Riza Chronicles: Book 1

Back to the "Why?"

Her small table, which was barely big enough for two people, now seated five. 

After Gon's lacking confession about why he had run off, all attention had turned to the amnesiac. It took about a thousand questions for him to understand the fact that the rest of the group needed a better explanation than just putting the blame on Riza. So, he just responded with a simple "she smells funny." 

Needless to say that she was a bit embarrassed by that statement. Sure, she must've smelled a bit earthy, given the fact that she had slept on the ground of a forest; but it couldn't had been so bad that he noticed her from --apparently-- one or two miles away. 

The white haired boy, whose name she had learned was Killua, deadpanned at the new bit of information. "That's not helpful at all..." 

"Gon, could you please elaborate a bit more?" Kurapika, the blonde, pressed. 

He hummed softly, and rocked back and forth in his seat. Lost in thought for a good couple of seconds, the green-clad boy glanced up at the sky; as if the answer was just written there neatly in the clouds. "Hm... It's a bit hard to explain. I don't recognize the scent at all. But it just feels...wrong, I guess?" 

Ah, yes. Because that cleared everything up.

Riza had been sitting quietly almost the entire time. When they had done introductions, Gon had done the talking on her part; despite knowing almost nothing about her (not that she could've done any better). But, seeing as though the conversation was more or less about her, she just assumed that it was only right that she jump in every once in a while. "Sorry but... wrong? Wrong how?" Yes she was more or less accepting the explanation. And no, she wasn't taking it as an insult. Yet. 

Again, it took him a few seconds to answer. "I dunno. It's kinda like you're out of place. Like uh... A foxbear in a cage or something." 

"And so you decided to ditch us and hunt her down because of that?!" Leorio, the dude in the suit, demanded. 

The boy pouted a bit and slumped in his seat. "I smelled something weird... I wanted to see what it was." 

Killua was still trying to recover from the fact that his friend had "indirectly" insulted the girl that they had just met. Sitting silently to the side, the kid's shoulders could be seen shaking; and a hand was held up to his mouth as he tried to keep any noise from escaping. The best part of the conversation had been the fact that Gon was pretty much completely oblivious to what he had accomplished. While it was a very serious situation, there were a few small jokes that one could easily pick up if they paid enough attention. And saying that someone "smells funny" was definitely one of them. 

Meanwhile, the Kurta was taking things a bit more seriously. His gaze was harshly focused on the table as he tried to pick apart the younger's words. While his words could be a little goofy and overly-simplified at times, Gon had a ridiculous 6th sense; one so tuned that it could rival a wild animal's. The blonde was intent on at least figuring out what the fudge his companion was talking about. "So... You're saying that she 'smells' like she doesn't belong here? Like she's supposed to be somewhere entirely different?" 

The raven's eyes lit up a bit, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that! But, like I said, I don't recognize it at all; so I'm not sure where Riza would fit in." 

"I..." The teenager started. She tried to pitch into the conversation, but immediately failed. She honestly had no idea what to say to that. First she woke up with no memories whatsoever, and the next she was basically being told that she was so far from being in the right place that it wasn't even funny. If any other weird thing was to be pitched her way, then it might as well happen within the next hour or so; while she still had the sanity to process everything. 

All eyes shot in her direction almost in perfect sync. While no one there currently had an answer, they were all silently hoping to get one from the amnesiac. Only problem was that Riza was at an even bigger loss than they were. 

She was still trying to figure out what a foxbear was. 

Sliding under the table a bit, the girl slumped in her seat. The attention wasn't all that welcoming, and caused a small army of murderous butterflies to attack her stomach. She wanted to disappear. 

"Riza-san," Kurapika spoke up, "where are you from? It would help a bit if you told us about yourself." 

The blunette came close to letting out a small, dry laugh. 'If I knew, I would've spilled the beans already.' Trying to gain back at least a little of her composure, she pushed herself back up into a proper sitting position. A hand shot up to the back of her neck, and Riza did her best to avoid as much eye contact as possible. "Erm... Well, small problem. I uh... can't really do that." 

"Why not?" The young white haired boy immediately jumped back into action at the sign of slightly suspicious behavior. "What, are you a wanted criminal or something?" 

Criminal?

Shaking her head frantically, the teenager could feel her face heat up a bit in embarrassment. "N-no! I'm not. I mean, I don't think I am... I'm pretty sure that I would've remembered if I was..." Okay, that was 100% false. For all she knew, Riza could've been a famous serial killer and would've been completely oblivious to it. Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to pick out her next words carefully. "I can't  tell you because I'm fuzzy about the details myself. As it stands now, I barely know my own name." 

Actually, now that she thought about it, she wasn't completely sure that "Riza" was her name. 

Oh god, this amnesia thing sucked. How many existential crisis' was she going to go through? 

There was a brief period of silence as that thought hung in the air. For a good second or two, the amnesiac was pretty sure that they either hadn't heard her, or that she had somehow killed all of them with the stupidity of her explanation. Fortunately, it didn't last for even half a minute. Unfortunately... 

"Lady. How stupid do you think we are?" Killua demanded. "I mean, I'd understand if you were just talking to Leorio--" 

"Oi!" 

"-- but did you seriously think that we would just accept that without any hesitation?!" 

And she was back to trying to disappear under the table. Despite being older than the Zoldyck, she couldn't help but feel extremely intimidated. This kid was like a freaking monster. A very deadly --kind of adorable-- monster. 

Riza honestly had no argument against that. Yes, her claiming to have no memories must've seemed like a complete stretch; it still sounded unreal even to her. All she could do at this point was deny that she was lying, and to stick with the same story. However, the girl was extremely nervous that none of the people around her would believe it. If the freaking 13 year old was questioning the validity of her story, then no doubt the older people in the group were doing the same. 

Despite her doubts, the teenager still tried to get her point across. "Believe what you want, but I'm not lying. I really don't remember anything. Much less anything that would help you figure out... What I smell like..." Wow, that last bit was weird to say out loud. 

Killua was going to argue even further, but his friend took the stage. Gon pulled on Leorio's sleeve, trying to grab his attention. "Hey, Leorio. You're studying to become a doctor, so do you know how to tell if someone really lost their memories?" 

Rubbing the back of his neck, the man had to think about that question for a moment. But, after a little while of silently mumbling to himself, the raven shrugged. "Well, there are a few small tests, although they aren't 100% accurate. Without actually monitoring her brain patterns, it'll be impossible to know for--." 

"Okay, awesome!"