are decreasing."

Tonpa nodded, pleased by how quickly he had noticed.

"And we haven't seen any of them reach the edge. That means they're descending from here—from beneath the roof. There must be hidden doors between the tiles."

Gon crouched and began running his fingers along the gaps in the stone. Killua did the same.

Leorio looked at Tonpa.

"How did you know where to search?"

Tonpa gestured toward the center of the roof, adopting the expression of a man who had completed a brilliant analysis rather than one following a blurred image from his memory.

"The central area is less exposed to those creatures. Most of the applicants who disappeared were also standing away from the edge."

The first half was a guess. The second was a genuine observation.

It was an appropriate mixture for convincing intelligent people without making his answer appear suspiciously prepared.

The five of them moved toward the center while remaining close to one another.

Several minutes later, Gon stopped over a tile and crouched to examine a thin line surrounding it.

"I found a door."

Killua discovered a second one nearby. Kurapika and Leorio soon found two more.

Tonpa continued searching as the tension inside him steadily grew. At last, a stone sank slightly beneath his foot, revealing a rectangular outline around it.

Five adjacent doors.

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief before remembering that he had no proof they still led to the same place.

Gon smiled.

"We'll meet below."

He pressed down on his door. The stone slab flipped open, dropping him into the darkness before closing again.

Killua followed, then Kurapika and Leorio. Each trapdoor closed after swallowing its occupant.

Tonpa remained alone above the final door.

In the original course of events, the other four had spent nearly two hours waiting for Tonpa to fall into the same room. This time, he had found his door immediately.

That should have reassured him.

It did not.

He could only trust that the five adjacent doors still led to the same chamber and that the additional applicants had not altered the routes inside the tower.

'After eight draws, this door is no longer the most dangerous decision I've made today.'

Tonpa pressed his foot against the stone.

'Betting my life on a door seems like a natural extension of my decisions.'

The slab opened beneath him, and he plunged into the darkness.

Only one hope remained inside his mind.

'Please... don't invent any new events before I hit the floor.'



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