Backstitch [HxH]

X Three X

3rd person POV

Leorio arrives out of the tunnel, exhausted. He's bent over, heaving. He loses his balance, falling to the ground. Expecting concrete, Leorio is instead greeted with the girl who had bumped into his group earlier. She lay on the pavement, coughing. Leorio jumps up in a panic, dusting himself off.

"Oh my god, I think you killed her," Killua says, leaning over the two.
"I did not!" Leorio defends himself. "She's just... knocked out"
"You don't sound too sure of yourself, Leorio," Kurapika notes. "You did fall on top of her. We should probably see if she's ok."
Leorio then crouches down to Y/n, poking her a few times. "She's out." He says, getting back up and stretching.
"You said you wanted to be a doctor. You should be acting like one," Kurapika orders.
"Oh yeah. I guess I should do that." Leorio once again crouches this time flipping her over and sets you against the wall.

POV: 2nd person

     You cough, your vision slowly returning. Someone had taken a handkerchief and held it up to your mouth. You cough into it again, your eyes blinking. In front of you are the four boys from earlier, staring at you.

     "Oh hey. Leorio didn't kill you after all" its the silver boy who was running beside Gon.
     "Oh, so he was the one on top of me? Yeah, that's a shame he'd didn't" you laugh-cough. "Anyway, what's up?"
     You try to get up but can't. Leorio then extends his arm towards you.  "Wow, you recover fast" Leorio comments, hauling you up.
     "I was only knocked out," you say, brushing off your clothes. "Now what?"

     They catch you up with what the examiner had said. The examiner had waited for everyone to finish, so nothing big had happened. You hear the examiner once again give instructions. "The Milsy Wetlands, also know as Swindler's Swamp. We must cross it to reach phase two of the exam. This place is home to a variety of truly bizarre animals. Many of which are crafty, vicious creatures who deceive and feast on human prey. So please be very careful. If you're deceived, you'll surely die." His final words put everyone on edge.

     You can here the door behind you close, which steals most examinees' attention. As it's closing, you can hear some pleading for the others to wait for him. His plead is cut off by the overhead door closing.  Satoz then continues on his small lecture about the swamp and its inhabitants. "These wetland creatures are not to be underestimated, for they will use every trick in the book to fool their prey. This is an ecosystem in which all creatures hunt by the art of deception. That is also why it is called Swindler's Swamp." Satoz turns around. "Now, please follow me closely so you won't be deceived."

Leorio's the next one to talk. "Pff is he messing with us? If we know they'll try to deceive us, who's going to fall for it."
Your quick to point out why he's wrong. "Even so, there will still be people who will be deceived, whether we're informed or not-"

"Don't fall for it!!" you're cut off by a voice coming from behind the tunnel exit. "Listen, what did I just say" Leorio groans.
"Don't let them fool you" the man who was taking emerges, earning gasps from other applicants.
"He's lying. That man is lying to you!" He shouts, pointing at Satoz. "He's an imposter! A total fraud! I'm the real examiner; you got it?!" He says, pointing to himself.

"Huh?! What's going on here?" Leorio shouts.
Another man who looks as if Saitama was on his way to a cosplay panel but ended up making the wrong turn and ended up at the Hunter Exam asks the next question. "But then, who is he really?"

The crazed man then drags what seems to be body out into view. "I'll prove it to you, just look at this!" You gasp in disgust. There lay a limp ape-like creature being held by the man, its face resembling Satoz's.
"Wow! He looks like Mr. Satoz!" Gon exclaims, pointing out the already obvious. You stare at the ape, eyeing it in a mix of confusion and disgust.
"This is a man faced-ape of the Milsy Wetlands. The man faced ape loves the taste of human flesh. But they're pretty weak, so they resort to deception. They disguise themselves as humans so they can lure you into the wetlands, where all sorts of creatures with kill you. That's what he wants! To deceive the entirety of the Hunter applicant pool!" He goes on to accuses Satoz."

This causes everyone to tense up, even more than before. "Bastard," "that explains why he runs funny" but isn't there a bunch of people who run funny? If you're going to turn on him, I don't think that's the only thing you should be going off of. Your suspicious sure, but of both parties there. The scratched up man with the body could also easily be lying.

You catch six cards, three flying towards the man, and the other three towards Satoz. Satoz catches the three cards in his hands, while the others strike the accuser, knocking him hard into the ground. Your head snaps towards Hisoka, who's flipping through his cards, laughing to himself. "That settles it then. You are the real examiner." He grins at Satoz, who proceeds to discard the cards from his hands.

The man-faced ape resembling Satoz springs to its feet, scrambling away while screeching something unintelligible. You shriek at the sudden movement. Hisoka then continues on babbling. "The examiners are hunters, chosen by the Hunter Exam Committee. Anyone who holds the title we're trying for ourselves could surely deflect that attack. And quite easily I might add."

"I shall take that as a compliment. Thank you. Still, should you choose to attack me again for any reason, I will have no choice but to report you for attacking an examiner and will immediately have you disqualified. Is that clear?" Satoz says, his sharp gaze targeted at Hisoka. "Of course♡"

Your focus hadn't shifted from the imposter, whose body was now being torn at by vulture-like creatures. "Damn, nature's brutal," Leorio says in disgust.
"So he was a man-faced ape as well," Kurapika adds, the two of them staring at the carcass.

"He was trying to fool the applicants and lure some of you away. These attempts are to be expected. I'm sure some of you were fooled into suspecting my true identity."

Leorio rubs the back of his neck guiltily, and so does the Saitama guy. "Uh well aha."
You shoot Leorio a sideways glance, telling him no one cares if you were right or if you were wrong. He looks slightly offended by it, but you do your best to ignore it.

I want to make it abundantly clear that if you are to lose sight of me in the fog of the Milsy Wetlands, you have no hope whatsoever of reaching the second phase of the exam. You have been warned."

Now let's begin. Please follow me."

You did not want to get eaten by whatever lives in the wetlands, let alone those ugly apes. The best thing you can do now is just follow the examiner. Hopefully, that won't be too hard.

Word count: 1.2k

A/N: Thanks for reading! I know there hasn't been a bunch of interaction, but Y/n-chan will sure to get plenty during the cook-off and trick tower. So stay tuned!