**
Thwack!
When I arrived, Gon was smacking Hisoka upside the head with his fishing rod.
Wow.
What insane talent.
He landed a direct hit on that clown bastard without Nen?
"Gon?!"
"Not bad, little boy♣"
Kurapika and Leorio were flustered by the suddenly changed situation, while Hisoka, apparently impressed by Gon’s abrupt appearance, turned toward him instead.
"A fishing rod? What an interesting weapon♥ Let’s have a look◆"
But Leorio apparently had no intention of standing by while Hisoka approached Gon, and he charged Hisoka from behind.
"I’m your opponent!"
He really was worthy of being the protagonist’s friend.
Even if you knew nothing about Nen or techniques, one look at all the corpses scattered around would make you hesitate to charge in.
But why the hell was he still shirtless?
At that rate, he’d die of hypothermia.
"...◆"
Leorio’s courage was admirable, but that was all it was.
One punch from Hisoka sent Leorio flying, and he lost consciousness.
Gon urgently rushed in and swung his fishing rod, but it was useless.
In an instant, Gon was seized by the nape of the neck by Hisoka.
"Did you come to save your friend? What a good boy you are~♣"
"Urgh..."
Gon broke out in a cold sweat.
"Don’t worry, I won’t kill him♠ He passed, after all♥ And besides...♣"
Hisoka lifted his head and turned his gaze toward where I stood.
"An interesting toy has arrived♥"
What a fucking creepy bastard.
He was scary as hell.
I’m not strong enough to belong in your toy box.
"Ah, you and your other friend passed too◆ Become fine Hunters♣"
"Gon. Please go to the second examination site with your friends. I will handle things here."
"Mr. Butler...?"
"If you start running now, you will not be late. You can do that, can’t you?"
Gon nodded.
Kurapika still seemed unsure whether I was an enemy or an ally, but if Gon called for him, he would go.
But Leorio was a problem.
At this rate, he’d fail the exam.
How had he made it to the second examination site in the original?
He was too big for Kurapika or Gon to support him all the way there.
Guess I had no choice.
This was not what I had prepared this ability for, but...
I took out two coins and approached Leorio.
Hisoka being here scared the shit out of me, but he was not the type to interfere at a time like this.
...Right?
That bastard had even thrown cards at me earlier, so I was nervous.
Pretending nothing was wrong, I placed the two coins over the eyelids of the fallen Leorio.
Then I poured Nen into them.
"[Obol of Charon (Charon’s Fare)]."
"Wah!"
"Leorio!"
The moment I infused him with Nen, Leorio sprang upright from where he had been lying.
But it was not over yet.
It looked as though he had risen of his own accord, but this was not a technique that awakened a person’s consciousness.
No matter what you asked, he could not answer. He had no free will, either.
All he could follow were simple instructions.
The difficulty shot up dramatically if I tried to give complex orders.
"Follow Gon."
Still unconscious, with coins stuck over his eyes, Leorio nodded.
An order on that level did not consume much aura.
"Gon. When you arrive at the second examination site, please remove the coins from his eyes."
They were attached with Nen, so they would not fall off while he ran unless someone deliberately removed them.
That should get him there safely.
"Got it."
As soon as Gon heard me, Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio headed for the second examination site.
Fortunately, Hisoka did nothing until all three had completely disappeared from sight.
"I never imagined something like that was possible♣ It didn’t look like Manipulation◆ Are you the secretly-do-your-own-thing type, mister?♣"
Like I would answer that.
If even my Nen category were exposed, my odds of winning would drop below fifty percent.
Still, he had not thrown any cards at Killua since I got here.
More precisely, since the moment I turned around to look for Gon.
Fuck.
So he really had called me out.
I was seriously fucked...
"I was planning to savor this slowly, but you got me all worked up, mister♥"
Hisoka said as he drew out cards and fanned them alternately in both hands.
Fucking deranged pervert.
What did I even do?
"I do not recall doing anything in particular to you. Are you perhaps mistaking me for someone else?"
Please say yes.
I have a more common face than you would think, you know?
I have the face of an ordinary middle-aged man you would see anywhere on the street.
"How shameless♠ After showing off such perfect Zetsu◆"
Zetsu was the technique for concealing aura—Nen, in other words.
Fuck, I hid it perfectly. How had he noticed?
If I hid it, then just fucking fail to notice it.
Perhaps noticing my confusion, that insane clown bastard explained how he had detected my presence.
"The human body possesses innate aura♣ Of course, there are plenty of ordinary people who have practically none... but no one remains unmoved when their emotions are shaken♠"
So I was suspicious because I had been too goddamn calm?
"You threw a card at me over just that?"
Fuck, are you Detective Conan or something?
