The Dancer & The Magician (Hisoka Romance)

Chapter 23: The Bomber

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I know I need to sleep. My body's growing tenser by the minute. If I'm going to brave that, it shouldn't be around people. It should be at home. I could try to transport, but I don't want it to trigger more flashbacks, besides walking helps calm me down.

I take the back alleys through the village to avoid seeing the boys or any of the men from the bar. Thankfully most people are going about business as normal. They're probably used to seeing players come and go, many by violent means, which works in my favor now. Some players slay others for cards, put curses on others just to try to stay ahead of the game. I get that the cash prize is a big motivator but you can't spend the money if you're dead. No amount is worth peace of mind in my opinion, not that I have much of that right now.

It's the second half of the day. The sky's slowly dimming. Still bright enough for me to be spotted. I'm not really worried about other contestants as I am running into Gon and Killua. Aside Killua's embarrassment from our mouth to mouth, it'd be easier to go my separate way without seeing them. No questions. No disappointments or reassurances. I don't want to make promises I don't know if I'll be able to keep. I almost killed a little boy who was only trying to protect me, who looks up to me, wants me to mentor him. And I repay that by almost killing him.

I could try telling myself I didn't know what I was doing, it was an accident, he got in the way, but I'm still gonna feel like shit for what I did. Maybe one day I'll find a way to make it up to him, but I won't be any good to anybody until I get my nen under control. The nen exorcist is my top priority now. I can't go on much further like this. Whatever curse Pakunoda put on me is poison that's slowly killing me and I need it to stop. I need my life back.

The next alley across the street is closed off so I'll have to take the sidewalk. If I'm gonna walk out directly in public, I'll need to change my clothes. I look up and down the strip to see if there are any clothing stores. There are several. I decide to go into the athletic store and get the most dressed down clothes I can find. There's a set of dark gray sweats that I settle on before realizing I gave all the cash I had on me to the barkeep as compensation for destroying his business. I dump my old clothes in the trash in the dressing room and decide to sneak out, avoiding the cameras as much as possible. The cashier is busy with another client so I figure it'll be easy to sneak out.

But then her throat clears. "Excuse me, ma'am, you'll have to pay for that outfit before you leave.

My legs keep going as the voice behind me grows to a shout. Running's not an option since I don't want to draw attention to myself, but I do need to get scarce. The cashier probably set off an alarm. It'll take a few minutes maximum for authorities to get here, the roads are pretty clear so that'll speed things up. I look around to see if there's another store big enough for me to hide in, when I notice a few men from the bar hanging out down the block including the baldy who approached me. His injuries include a black eye, two missing teeth, a fat lip, and a couple of broken fingers reset in small crude casts.

This would be the perfect opportunity for him to get back at me by trying to hand me over to the cops. I can't use my nen out here. Too many civilians. I can't risk going berserk. Besides that'll give the players more to talk about and spread to others and I really don't need to make more of a reputation for myself. Police sirens sound around the corner. There's no choice but to sneak back into the alleyway I came out of. When I get to the end I hear two familiar young voices.

"So how was it?" Gon asks, his back leaning up against the wall of the building.

Shit. I have no choice but to hide in the dark until somebody, or hopefully everybody, leaves.