Part 9: Hunter X And X Prey

SECCO RASVIN

I breathe some fresh air since I didn't have it for three days. We were stuck in the trick tower for 72 hours, of course. I didn't know that I've come this far with my friends. If they weren't there for me, I would have died during this exam.

"Gon, we really did it!~" I shouted at Gon, giving him a high-five. He just nodded happily and raised his hand.

"You didn't do anything," Killua said lowering his voice so we are the only one that could hear it. I feel eyebrows finally meet its end and turned around to see him.

I didn't shout any words and just glared at him. He just looked at me with his poker face and moved away. I followed him with my glare.

Somehow, I forgot what happened in the little room earlier, and they must have been too.

"Congratulations on passing the third phase." A man in the front started talking. He's the examiner in both phases, huh? "The next phase will be held in Zevil Island," he said, pointing at an island, not far from here.

"You will be hunting each other on that island. Each of you will draw a slot in this box and it determines who is the hunter and who's gonna be hunted. The first one to pass the previous phase is the first one to draw a slot. "

When he finished explaining, a man, which turns out to be Hisoka, walked straight up towards the examiner and draw a slot. He put his hand on the box and got a card with nothing else was written on it.

The applicants started to draw some slots by order until it's already my turn. I walked towards the examiner and draw a slot, just like everybody else. I picked a card with nothing else that was written on it and almost the same as the others. But when I looked closely on the card, a sticker was actually covering the card.

Leorio is the last one to draw a slot and went back to where we are standing.

"Now, take off the seal on your card." the examiner said and we all followed him. We all took off the seal at the same time and a number was being revealed. Mine is... number 80?

"In that card is the number of your target's ID tag. You must steal your target's ID tag. You can use any method that you like, even killing your target and take the tag off the corpse."

I looked around to see who's number 80 but they all started to hide their tags. I just made a pout, disappointed.

I felt uneasy all of a sudden because of what I've heard. "That sounds like a bit scary... right, Gon?~" I leaned over to Gon, revealing a smile on my face when uneasiness was drawn all over his face, sweats are dropping on his forehead.

"Gon?~," I asked, bringing him back to normal and looked at me with a smile. "Are you alright?"

He just nodded, still sticking the same smile on his face. I wonder who is his target... wait, could it be... me?

"Your target's tag worth three points. Your tag is also worth three points. The other tags worth one point. You must gather six points before the time limit." continued the examiner.

After that long explanation, we all ride in a boat towards the island. A woman guide named Khara starts stalking in front of us but no one dares to listen to her, making her to just shut her mouth. I walked towards Gon, curious about who is his target when Killua approached him first.

I went closer to them and sat beside Gon. Killua gave me a glare and looked away.

"Why are you here? Are you following me?" he asked me. I started to get angry and answered him.

"I'm not."

Gon just laughed insincerely at our fight.

"Whose number did you draw, Gon?" Killua and I asked him simultaneously. We started to have a staring contest at each other while our eyebrows are almost stuck to each other.

"H-How about you two?", Gon asked.

"Secret." the former and I answered simultaneously again and we glared at each other.

"Hey, ugly! Are you copying me?!" he shouted as he pointed his index finger towards me with an irk mark shown in his face.

"I'm not copying you! And how dare you call me 'ugly'?!" I shouted back and we all started to fight, shouting at each other some insults. Our voices are getting louder and louder and some of the applicants scolded us and told us to shut up.

Then, silence came when we stopped fighting.

"Don't worry, you both are not my target!" Gon said to start a conversation.

"Me neither," Killua said as I just nodded, saying that they're not my target either. If they are my target, then that may be hard.

"Why don't we show our card at the same time?" Gon suggested and Killua and I both nodded.

"One, two...!"

We all showed our cards at the same time. Killua got 199 and Gon got... 44? Wait! That's...

"44 is..." Killua spoke as we both looked at Gon with a nervous face. "Seriously? You really have bad luck."

Gon just rubbed his head. "Hehe. I might not win in combat. But since we will just have to steal the tag, I still have a chance." Gon looked at Killua's card.

