𝖌𝖚𝖒𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖎

f o r t y . n i n e

"one more time."

gon lifted his arm to reveal his severely bruised hand. his arm shook as the man clasped his hand with gon's. he had been slamming the poor boy's arm to the stone slab they used as a table over and over. the man gave gon no time to recover. gon's hand landed onto the slab once again with a thud.

"one more time," his hand held gon's. "ready.. go."

gon struggled to keep his hand from making contact with the slab. he pushed as his teeth grinded against each other.

"..hey.. when it comes to arm-wrestling, what's my rank among the spiders?" the man suddenly asked in the silence.

"seventh or eighth?"

"you're not weak but you're not strong."

"and the strongest was this guy called uvogin. but apparently, he was killed by the chain user.."

"we already said we don't know who that is!" killua interrupted, making the man slam gon's hand down onto the stone slab.

"if you speak without permission again.. i'll kill you," he threatened, making killua freeze with fear. "one more time. ready.. go."

gon lifted his arm once again. blood dripped from the back of his hand.

"he was an enhancer. simple-minded and straightforward, he loved a good, all-out fight. but he was fussy about time. he'd get into fights with franklin and me when we were late. he'd beat the crap out of me in an unarmed brawl.. i've known him since before the troupe was founded. i know him better than anyone. he would never... uvo would never lose in a fight! he must've been caught in some dirty trap!!"

gon's eyes widened a fraction when finding tears streaming down the man's face. he obviously cared about the fallen member dearly as a friend or brother..

"i will make his killer pay. i'll find him, no matter how many i have to kill. the chain user bears a strong grudge against us. the mafia's nostrade family hired him recently. you might not know him directly but you may have heard stories of him! think hard.. if you have any guesses, spill them!"

"i don't know anything. but even if i did, i would never tell you! i thought you were a bunch of heartless monsters, but you'll mourn the death of one of your own?" gon inquired, grip tightening and blood falling faster and in more quantities. "why couldn't you spare.. spare a fraction of that grief.. for the people you've killed?!"

finally, gon managed to push the man's hand down onto the slab and earn his first win. suddenly, [name] capturer appeared behind him in a fraction of a second. he was too far for the human eye to register.

"you're getting too cocky.."

"gon!"

as gon's left arm was twisted behind his back and he was forced to bend over onto the table, killua instinctively stepped forward to help gon. [name] knew better. killua was stopped by hisoka's card meeting with his neck and blood escaped.

"another step, and i'll cut you up," hisoka whispered.

as the man questioned gon and a disagreement rose, [name] simple crossed her arms over one another and sighed as she overlooked the scene. a feminine voice from behind her began to speak.

"do you not care about your little friend?" they asked, making [name] hum in thought. "are you not acquainted?"

"well.. i do know them, but not because we were after the same goal. i met them before coming here - to yorknew, " [name] confessed, head tilting backwards to meet eyes with the woman behind her. "and about caring for them? i do. rather i know well enough to not interfere with any activity going on within these walls."

[name]'s head tilted back down when she heard the sound of a coin being flipped.

they flipped a coin earlier when there was only two of them as well..

"tails.."

"heads!"

the long haired man lifted his arm to reveal the coin. it was heads, so it was to the man's favour.

"it's heads. let him go."

once the shorter male released gon, the boy immediately jumped away and held his shoulder with gritted teeth.

"so? what do we do with them? they haven't told us anything about the chain user yet," shizuku, the woman with black clothing and glasses asked.

"if they don't know anything, we can let them go. well, pakunoda?" a large man with scars and stitched on his face asked, head turning to look at the woman behind [name].

"as for the two boys, i checked on the trip here. they really don't know anything."

"you're sure?"

"yes. they have no memories of the chain user. as for this girl," pakunoda started, eyes travelling down to meet with [name]'s. "you already know what i'm about to ask, but.. do you know or have heard of a chain user?"

the woman placed a hand on [name]'s shoulder. [name] felt all eyes on her.

"no, i do not know or have heard of a chain user," she claimed.

pakunoda paused, quiet in thought for a moment before she lifted her head to reveal the results. pakunoda nodded, meaning [name] was telling the truth. she truly did not know of a chain user.

"well, that's that. if they have nothing to do with the chain user, we can let them go?"

"yeah, there's no point in keeping them here."

"no, we can't be sure they're completely unrelated. it's possible they're being used. if the chain user typically conceals his chains, they wouldn't realise he was the chain user. we shouldn't release them until they tell us who they're working for," a tall man with slicked back blonde hair spoke, stepping forward.

"assuming they're working for someone else, it wouldn't be the chain user. because he operates alone," another blonde interrupted.

"then you agree with nobunaga.."

"rather than use a couple of kids, we can find the information we need through the nostrade family. since we know the chain user's a member," the blonde male explained, earning a few agreements here and there. "our target is the chain user. we should ignore everyone else."

"there you go. you kids are lucky," the short, black haired male muttered, eyes moving to the two boys and [name]. "actually.. you, girl."

[name] stopped midway in her journey from pakunoda to gon and killua. she was right in front of the male who had called for her. she cocked her head.

"me?"

"yes, you. take it off," he demanded, shocking and confusing the girl. "your mask. off."

[name] blinked hard. she didn't question it as she pulled it down and revealed her face. she smiled as the colour drained from the male's face and his eyes widened.

"oi, you okay, feitan? something on her face?" another member asked, eyebrows furrowing when the male failed to respond. "hey, you. turn around."

[name] didn't move for a moment. she adjusted her glasses and turned on her heel to face the rest of the phantom troupe. they simultaneously gasped.

"[name]?!"

~

i cringe this ending though 😭