"No◆ Honestly, it was just a hunch♥ Only you and the examiner showed no reaction at all to my bloodlust◆"
"What if I had just been an ordinary person who could not use Nen?"
"Then that would have been a shame♠"
Fucking lunatic.
So he threw cards with an if-you-die-you-die mindset?
He was not Detective Conan. He was The Culprit Hanzawa.
Every panel he appeared in should be colored in as a pitch-black silhouette.
What a complete fucking psycho.
I could see why he was friends with Illumi.
"I should have dropped out in the underground tunnel."
"What a boring thing to say♠"
"Then there would have been no need for pointless killing."
"....♥"
Fuck.
I had put on airs for no reason.
That bastard’s eyes narrowed.
But if I acted too pathetic, he would get bored and throw an instant-kill move at me.
This was the right approach with him.
This bastard needed his dopamine fix to live.
"If you won’t come, I’ll make the first move◆"
The voice came from behind me.
Goddamn it. Fuck this.
He was fucking fast, that bastard.
I had not expected to catch him with my eyes in the first place.
Still, I had spent enough time as a Zoldyck Family butler; I never thought I would fail to catch even an afterimage.
Hisoka swung a card horizontally at my neck, and I bent my head back to evade it.
Then, maintaining that posture, I launched an overhead kick at Hisoka with a leg packed full of Nen.
The goal was not a blow, but an impact.
I was not counting on a lucky hit like Gon’s.
My leg swung swiftly.
Naturally, that insane clown blocked something of this level with ease.
Still, Hisoka seemed surprised by the amount of aura gathered in my leg.
"That surprised me♣ I might not have been able to block that with one hand♠ Are you actually an Enhancer, mister?♣"
"Who knows? I wonder."
"◆!!"
His head had never been the target to begin with.
The aura concentrated and compressed in my leg exploded with a thunderous sound, striking the side of Hisoka’s face.
Hisoka’s expression shifted in surprise.
It seemed he really had thought I was a Manipulator at first.
Well, he was not entirely wrong.
Blood burst from his ear.
Not a blow, but an impact.
What I had aimed for was his eardrum.
Now he would react more slowly to attacks from his right.
So I would send a coin flying from there.
With a sharp whiz, a coin shot upward toward Hisoka’s right eye.
"...How vicious♥"
Yeah. I thought this one would miss.
Still, it grazed his eyelid, so he would now think I was going to keep aiming at his right side.
I swiftly moved away from where I had been standing.
That bastard might have set some kind of trap there in the briefest instant.
The psycho clown’s ability was Bungee Gum, which utilized the properties of rubber.
And Texture Surprise, an illusion-making trick.
They called it rubber and magic, but in reality, it was basically an ability that did whatever the fuck it wanted.
"I was sure you were a Manipulator... but that just now looked like Enhancement or Emission◆ How strange♠"
He was the one injured, so why did it feel like I was at a disadvantage?
The fact that he was leisurely trying to figure out my Nen category with a ruptured eardrum was truly psychotic.
And he had even gotten about half of it right.
Because I had just used an Emission-type ability.
I should not expect the same ability to land a clean hit again.
In that brief moment, he had done something that shaved away the tip of my shoe.
If my kick had been intended to smack him head-on, my ankle would have been cut off.
Fuck, he was terrifying.
At this point, let’s abandon close combat.
I had never truly expected to take Hisoka’s head in the first place.
Only the old men who employed us could pull that off.
I was just some lowly butler.
I spread out my aura and kept watch in case he attacked first, but that bastard merely wore an excited expression, wondering what I would show him next.
I had no intention of fighting to the death. I only wanted to run.
But if I half-assed it and ran, he would chase me to the ends of the earth.
He was a goddamn pain in the ass.
With no other choice, I gathered aura in my fingers.
This is a death flag if I use it, though...
In the original, Gotoh died after using the technique I was about to use now.
But this was the only long-range technique I had.
Fucking hell.
Still, unlike the original, we were on open plains, and once I got into the forest, I could make a break for it. So let’s give it a try.
At least that clown bastard did not seem to be in the UFC yet.
When the psycho clown saw aura gathering in my hand, his shoulders trembled.
"Yes, so you were an Enhancer♥"
No, you moron.
You are creepy as hell, so put your tongue back in your mouth.
"I will make sure you have plenty of fare for the road to the afterlife."
These are actual coins.
Eat a whole fucking pile of them and get rich in the afterlife.
Not that this would kill you.
"I am the bone of my coin... [Money-Disappearing Alchemy]."
"Wow♣"
Ha.
How much was I spending today alone?
That fucking Illumi bastard.
When I got back, I was demanding a fucking huge travel allowance.
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