"Who's 199?" he questioned.

"Don't know. They all started to hide their badges when the explanation ends." Killua said with disappointment. Come to think of it, that number somewhat familiar...

"I think... it's one of the Amori brothers." I said but Killua just looked at me and ignored me. Isn't he thankful that I've managed to give him a piece of information?

"Then this is gonna be boring," Killua muttered.

Gon then looked at my card, and then looked at me directly in the eye.

"Secco, who's number 80?" he asked.

"I don't know. I didn't pay too much attention to their badges.~" I made a sad face and really worried. If I don't know who is my target, then I have no choice. I have a risky plan to know who is my target.

"But don't worry... I have a plan, it has a 50-50 chance though." I said to Gon with an insincere smile.

I stood up from sitting down, watched by Gon and Killua who doesn't have an idea what am I going to do. I release a smile and raised my hand which holding the card that has my target's ID number.

"Guys, who is the number 80?! He's my target!~" I shouted at the entire boat. They all looked at me with a questioning look, questioned what am I doing. They all started to bash me because of what I'm doing and some gave me glares. Almost the applicants were doing that, declaring that they're not my target... except for one.

He's a woman with red hair, wearing a pair of sunglasses. It's hard to know that she is my target because she's wearing sunglasses so I can't read her eyes. Earlier, she is the only one whose mouth is open wide, looked surprised, and the one who quickly turned around her head, trying to hide.

Hm, hm. I found my target.

"Why did you do that, Secco? Your target already knew who you are!" Gon said to me with a worried face. I didn't remove my smirk and just got down and sat beside them.

"You don't understand, Gon. I actually found my target. So we'll just have to play hide and seek.~" I said to him.

"Huh?"

"The one who acts differently from others earlier and panicked is her target, right?" Killua said to me and looked at me as I nodded and gave him a thumbs up for knowing my plan.

"I don't get it!" Gon shouted as he started to rub his hair to think.

"Y-You don't have to get it, Gon," I said as I tried to calm him down and don't think too much about what did I do earlier.

Now that I know who is my target, I must make a plan.

We finally arrived at the island and we all get off the boat one by one. From the first to pass the previous phase, up to the last. We will wait for two minutes so the applicant has the time to hide, and then, the next one will get off the ship.

"I see, the first one has the advantage..." Kurapika stated as he looked at Hisoka who is the first one to get off the boat.

We waited for so long until it's our turn. I waved goodbye to Gon, Killua, and Kurapika and said good luck to them when it's finally their turn. It was my turn to get off the boat.

"See you again, Leorio. Good luck!" I shouted at Leorio and waved who is the last one to get off the ship.

"Okay, give it your best too!" he shouted back and I started to run deeper into the island.

Hiding on a top of a tree, I was planning on how can I steal my target's badge. Plus, I don't know what number 80 was capable of. Those outfits of hers, it looks like she is an expert on something, has great speed, and super sneaky.

Opposite of mine, my strength is my advantage, but my speed is just average. I may be smart on deducing, but not making strategies. Looks like I had to defend on my weapons, some small knives. One of my co-workers in the ship was used to be a knife-throwing entertainer and taught me how to throw some knives to hit the bull's eye.

I guess I can use my skills on that, although I'm not really great at throwing it. I grabbed one of my small knives on my bag and examined its blade. I felt its sharpness and hardness through my skin. I looked for a perfect target and saw a medium hole in one of the trees far away from me.

After that, I raised the knife to the air and threw it towards the hole. I was expecting that it will go through the hole but unfortunately, it landed on the part near it, making me disappointed. I started to throw some following knives towards the hole but still, it didn't shoot. I'm really terrible at it. I went towards the tree to get back my small knives and just stayed there since I found out that the scenery of the sunset is more beautiful here.

Looks like I'm going to rely on my strength. Hmmm... should I throw her towards the other side of the island? Or... should I grasped her throat and steal her badge right away?

