Heart of the Assassin (A Hunter X Hunter Fanfic) {Killua Zoldyck}

{7} Beware X of X Prisoners

The Third Phase of the exam is taking place at Trick Tower, a prison for long-term prisoners. Kirahki, Gon, and their friends have chosen to partake in a five-on-five battle with some of the prisoners. The next round will pit Gon against Sedokan. What will happen in the upcoming battle?

Sedokan is a scrawny guy with greasy, brown, shoulder length hair. "Now, then... as you can see, I am not tough. I don't really enjoy fistfights or other physical activities, such as running and jumping."

Gon looks disappointed. "I do. But I'm not too good at using my head," he says honestly.

"As I thought... so I came up with a simple game we could both play."

"A game?" this catches his attention.

"Yes. It doesn't rely on either mental or physical activity. We each light a candle at the same time. The one whose candle goes out first is the loser. What do you think?"

"Yeah! That's easy to understand." Gon gives the guy a thumbs up. "Let's go with that."

"Okay. In that case..." Sedokan holds up a short candle and a long candle stick. "Decide which candle you want to use. Press O for the long one, or X for the short one. This will be determined by majority rule."

"We have to choose one?" Leorio asks. "This is a trap! Normally, you'd choose the long one, so he must have done something to the long one!"

"That would be a safe assumption." Kurapika explains, "But it might be a trick, and he's actually tampered with the short one. When presented with a clearly uneven choice, people become suspicious and hesitate before deciding. What's worse, if you make the wrong choice, the resulting mental anguish would be much greater than if the problem had offered two fair options." Awe Kurapika, he always has an answer for everything.

Sedokan sits on the floor. "Take your time. This may be majority decision, but you're free to discuss it. We have plenty of time left."

"Hey which one should I choose?" Gon calls back to us.

Leorio's stumped, "Damn... which one should we take?"

"Gon, you decide!" I yell back to him.

"We'll abide by your decision," Kurapika agrees. "Choose the one you think is best."

"Are you sure about this?" Killua asks. "He never thinks anything through."

"Instead of wasting time fretting over what to do, let's rely on Gon's instincts," Kurapika assures him.

"I get to choose? Okay! Then I choose the long one!" Gon doesn't even hesitate.

"You want the long candle?" the scrawny man asks.

"Because a longer candle will burn for a longer time!" Gon seems pretty sure of himself.

"He's just taking it at face value?" Leorio asks dumbfounded.

Killua sighs, "I knew he wouldn't think this through."

"I trust him." I say pressing the O button. Everyone else fallows suit.

The results show on the screen:

O 5  X 0

"Okay... you get the long one." Sedokan throws him the long candle. "I'll take the short one. Now, we light our candles together." They walk over to the torches in opposite corners and light their candles at the same time.

"Normally, how long would it take that candle to burn down?" wonders Killua.

"About five to six hours?" Kurapika calculates. A breeze blows up from the darkness below.