ghostgirl

A5

The noisy crowd hushed and went silent as a man with pink hair and dressed in a purple suit stood before them.

"Welcome, all four hundred applicants, to the Hunter Exam!" His voice announced through the speakers, "I am Satotz, your first examiner. For the first phase, you all need to follow me!"

He then turned around, and walked off into the dark unknown ahead of them in the tunnel. Reniku gazed at the enormous tunnel in bewilderment.

The noisy speculation of the crowd around Reniku was loud. "Seriously? The first round is just to follow him?"

At first, she and her friends were near the front of the crowd, as more applicants began to follow in Satotz's footsteps and increasing their speeds to keep to the front of the pack, the short Gon and Reniku kept their group at a constant slower walking speed. Soon they ended up somewhere around the middle of the pack of walkers.

It was not long before people started running in front of them.

"How is he so fast? He's still only walking!"

Confused exclaims from the crowd before them were heard, and Reniku had started running too. And, being the Reniku she was, she was very confused.

Soon, some applicants had started to drop to the ground, tiredness beginning to get the better of them.

Reniku's breathing started to harden as she ran, going from aerobic to anaerobic respiration (im sorry this is random biology knowledge i have 😵) and her muscles started to tire out. She knew she was not going to last long.

She glanced at Gon, wondering how he could run so effortlessly even after fifteen minutes had passed by. How long was it going to take to finish the run?

Reniku didn't notice the cacophony of scratching and vibrations of a skateboard behind her at first, until the noises gradually ended up right beside her. She looked to her left, and seeing a white-haired boy on a skateboard, she wished she had brought her own.

The boy had blue eyes, wore a long-sleeved blue shirt with a turtleneck and a white overshirt. He wore purple knee-length shorts and dark purple shoes. His number tag had the number '99'. His skateboard was yellow and had a print with a red arrow pointing forward on it. Reniku's pupils danced up and down with judgement of his style.

He was calm and composed with his hands in his pockets and his eyes closed. After Gon accidentally bumped into him with a "Sorry!", he opened an eye to study him and Reniku. She then looked away frantically, her eyes suddenly finding the ground moving beneath them very interesting. Gon paid no attention to anyone but the now visible Satotz.

Leorio, who was behind them about a metre or so, yelled at the mysterious boy to run instead of skate because it was unfair. Gon replied, "Satotz said just to follow him, not indicating if we had to run," making Leorio grunt.

Reniku's muscles were hurting. "How old are you guys?" The boy asked.

Gon faced him, the opposite direction of Reniku, "Hm? Oh, we're almost twelve. How about you?"

The boy continued for a while before professionally flipping his skateboard, letting it spin in the air and then caught it, clamping it in between his upper arm body.

"That means I'm about the same age as you two. I guess I'll run too," he said. Reniku couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and excitement. Were they going to make more new friends?

Gon's eyes lit up. "What's your name? I'm Gon."

The boy replied, "Killua."

Reniku said, "I'm Reniku."