I am thinking of more plans in my head and decided to give in and think about it tomorrow. The next morning, I continued training my knife when suddenly, I sensed someone is watching me not far away from here. Pretending that I was just looking for some birds, I secretly looked around to look for that someone. I turned my head and I saw a shadow hiding in one of the bushes below the tree where I was staying before.

I stood up from sitting and looked at him, with my hands put on my waist. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Not good, mister! I can still see you!~" I shouted loudly so the man that was hiding behind the bushes can hear me. He moved just for a second and started to run away from me.

I jumped towards the ground and starts chasing after him. I knew he wasn't my target, but there's no way I'm gonna let him escape after he tried to stalk me.

He was faster than I thought he would be, faster than me. So I grabbed the small knives that I already put on my pocket and threw it towards him, aiming for his leg.

It was a successful throw, but it hit the part that I wasn't expecting. He dropped from the ground with blood starts flowing from his leg. I removed the knife from his leg, tear off a piece of my dress, and tied his wounds with it.

"I'm your target, right, mister?!~" I shouted childishly to him. He can't escape right now since he cannot use one of his legs for a while. He didn't speak for a minute.

I decided to get his tag out of his bag and examined it very closely. Hmm... it's 362.

"You're not my target, so I suppose I'm going to let you go for this time!~" I said to him with a great smile but he didn't respond and just quietly laid down the ground.

I sighed, put his tag back on his bag, and just continue walking away from him, there's no one looks friendly in this exam, indeed. Everyone here is an enemy, even Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio, but I wouldn't let that happen. There are already my friends before we entered the exam.

"Why... did you let me... go?", he finally spoke. I turned around to see him.

"Because you're not my target, I told you already!" I shouted at him with an angry face. He still couldn't get. I was annoyed but at the same time, felt joy. Finally, he started to speak which makes me very happy. "If I'm your target, I suggest you just find three other tags!~" although I'm not really a difficult person to beat, I think that's enough to scare him.

I started to run away as fast as I can to get away from that man before he will recover fully. Based on his appearance and how small the wound I left, it can only take two to three days.

I ran from the dark forest, still watching on my surroundings, I might detect someone hiding behind the bushes or on the trees. After some long hours of running away, I decided to take some rest and start to train my knife-throwing tomorrow.

I slept on a top of a tree, at the same time, watching myself that someone might suddenly attack me from behind.

Morning greeted me with no harm and my body was as good as before, although contain some bruises and bandages because of my fight at the trick tower. I stretched my body to the sunlight that hit my skin.

I started to find an open space for my training. I ran again just like I did last night until I saw a group of four people with almost the same faces, during my marathon. Wait! There are the Amori brothers! And... Killua? I just hid in one of the bushes and eavesdropped on their conversation but I couldn't hear a voice for I was meters away from them.

I don't know how to read lips so I just watched them and tried to find out what they were talking about through their actions. Then, they started to fight for seconds, and then talked to each other with Killua showed a tag to them. Suddenly, Killua put his hand on the neck of one of the brothers. He took him as a hostage. He said something to the other brother and he opened his bag and gave him his tag. Oh! I see he was hunting for his target.

After that, he threw the other two tags in a different direction. Killua started to walk away while the brothers are still staring at him, shocked and spaced out.

Killua suddenly disappeared and he was nowhere to be seen. I wonder where did he go? I searched for him using my eyes in the area not away from the brothers but there's no trace of him either.

Suddenly, a sharp blade touched the first layer of my skin on my neck.

"Don't move." a familiar cold voice said to me from behind. Just like he said, I didn't move an inch, and sweats are started to drop from my head and fall to the ground. My heart starting to beat fast than ever before.

He removed the blade away, safe for me to turn my head to see him. As expected, it was him.

"K-Killchi, you found me. Ha-ha-ha.~" I made an insincere laugh and rubbed the back of my head.

"So... what are you doing here?" he asked me as he started to walk. I followed him behind and tried to answer his question.

"I'm just passing by.~"

"Heh?", he said with no emotions at all, uninterested in what I said. He started to ran, as I ran too.