Sacrificed, but still alive? (mha x hxh fanfic)

Chapter 7

Some lines are taken directly from the anime

Third POV

"The Numere Wetlands, popularly known as the Swindler's Swamp. This is the path you have to take to get to the Second Phase. There are many rare animals here that you can't find elsewhere. Many of them pray on human flesh by playing tricks on them." Satotz explained, "So everyone, be careful and follow me," he turned to the group, "If you're tricked, you will die."

The crowd of wanna-be hunters muttered doubts amongst themselves. Why should they believe a word the examiner said?

They all turned at the sound of the metal door closing right before another applicant could make it through. His desperate shouts really were quite pitiful. Hitoshi looked around, Hisoka and Illumi made it out obviously, so did the group of 3 + 1 that he thought was entertaining.

Hitoshi also wanted to sleep, but he can't really do that here. So being the problem solver he is, drank an unhealthy amount of coffee before the exam instead. He unfortunately didn't take any with him. The wall he was leaning against was feeling more comfortable every second. He's always tired but that's never stopped him before so why should it now? He can stay awake, he'll find a nice place to pass out (read try to pass out) at the second phase.

Hitoshi tuned out whatever else Satotz had to say in favor of looking around again. He shouldn't be treating this exam any differently then he would patrol. It really wasn't all that different, sure there were no crazy villains but there were crazy nen users instead *cough Hisoka cough*. There may not be any meddling civilians but there were dumb hunter applicants instead *cough bald ninja wanna-be cough*. See not that different at all. He would never fall asleep on the job so he won't fall asleep here, end of story.

"Don't fall for it!" someone shouted, breaking Hitoshi's thought process. "Don't let them fool you." the same voice continued, "That man has been lying to all of you! He's not an examiner. He's an imposter! I'm the real examiner!"

"Then who is he really?" The dumb ninja asked. Hitoshi's fingers twitched over the gun at his hip.

"Look at this!" the yelling man said, pulling a body from behind a wall. "He's a Man-faced Ape that dwells in the Numere Wetlands!"

The group of applicants were once again confused. Who could blame them? They were looking at a monster who greatly resembles their current "examiner". Hitoshi once again tuned out the conversation. He was really starting to question why he was even at the hunter exam. Sure Illu and Hiso asked him if he wanted to come but he had a feeling he never even had a choice in the matter. They wouldn't leave him alone anywhere, the last time Hitoshi was truly alone was when he was bleeding all over his bathroom floor after a rough night back home. Not his most favorite memory but the only one he can think of off the top of his head at the moment.

Hitoshi looked back at all the commotion when cards were thrown at the guy with the ape, the examiner and himself. He quickly caught the cards and shoved them in his pocket, he didn't want any unnecessary attention drawn to himself nor did he want to pull cards out of his skin later. He whipped out his phone and stared at it for a good 10 seconds before deciding against writing a whole paragraph explaining his displeasure.

Hitoshi was staring at Hisoka when the magician started to speak to the examiner, "I can see it now. Isn't it obvious? You're the real examiner."

Hitoshi really just wanted to continue with the exam already, he was bored, wanted (read needed) coffee and wanted to get a cat (or 10) from the local pet store near Heaven's arena. He once again tuned out the conversation. His dad had taught him enough about deception, mainly how to see through it for him to have already come to all the conclusions everyone else was just coming to now.

Hitoshi once again paid attention to his surroundings when everyone started running after the examiner again. He just followed silently. The fog was getting thicker and the examiner was speeding up. Not everyone would make it out of this transitional phase that's for sure.

Hitoshi saw a small group of people start to surround Hisoka. He knew Hisoka would be fine so he did nothing and let the confrontation play out. He lost sight of them quickly though as the fog was getting thicker again. Hitoshi just kept running, he wasn't particularly sure where he was going though, as people were disappearing left and right. Illumi and Hisoka would also be getting to the second stage. And he wasn't going to be left behind. Hitoshi tuned out the sound of people screaming and focused on the examiners nen, he had enough time to get a feel for it throughout the first stage and the idiotic conversation earlier. The examiner had already stopped moving and was presumably already at the goal. So Hitoshi sped up and ran towards the examiner. He jumped over a random log and sped up again, he was done with this gloomy forest he grew up in the city, this was not his cup of tea.

At this point he was practically sprinting, he didn't use nen to boost his speed but he didn't have to, he was fast enough. He had run over many rooftops in his career so randomly jumping and running again wasn't hard. He had thought about taking to the trees and running through the branches, but there were a fair number of things waiting to eat him there. He wasn't even tired yet (well he was tired just not from the physical activity) He was rather close to the examiner now, he was running down a nice path, a welcome change from the wet grass.

He finally got to the end of the path and found Illumi already there with a handful of other contestants. He couldn't speak to him with all these other people around but he could text him.

1 New Message from Hitoshi

Hitoshi: Do you have any coffee?

I do not, ask Hisoka. :Illumi

Hitoshi: 😐

Illumi put his phone away after sending his text. He wouldn't admit it but he enjoyed it when Hitoshi talked to him. He also had to remember to send Hisoka this location via his gps. He looked over to where Hitoshi had sat down at the base of a tree. He looked like he was about to fall asleep, Illumi knew he probably wouldn't though. Hitoshi wasn't one to sleep in unfamiliar places surrounded by strangers. Though he doesn't sleep enough and Illumi is a little worried about him, again he would never admit it if you asked him.

1 New Message from Fear Me 🗡

Fear Me 🗡: You can sleep, I'll make sure no one hurts you.

Hitoshi looked at his phone and smiled slightly. He didn't text back but he mouthed a 'thank you' in Illumi's direction. Illumi in response only nodded.

Hitoshi soon fell into a half-asleep half-awake state and stayed like that for another 15-20 minutes while the other applicants made it to the end.

Hello.

To clear any text message confusion:

Hitoshi's phone contacts: Fear Me 🗡 (Illumi) and Psycho Clown 🃏 (Hisoka)

Illumi's phone contacts: Hitoshi and Hisoka

Hisoka's phone contacts: Little Kitten ♥️ (Hitoshi) and Illu~ (Illumi)

When they text back it will just be the name of whoever's phone it is (see first text convo of this chapter)

Comment if you have better contact name ideas because I'm at a loss, thanks <3.

Chapters will always be between 1000 and 2000 words.

:)