It started with an old tv 📺 (reborn in hxh)

The x Fourth x Phase

(A/N: thank you so much to all of my readers and followers who have stuck with me since chapter one 😭🙏. I appreciate all of your sweet comments so much 💕. I never thought I'd get so many readers. it's been months and months (maybe a year?) since I first started this story. All of you guys have kept me motivated to write even though I usually keep my stories in drafts, or do these really short and pathetic chapters. I've gone back and edited some parts (mostly grammar issues and incorrect information) in the chapters too. Actually, I'm watching the episode where they start the fourth exam at Zevil Island to jog my memory and make sure I get the plot right right now on netflix 😅. Again, thank you, and without further ado, I present to you, the nineteenth chapter.)

I took a deep breath, breathing in the crisp air. "It feels so good to finally breath fresh air again!" I exclaimed with a smile. "I agree. It's quite refreshing after being trapped in that tower for days," Kurapika said, crossing his arms.

"I still can't believe you out of all people finished first," Leorio muttered. "Right? I'm pretty amazing, aren't I?" I said smugly, placing my hands on my hips, to which he responded by sticking his tongue out rudely. I snorted. And you're calling me a brat?

"You should've seen Killua! He defeated his opponent so easily," Leorio bragged, pointing at the white haired boy and flaunting him as if it were a competition. "If only Aki had been in our group instead of Tonpa, it would've been much more fun. And we would've saved so much time," Killua said with a sigh, placing his hands in his pockets. "Aww, Kil-chan missed me," I cooed sarcastically, clasping my hands together with a grin. Behind me, Kurapika and Leorio were laughing. "I did not!" he insisted, embarrassed. "Yes we did! Aki, you should've been there! We had an awesome pillow fight," Gon said, eyes wide.
"You're as innocent and clueless as ever, Gon," I said with a sigh, patting his head. He smiled at me with a confused expression. A puppy... An angel puppy? Puppy angel?

"Congratulations to all twenty-six applicants who made it here!" a short man with a purple mohawk said from the front of the small crowd, drawing their attention to him. Um... what was it... Satotz, Menchi, Buhara, and... Lin- Lingo...? Lip... Lippo! His name is Lippo! At least, I think it is.

(A/N: so remember the guy who died right after finishing the third phase? If you don't it's in episode 12 of the hunter exam, but I made it so that he survived (with some injuries) so that there would be an even amount of applicants for the card drawing. Since all of the 25 applicants who passed had an opponent already, I had to even it out so that each of them, with the addition of Aki, had one opponent.)

"There are two more phases left in the Hunter Exam. The fourth will take place on that island behind me- Zevil Island," he explained, pointing towards a large island a little far-off into the sea.

He snapped his fingers, and a man rolled over a silver cart with a strange box on top. An image of someone drawing out a white card from it flashed through my mind. Is that what it is? A card-drawing lot? "Inside here there are 26 cards. They will decide who you're hunting and who will be hunted," Lippo explained. The applicants began to whisper amongst themselves, confused. "Hunting?" Kurapika murmured, eyes narrowed. "Each of you will draw a card from here, starting with whoever passed first to last in Trick Tower. Line up in order, and let the drawing begin."

There was a moment of silence, and then Hanzo nudged my shoulder. "Aki-kun, you're first."
"What-? O- oh, yeah, I forgot. Sorry."
My face burned as I walked up to the box and reached inside. I pulled out one of the cards. One side was white, and the other was red. Weird... And I don't remember much from this scene, I thought as I walked back to Gon. Illumi was next, followed by Hisoka.

"Killua, Aki... by hunting, do you think he means that we'll be fighting each other?" Gon asked. "Probably, yeah," Killua answered, hands behind his head. He walked up to the box and pulled out a card.

Gon's words sparked something in my memory- something about the applicants fighting each other. And these cards had the applicant number we were supposed to find. I gulped, staring down at my sealed card. I hope I hadn't picked a card that Gon or Leorio originally had, because I was pretty sure those had led to relevant scenes in the show, but I didn't remember Killua or Kurapika's.

All I could do was pray that I hadn't gotten Sensei or those four- or any particularity powerful opponents, like Illumi or Geretta, or God forbid the clown bastard.