Itsy Bitsy Spider

11. In Midnight Smoke

The girl seemed to falter a bit before giving her answer. "Rein. My name is Rein."

Killua's eyes narrowed momentarily before he caught himself and slipped back into indifferent coolness.

Was she telling the truth? When he first saw her, she'd been in a room, isolated and clearly in emotional pain. Based on only that, he would have assumed that she was being held against her will by the Troupe. But she had been free to leave the room. The door was rickety and unlocked, the room had basic needs, and there had been food waiting outside of the door, still giving off wisps of steam. She hadn't been mistreated. So while she didn't seem to be lying, she had been in the Spiders' hideout as something other than a captive. He was positive she wasn't a Phantom Troupe member, but there was a chance she could have been working with them... A child of them, maybe? Or manipulation? What if it was a Nen ability? If it was a Nen ability, they were done for. The Phantom Troupe was talented beyond belief. If any of their Nen influence had made it here, there was no telling what information had already been leaked. Their names, approximate ages... heck if they could see through her eyes, hunting them down would be easy! The swordsman Nobunaga was looking for them. He wanted them in the Troupe, and Killua didn't think he would give up right away. They had to be careful.

But if the girl...

"KI-LLU-A!" Gon tapped Killua's forehead with each syllable. "Are you okay?"

"Wha-" The girl—Rein—was looking at him curiously, and he froze under her eye. Was she a spy? One of the Troupe? Perhaps she was nothing more than a Nen puppet by one of the more skilled Spiders. If any of the above was true, he had to be careful of what he said or did, and the same went for Gon. But for that, he had to find an opportunity to tell Gon of his suspicions. To do that, he had to remain calm and act like nothing was wrong, at least until she left them alone. Calm. "Yeah, just blanked for a sec."

"Oh. Anyway." Gon pulled his hand back to his side. "Killua, what's your favorite animal?"

"When the heck did the conversation turn to this."

Rein shrugged from behind Gon. "I like... monkeys, I guess? Birds?"

"I like everything!" Gon smiled and threw his arms into the air. He paused before looking back down. "And yours is...?"

Killua turned away and laughed to cover up the fact that he was still furiously thinking behind his mask he was putting up. He put a hand to his head and made his shoulders shake.

He was probably overthinking this. Gon's absurd question helped him to snap out of his mental rambling. Most likely he was overthinking this, but it was better safe than sorry. Assuming she had positive connections with the Phantom Troupe, she would have had a motive to come along with them and abandon the rest of the Spiders so abruptly, which meant they still had to be careful about what they said and how they said it. Whenever she gave any sort of response, Killua had to see, hear, and analyze it.

It was probably nothing.

But if it was anything else than that, they would be in big trouble.

"Killua, you still haven't answered."

He tried to glare but ended up laughing, for real this time. "Cats."

*     *     *

The train ran underground, rumbling as it rushed ahead. Rein hadn't ridden one before, and the shaking was more nerve-wracking then she'd thought it would be. It was almost as if the separate cars were barely able to stay together, and with every bump, irrational images of the train falling apart jolted her insides. It made her more nervous than she'd expected, but it was still exciting. Scary yet fun. Her stomach turned inside out, but it was good, like riding a roller coaster.