Chapter 16

POV Kurapika:

Gon and I went back to our hotel to rest.

Before that, we had a conversation in my room.

Gon…

Without a doubt, Gon was a strange and exceptional young man with mysterious abilities.

I wasn't sure how I felt about him or how I should feel about him, especially on the romantic front…

… Although I was five years older than him, which wasn't a small difference at our ages, he seemed to be interested in me and my horrific past for some reason I couldn't fathom…

I'd never considered anything romantic before, not at the tribe and not now that I had even less room in my mind and heart for love. Heck, I never really saw myself as a girl unless my mother took the time to remind me of the biological fact by frequently joking that I should be marrying Pairo after we grew older.

I used to despise the aggravating jokes she used to make in order to annoy me and shake me out of my romantic stupor. After the massacre, however, this and every other image I had of her became precious memories for me.

"I miss you so much. Mom, dad…" I muttered to myself as I lay down on my bed with the back of my hand resting above my eyes.

After a while, I chuckled a little as I observed my still disheartening but less irate expression in the bathroom mirror.

I was thinking about how to look nice…

I never expected to make new friends. Two of them at that…

I had begun to trust Gon and had placed my hopes for vengeance in his hands. He was bound to become a big time hunter, and his father appeared to be a well-known figure among them.

I had no idea what kind of power Gon had or how he got it, but I was willing to go to any length to exact my vengeance on those damn spiders… Something told me the day wasn't far off…

"For now, Kurapika, you only need to focus on the hunter exam…" This is what I told myself as I washed my tired face with water before going to bed, where I would almost certainly not sleep due to the stress of the exam and the excitement. I was too exhausted to shower, both physically and mentally. I'd do it the next day, first thing in the morning when Gon comes to wake me up, as we agreed.

I was confident he'd show up. Given his talent, he had no reason to play games with me.

It wasn't clear why I'd been so lucky to meet Gon, but perhaps something above or below was keeping an eye on me.

After all these years, I finally found my lucky break. One that I wasn't expecting but nevertheless arrived. It was finally time, and I wasn't about to squander it. For the sake of the tribe as well as my own…

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The day after that. Inside the elevator that would finally whisk us away into the darkness…

POV GON:

Kurapika was a proud woman. I hadn't realized how much of her rage toward the spiders was motivated by pride until she and I had a discussion in which she cried from both sadness and rage.

Leorio was still unaware of the full extent of her past and present circumstances. But I knew … The episodes had not completely cleared everything up for me, but I now knew more about her.

Yesterday, she was able to let it all out while sobbing in my arms.

Because they never did anything to me, I didn't exactly hate the phantom troupe. However, I could understand Kurapika's suffering.

… Her future and her heart had been heavily influenced by people she didn't even know. Before she finished getting her revenge on them, she had no plans for a promising future for herself.

She became even more enraged as she tried to figure out who the spiders were and where they might be hiding. After years of arduous training and taming her body and fighting skills, Kurapika had grown impatient with the waiting.

She wouldn't understand how far behind in terms of skills she was from the phantom troupe until she met Hisoka and discovered Nen much later after she met him.

I had no desire to deny her these priceless opportunities. But this time, I would be by her side because she was going to be my future girlfriend. Naturally.

I also wanted to determine how close or how far apart Hisoka and I were from one another. Therefore, it was beneficial for both of us.

I just hoped that he wouldn't think I was "ripe enough" of a fruit given my current level of skill. But throughout my entire life, I had never been a coward. Lives…

I've always acted a little rashly. I continued to be the same careless person who did whatever I wanted. I was just more patient, thoughtful, and logical.

Fishermen were more than just peaceful, patient stereotypes of people. It was a way of life for the majority of us.

Kurapika and Leorio were both impatient and serious as they stood next to me. They each had their strut and swagger.

I told when the elevator stopped, and I felt the doors were about to open with a growing smile. "I think we've made it, guys... We've arrived."

For the three of us, it was showtime.