It Lives | HunterxHunter

i'll believe it all (there's nothing i won't understand)

The group finally made it to Zaban City, the site for the Hunter Exam. [Name] looked around at the various market stalls, feeling the urge to explore the items being sold. But they didn't want to risk being late for the exam.

Gon was just as excited, bouncing around, "ooh"-ing and "ahh"-ing over the different items. Leorio didn't seem as interested, but he was still looking around. Kurapika remained stoic, which wasn't surprising to [Name].

"As Navigators, our job is to identify worthy Hunter applicants," the Navigators began to explain as they walked along. "And guide them to the exam site." He glanced over his shoulder at the group, then looked back at the paper in his hands. "In other words, it would be challenging for someone to reach the site without a Navigator's help."

[Name] blinked, only to realize that Gon wasn't with the group anymore. What the fuck? [Name] thought, their head spinning as they quickly looked around, trying to find the boy. It felt like the group had lost Gon. Why did he have to move away from the group?

"Hey, [Name], look what I got!" Gon's voice suddenly called out, and [Name] jumped in surprise, a hand flying to their chest over their heart.

"You scared me!" [Name] hissed, but Gon didn't seem fazed. Instead, he raised his hand, showing off a frog on a stick.

"Want some, [Name]?" Gon asked, beaming as he pushed the frog stick in front of [Name]'s face.

[Name]'s eye twitched as they caught a whiff of the food, and the smell hit their nose like a punch. It smelled horrible, and honestly, the sight of it made them want to gag. They gently pushed his hand away from their face, but Gon just kept smiling, unfazed by their rejection.

"No, thanks, Gon," [Name] said warily, still staring at the stick. God, it reminded them of their frog Shikigami, and eating it felt like it would be betraying their shadow.

Gon puffed out his cheeks. "It's called a Panda Frog on a stick!" He waved the stick in the air like it was the best thing in the world. "It's good!"

[Name] sighed, and before they could say anything else,

The Panda Frog, still skewered on the stick, suddenly slipped off as Gon waved it around, the frog sliding off with a soft thud before landing squarely on a passerby's shoe. The person jumped back in surprise, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Ah! What the heck?!" The person screamed, looking down at the frog on their shoe in horror. "You dang kids! No respect nowadays!" they continued, shaking their foot as if trying to shake the frog off.

Gon stood there, frozen, holding the now empty skewer in shock. "Uh... sorry! It slipped!" he called out quickly, but the person was already glaring at him.

[Name] couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing, covering their mouth. "I can't believe that actually happened!" They couldn't stop chuckling, watching the scene unfold in front of them. Serves him right for trying to feed them that monstrosity.

Gon, embarrassed and flustered, started apologizing desperately. "I'm sorry! Really! It wasn't on purpose!"

The person was getting more upset, yelling back at Gon. "You kids think it's funny to throw food around?!"

[Name], still laughing, quickly grabbed Gon by the arm and pulled him away before things escalated. "Come on, Gon! Let's get out of here before we get into even more trouble!"

Gon stumbled as [Name] tugged him away, calling over his shoulder, "I'm really sorry!" He glanced back at [Name] with a sheepish expression. "This is all your fault for not eating it when I told you, [Name]!"

[Name] just laughed harder, pulling him further away from the angry person. "You're lucky it wasn't worse! At least we're not the ones getting a lecture!"