Even Monkeys Fall from Trees (HxH Fic)

Chapter 02

I sat cross-legged on my bed facing the highly suspicious purple gem in front of me, lost in my own contemplations. The fact that it was there right in front of me, defied all sorts of logic. It wasn't something that was supposed to exist in the first place! I mean, what kind of hallucination left a byproduct?! Of course, there was the possibility that during my bath bomb induced hallucination I left my apartment and robbed a jewelry store blind. But if that were the case, I would've long been arrested for theft and public indecency by now.

Needless to say, my clean record was still spotless so I couldn't have had left my apartment during my 'episode'.

Unfortunately, this only led me to the other conclusion I could think of—stress. It made perfect sense really; I was a struggling student in a prestigious university with a crap ton of papers due, not to mention the biweekly tests I still had to study for. As a result, my poor brain decided to create a mirage to satisfy my much needed eye candy.

I chose not to dwell any further on the gift I received and the fact that one of my softest towels was forever ruined. The lesser I thought about the incident the better. I still had more pressing matters to attend to, such as my upcoming exam.

Ugh. Just thinking about it made me groan.

With a soft whine, I helplessly looked at the pile of readings littered with colorful post-it notes. I was only half way done studying and the exam was going to be next week already! Luckily I had the night off from work so I had extra time to go through them.

"Alright, you can do this Hazuki!" I lightly slapped my hands against my cheeks to wake myself up. "No more getting distracted!"

.

"I...give up." I halfheartedly stirred the spoon in my coffee cup as I stared into nothingness. It was a good while since I began studying nonstop and the fatigue was finally getting to me. I was proud to note that I made good progress but at the cost of my sleep. From the corner of my eye, I could see that the sky was beginning to tinge into pink and purple, signaling that the sun was about to rise once again.

I died a little more inside.

Glancing at my phone, I nearly cringed at the reminder that my first class was in two hours.

I looked at my bed, debating the pros and cons of taking a quick nap before I headed off. There was always that risk of not waking up to my alarm and Nishikino-sensei was an absolute nightmare who would throw a fit if I missed a single minute of his lecture. With a defeated groan, I headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower before going out, grabbing the pair of clean clothes I laid on my bed. After all, despite my exhaustion, I still wanted to look my best you know?

.

In record time that my mother would've been so proud of that it would send her to tears, I finished my unfortunately brief shower. Wrapped in nothing but a bathrobe and with my hair up in a towel, I stood in front of the sink – ready to do my morning regimen. I fumbled around for my moisturizer but to my immense disappointment, the bottle turned out to be empty. Ah, I threw the empty container in the bin,Didn't I buy another one some time back ?

Pushing myself off the sink, I trudged back to my room—only to be greeted by the sight of the interior of an old building as soon as I opened the door.

"What—" I shut the door closed before reopening it after a few seconds but surprise, surprise the scenery still didn't change. "The hell." I stared flatly at the cracks of the pillars of the building, silently wondering if the Powers That Be hated me.

Was I having another episode? I rubbed my eyes, pinched my cheeks and even slapped myself but no matter what I did, I was still there.

Maybe I should just wait this one out again like before? Who knows what kind of trouble I would get into if I started snooping around again like last time? The sudden reminder of the ungrateful pervert made me click my tongue in distaste. I was still sore about how he easily dismissed me, even if he did have a pretty face.