ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ- ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [OLD]

33- 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘹 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦

We were all shoved in an airship and on our way to the final phase of the hunter exam. It was as exciting as it was scary. "This feels so weird." Quinn chuckled. "I thought for sure I'd be sent home during the first phase, and yet I'm here." They smiled, looking out the window.

"Why's that?" I asked, glancing at them.

"I give up real easy. But I think that because you're here, it helped a lot." They admitted, their glance never leaving the scenery. "Bleh, that sounded cheesy!"

"Yeah, a little bit." I laughed.

"You two are just a bunch of softies, huh?" Killua retorted, hands shoved in his pockets.

"Hey, you've got your soft points too y'know. Don't act like we haven't comforted each other before." I teased. Killua just let out a small huffing noise and looked away, his face a bit red from embarrassment. "But it's good, y'know? It shows that you're a human being." I smiled at him.

"Yeah, I guess." He smirked. 

Quinn laughed a little bit. "You two have been pretty busy without me, huh? So when's the wedding?" They teased. 

"Shut up! Don't say things like that!" Killua shouted. "We aren't dating!"

"Yeah, he's definitely not my type!" I joked.

"Yeah, they're- wait what?" Killua stopped. "What do you mean I'm not your type? You have a type?" he glanced at me.

"I'm just kidding." I laughed. "No need to get so worked up about it, Kil." I smiled.

~

After a bit of waiting, a few examinees were called into a room. Killua had just come back, and it was my turn to go. "So...Y/n, correct?" Netero spoke.

"That would be me!" I chuckled nervously.

"Please, feel free to make yourself at home." He said, pointing at a chair. I sat down and glanced at him.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"I have a few questions if you don't mind." Netero got out a small notepad and a pen.

"Okay!" 

"To start with, why do you want to become a hunter?" He glanced at me.

"Well, my home life is very boring. Usually, I have to stay home all by myself and do absolutely nothing. My mom's never home and the people who used to see me had to leave. So, I decided to go and try and make my life more exciting." I smiled.

"Interesting. Next question. Out of the other 10 applicants, which one are you keeping a close eye on?" He said, rubbing his chin.

"Number 99 for sure. He's a good friend." I began to ease up, realizing this was almost like a survey. "But numbers 98, 405, 404, and 403 are pretty important to me too. All of them are really incredible."

"One last question and we're done! Which of the other 10 applicants would you least like to fight?" He asked, moving his pen in the space between his forefinger and thumb.

"I wouldn't want to fight 99, 98, and 405 for sentimental reasons, but I definitely don't want to fight numbers 44 and 301. They're incredibly intimidating." I sighed.

"Well, thank you very much! That will be all." Netero said dismissively.

"Wait! Sorry, but I have a request for you. There's a prisoner in trick tower, her name's Irene. She's in there for arson and thievery, but she's really kind! She has a wife back home and all she wants is to hold her again. So, could you please set her free? Or maybe just shorten her sentence?" I asked, fiddling with my thumbs nervously. Netero just blinked.

"I will see what I can do." He said. I nodded, thanked him, and walked out the door quickly, feeling incredibly embarrassed. 

I continued to wait, glancing at the setting sun from the window nervously. "Hey, what's wrong?" Someone asked, putting their hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Killua smiling warmly at me.

"Remember that prisoner Irene, from trick tower?" I asked him. He nodded. "I asked Chairman Netero to at least shorten her sentence, but I think I just made myself look more like an idiot in the process." I sighed.

"Oi! Don't talk like that! I'm sure you did just fine." Killua smiled, flicking my forehead.

~

After some more waiting, it was finally time for our final test. 

"Well then, everyone rested up?" Netero asked. A few people nodded, but I stayed silent. "Good. The hunter exam committee runs this hotel, so I want all of you to make yourselves at home until the battles have concluded." He explained. "For the final phase of the hunter exam, you'll be competing in a one-on-one tournament." He said as a man pulled out a large rectangle on wheels covered in a white sheet. Netero yanked off the sheet to reveal a whiteboard with photos of the remaining applicants in a chart. This chart showed who would be fighting who. I looked for my photo to see that I was put up against Quinn.

"Hold on a second. So only the last person standing passes?" Someone asked.

"No. You only need one win to pass this phase." Netero held up his finger to his nose.

"Just one?" Gon repeated.

"Wait, So in this tournament..." Leorio spoke.

"See, it's the winners who will drop away and the losers who will advance to the next round," Netero said dully. "Which means, the person who finishes at the top will not pass." He pointed at the top part of the graph. "Makes sense to everyone?"

I nodded, but I was still confused. "So only one person will fail, right?" I asked, double-checking for clarification.

"That's correct."