Whispers of the Sky (Hunter X Hunter)

Deception And X Trust (Rhode's PoV)

The eyes are easily fooled,
Listen to the heart... It never lies.
 -*-

It was like being suffocated.

The moment our feet had landed on the floors of what appeared to be an underground tunnel, an oppressive wave of aura greeted us which made the hairs on my skin stand and my stance turn tense.

I could tell Yllina felt it too, her eyes flickering in slight fear and her skin breaking in cold sweat as she shuffled closer to me. Our three companions also felt it, although they hid it slightly better than we did.

"I wonder how many people are here?" Gon suddenly spoke, my eyes slightly wide with surprise at how the boy managed to remain passive amidst the crushing aura surrounding us.

"Now that you're all here, that would make it about 407 candidates so far," A voice echoed in the background causing all our heads to turn to the source.

Not too far from us sat a very plump man dressed in a usual training outfit of white and blue. Everything about him seemed geometrical which made me smirk at the thought. Although, I wasn't really wrong since his stomach was a huge circle in itself. Even his reddish brown hair was styled like a geometrical shape of a rectangle. The defining part though was the nose, if Yllina were to hear my thoughts now, she'd probably be laughing.

"Here's your number!" Snapping me out my musings was a small oddly shaped being that resembled what appeared to be a bean. I gave him a long look of curiosity since it was the first time I've seen such a creature. Of course, the creature in question seemed unperturbed by my stare, its eyes expectantly looking at me.

"Ohh...sorry," I managed to apologize, realization dawning on me that I had yet to take my number. The moment the round plate left its hands, the creature then bowed and turned to Yllina to hand hers. Yllina shared the same curious expression I did but unlike me, she had easily forgotten about the bean-shaped creature the moment it had left her when she got her number.

"406...that would probably make her 407," I easily noted in my mind to make sure I would be able to assess our situation should our numbers be used for a certain part of the exam.

After all, they wouldn't just randomly give us numbers without a reason. So it's safe to assume that our plates would hold a very important role in the future. So it was of utmost priority that I kept tabs on Yllina's plate as well as my own. Should the need arise then I would easily know how to keep her safe.

"Rhode! Look what Tonpa-san gave us," Yllina called out to me, her hands carrying two juice cans.

"Tonpa-san?" I questioned before Yllina motioned to the geometric man conversing with Gon and the others.

"While you were busy in your own world, Tonpa-san gave us a quick review of some of the takers in the exam. This is his 35th attempt so he knows almost everyone in the room!" Yllina explained jovially which made me raise an eyebrow at what she had said.

"35th attempt? I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, Mistress. Can we really trust him?" I asked suspiciously, my eyes turning back to Tonpa who was busy drinking juice.

"Blegh! Tonpa-san, I think your juice is expired!" Gon, who had been the first to drink, pointed out to the geometric man. My first instinct was to open the juice can, giving it a light whiff but the scent of spoilt juice did not invade my senses.

Gon may have been wrong that the juice was spoilt but I wasn't too ready to forgive the man named Tonpa. It may not have a scent but it was the only thing to go by if spoilage wasn't the issue. The man had spiked our drink with something. It was the only reason why he seemed adamant about giving us drinks and why Gon spit it out the moment he tasted it.