Chapter 13

The Kingdom of Kukan'yu. Several hours later.

Somewhere outside of Zaban City and even further away from Dolle Harbor.

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POV LEORIO:

My name is Leorio Paradinight, and I'm constantly learning new things. Especially nowadays… And I'm not just referring to my new friend Gon, about whom I'm learning the most.

During this disjointed and chaotic exam phase, Gon, Kurapika, and I appear to be in the lead. In fact, we appear to be far ahead of the other candidates in the city. I'm relieved that, during this entire guidance charade and guidance confusion, I decided not to support and adhere to the candidates.

They should be wandering around the city aimlessly right now. If they had been able to get out of the city and locate the right place by now, they should have failed the exam. Surely. In addition to being annoying, that place was also unsafe. That creepy little town… It seemed as though being disqualified by pain or a painful death had become the norm thanks to that perplexing and annoying old lady who asked unfair questions.

… Those candidates should have had a similarly unspeakable experience there. They weren't particularly bright, so it was most likely…

This is something I'm thinking about right now. But, once again, I would have failed that segment if Gon and Kurapika hadn't insisted on me following them as they stood next to me. I'm glad I steered clear of the candidates who thought they were smarter than everyone else.

I suppose I fall into that category… But I'm still trying to ignore this minor detail.

However, let's switch the subject, shall we?

I had just learned about a new beast called the "Kiriko" this early afternoon, which we apparently needed to track down right away after they kidnapped a lovely young woman, so I was very busy right now.

Gon dashed here, his powerful snake snaking up the mountain. The snake's powerful mouth could grab our clothes and transport one of us on his head, another on his body, or even more… I didn't think it was necessary, and the animal didn't appear friendly enough, but I had the impression he was capable of greater and more powerful feats.

Speaking of Gon, I was running outside the cabin in the forest with Kurapika after the hideous monsters had taken the woman when the boy stopped us and said. "Wait a minute, you two."

Kurapika questioned Gon before I did. "What's the matter, Gon? Shouldn't we go after those evil monsters?" Gon's snake slept peacefully, rolled up around the majority of his buddy's chest, unconcerned by the current emergency or the noise.

The snake was unusually long. It was also expansive and thick. Gon, on the other hand, was unwavering in his belief that the beast was not a giant. God only knows where he'd seen bigger snakes.

It was difficult for me to understand and accept Kurapika's gender. Long before she asked Gon the question at hand, I had real concerns about her. In retrospect, her gender as a woman seemed to better fit her behavior than if it were the opposite… If Gon hadn't been there, I might have missed this fundamental understanding of her because it wasn't immediately apparent to me.

But Kurapika is now one of my friends. And only ever a friend. Gender didn't matter.

Speaking of her, she was the one who first introduced me to the term "Kiriko." It was some kind of magical creature. I only found out a few seconds ago when we opened the cabin door.

Gon responded. Since yesterday, he had gotten shockingly close to Kurapika on the boat, a proximity that startled me even more because she didn't seem to mind it. "I wouldn't call those Kirikos evil, even though they might be regarded as monsters based solely on their appearance. I have personally witnessed evil creatures."

Gon laughed after he finished telling us this.

Kurapika scowled even harder than I did when I asked. "What exactly do you mean? Gon, could you please elaborate?"

Gon said, looking at the man laying on the wooden floor behind him, "We were duped. This three-person family consists of a father, a mother, and two children. Examine the person behind us, Leorio. You're the doctor. I can feel it with my senses, but you and Kurapika will most likely require proof. He's not sleeping, I swear…"

"What?!" I was surprised, but I no longer called into question Gon's affirmations.

"Gon, are you certain?" Kurapika asked, perplexed.

I couldn't figure out why Gon's nodding smile made her blush so easily, but she said this after he had given her a smile. "I believe you, Gon, if you say so. Leorio, examine the man right away."

"Kurapika, you don't give me orders; I'm not your flunky." I turned to leave to see how the man was doing and gave a new sigh of response to the blonde girl who was standing next to me.

She had long since made me aggravated. I wasn't sure if the way she spoke to me had offended me more, or if it was because I missed my chance to get to know her on the boat.

I only knew that she was currently seeing Gon. The boy's strength made the age difference irrelevant.

I started staring at the body of the sleeping man when I heard Kurapika snort and cross her arms as she said something utterly vile and unfair to me.

In the crease of my brow, there was a tick.

On the other hand, the man on the ground was shivering and perspiring.

I wasn't sure how it was related to my eye observation, but I was thinking about asking Gon for love advice. To begin with, how to move quickly… Because Gon's snake had already awakened when the man I was supposed to be calmly examining stood up, fled into another area of the house, and attempted to change into something else. He swung its long tail at him, effectively putting him to sleep. This time it was for real.

Gon slithered as swiftly as his snake. Both of them were agile.

I didn't think about asking Kurapika out on a date, of course.

I'm not crazy, masochistic, or dissatisfied with my current state of existence, so… I didn't feel like losing the breath of life on me for something like that…

To the contrary, if at all possible, I would like to meet a nice girlfriend before or after the test. I wanted to avoid being the third wheel who was 19 because if I was going to be a lifetime friend, I wanted to avoid being that third wheel.

As the "old dude," I was.

Yeah, 19. Although I appeared to be older to others, I was actually quite young. With Gon being twelve and Kurapika being seventeen, I wasn't that old. Both on the way up and now, Kurapika referred to me as "antiquated." I'm afraid to say, not in jest…

She appeared to have a thing for tender, young meat… Of course, only if Gon was thought to be tender. With his powerful physique…

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POV GON:

Several minutes later. We completed the phase successfully.

[What is this perverted old man thinking again?]

'So you can tell as well, Severus?' When Severus asked, I chuckled inside. We were watching Leorio approach the lovely daughter of the Kirikos couple. She had been in human from the beginning to the end of this test.

I was stunned seconds later when I looked at Leorio's cheerful back as he actually got a date with the magical beast girl.

His love taste was a little on the strong side… I admired him because I wasn't there yet…

I wasn't sure why he was having such a difficult time with Kurapika or why he was trying to maintain a safe distance from her, or what he had recently misunderstood. However, with this deviant and disingenuous old man, it felt right to remain alone with her on the ship yesterday.

Because of his moral decay, he had undoubtedly understood the message I was attempting to convey. Despite the fact that we hadn't known each other for very long, our brainwaves and thoughts were operating on identical wave lengths, which was incredibly interesting, cool, and amazing.

When Kurapika approached me and said, "They say they'll take us to the first actual zone of the test. But they're asking if we want to stay the night. Something about nighttime flights being exhausting for everyone… Should we stay at their house?" I was thinking about Cheadle and whether humans and magical creatures could have children.

Glad for Leorio, I shook my head and smiled, forgetting my obscene thoughts. "No, let's just continue on. If we can find a comfortable hotel, we should talk." I was pondering where the test would be administered. I wanted to go on a few romantic dates with Kurapika before I was separated from her during the exam because I knew that could happen. If and when it did.

Although I hadn't anticipated her accepting my friendship with such openness, we only had one day to significantly deepen our connection.

Yeah. I wasn't a freak, except maybe for my name, which was just that—a name. Because of this, friendship was conceivable. In the world of anime, romantic friendships have important functions of their own. When it eventually changed into something more intriguing, however…

But even so, Kurapika and I hadn't found the time to go over the finer points of our potential agreement. The real deal. We also didn't find the right time or circumstance to deepen our so-called friendship… I needed to have a serious talk with her because she was still keeping things to herself.