The Razor's Edge [[Feitan x Reader]]

25: The First Night on The Island

   A few weeks had passed and there was still no sign of Akira.

   I wasn't naïve enough to believe that this meant he'd given up and gone home. No, realistically I knew that he was getting closer to finding me—that is, if he hadn't already.

   Feitan still spent every night sleeping in the corner of my room, even after he'd fixed the door. I tried convincing him that it wasn't necessary, that I'd just had the one bad dream and was really fine since that night, but he still insisted.

   I finally told the rest of the troupe about my situation, omitting some unimportant details, of course. They all assured me that they'd be willing to fight for me if the time came. I couldn't help but feel guilty. The troupe shouldn't have been worrying about going to war for me, they already had enough on their plate with the upcoming mission.

   We had found a replacement for Hisoka, who left the troupe the same night that we lost Chrollo and Pakunoda. It turned out that he never really was a spider, he was only playing the role. His replacement was the youngest son of the Zoldycks—a famous family of assassins. I was surprised to see someone so young joining the troupe, but he was apparently a very skilled nen user.

   Shalnark was working on finalizing things for our Greed Island mission. About a week prior he, Shizuku, and Kortopi had gone into the game to gather more intel. When they got back Shalnark seemed to have a clearer plan. He sent Feitan and Phinks to secure a boat and supplies for us all to take to the islands where the game took place. They'd been gone all day.

   I'd spent the afternoon training with Machi and the others. When she decided that we'd done enough work for the day, we retired back inside the base. She invited me to play a game of cards with her and Shizuku.

   "You're making great progress," Machi said to me as she dealt us our hands.

   "It doesn't feel like it."

   "You just don't see it yet. You will."

   "No one is perfect when they're first mastering their nen," Shizuku said, trying to comfort me.

   Shizuku had told me she was a specialist, though, so her experience would likely be a little different from mine. "Hey, Shizuku, i'm not sure i've ever asked—what do you think inspired your ability? I've just never seen anything like it."

   "Hmm," she considered it for a moment. "I'm not sure."

   "Really?" Machi pressed. "You don't think it had anything to do with how you grew up?"

   She gave her a confused look. "I'm not sure what you mean."

   "Where are you from, Shizuku?" I asked.

   "Meteor City, just like everybody else."

   "Oh, I didn't realize you grew up there, too. I guess I assumed you came from somewhere else since you're newer to the troupe."

   "Yeah, I was just younger than most of the other members, so none of them really hung around with me, but I was always a fan of them! I remember watching their shows."

   "Shows?"

   Machi sighed. "We started out as a theatre troupe. The others—not me—would put on plays for the other kids based on the power cleaners."

   "They were so good!" Shizuku told me before gasping and turning back to Machi. "Hey, do you think that's it?! Do you think I ended up with a cleaning-based nen ability because I wanted to be a power cleaner so bad?"

   Machi shrugged as she studied her cards before placing one that she didn't want face-up on the table. "Maybe. It would make sense."

   I grabbed a card from the deck. "Which power cleaner did you want to be?"