Machi nodded, then silently ate her dessert.
But after being quiet for a few seconds—
"If we took this food out to sell, how much do you think we could make?"
"I don't think we'd make a single cent."
Morin scooped up a spoonful for himself. "The moment we took this food out, the people around us who were starving for it would pounce on us and tear us to pieces."
Machi fell silent.
Indeed, she had mentioned before how important food was in Meteor City.
The more important food was, the greater the danger they would face if they tried to sell it.
That was something Machi did not want to confront.
Yet she continued staring at the dessert in her hand. The faint glimmer in her eyes made Morin feel strangely uneasy.
She isn't actually calculating how much it could sell for, is she?
Oh, right. Machi seemed to have a certain pursuit of money. Otherwise, she wouldn't have stayed at Heavens Arena and made a business out of stitching people up.
Even Hisoka, nominally one of their own, was charged fifty million for his right arm and twenty million for his left.
Seventy million earned just like that. That's much faster than robbing a bank.
Beautiful female characters in manga all seem to like money. Machi, Nami from One Piece, Android 18 from Dragon Ball... While Machi silently weighed the value of the dessert in her hand, Morin's thoughts wandered wildly.
Soon, they finished their after-meal desserts as well. Morin placed the cup of clear spring water with a leaf floating in it before him.
"Next, let's see what type of Nen ability I have."
Machi watched from the side as Morin extended both hands toward the cup.
This was Water Divination, a diagnostic method used to identify one's Nen power affinity, created by Shingen-ryu Karate.
The method was to place a leaf atop a cup filled with water, then activate Nen with both hands surrounding the cup.
Every Nen ability affinity had a different manifestation, and there were six types in total.
First, Enhancement. The volume of water would increase until it overflowed from the cup.
Second, Transmutation. The taste of the water would change. Different people produced different flavors—sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy were all possible.
Third, Emission. The color of the water would change.
Fourth, Manipulation. The leaf floating on the water would move.
Fifth, Conjuration. Crystal-like substances would appear in the water.
Sixth, Specialization. Any phenomenon different from those of the other five types belonged to Specialization.
For example, Neferpitou's Water Divination caused the floating leaf to wither, which also counted as Specialization.
Morin also wanted to see which affinity his Nen ability belonged to.
"It should probably be Conjuration, right?"
The Four-Dimensional Pocket and drawing items—wasn't that basically conjuring items into existence?
Thinking this, Morin activated his Nen with his hands around the cup.
Machi quietly watched beside him without asking any questions.
Morin had only gotten up today. This was only the second day they had known each other.
In less than two days, he had already given her so many unexpected surprises.
What a mysterious guy.
Machi thought quietly, her eyes fixed on Morin's movements.
Soon, under the joint gaze of Morin and Machi, chunks of crystalline material rapidly emerged within the cup.
"So it really is Conjuration?"
With so many items, it should indeed have been Conjuration, right?
Not surprised by the result, Morin was just about to withdraw the Nen power from his hands.
But then—
"Hm?!"
To Morin's slight astonishment, the crystalline objects in the cup did not stop appearing after they emerged.
Instead, under the effects of Morin's Nen power, they continued to emerge!
More and more crystals appeared, and they grew larger and larger!
In the end—
Bang!!
Under Morin's stunned gaze, the cup could no longer contain the increasingly numerous and massive crystals. Once the critical point was exceeded, it exploded with a bang!
Like blossoms scattering from a celestial maiden, it shattered apart.
This is because of Nen ability...
"What exactly is going on with me?"
Morin was somewhat dumbfounded.
The Conjuration manifestations he knew of were nowhere near this exaggerated.
When Kurapika used Water Divination, the particles that appeared were extremely tiny. They were nothing like Morin's huge crystals, nor were there so many of them.
"So the crystals appearing at first were indeed a Conjuration phenomenon. But the crystals becoming more numerous and larger until they finally burst the cup was a phenomenon different from the other five types."
"This could count as Specialization, but..."
Morin scratched his head. "If I have both Conjuration and Specialization phenomena at the same time, then what does that make me?"
"So am I Conjuration or Specialization?"
While Morin agonized over his affinity, Machi beside him felt as though her world had suffered an unprecedented shock.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?!
Why had Morin merely placed his hands around a cup, yet caused a tiny cup to suddenly produce so many huge crystals?
Well, her worldview had already been more or less overturned when Morin brought out the Gourmet Tablecloth.
This merely gave her another shock.
Machi looked at Morin with an extremely complicated expression.
He was clearly just a boy she had picked up from a garbage heap on instinct because he looked about right.
But why did it feel as though he and she were people from two entirely different worlds?
"What's wrong?"
Morin, who had temporarily given up agonizing over his affinity, noticed Machi's complicated expression and smiled.
"Did the commotion I caused scare you?"
As Morin cleaned up the things on the table, he suddenly grinned.
"Do you want to know why this happened?"
He weighed the folded Gourmet Tablecloth in his hand and smiled teasingly.
Machi remained silent, but the faint gleam flickering in her eyes exposed her thoughts. She truly was curious.
"This is actually quite simple."
With another swish, Morin put away the Gourmet Tablecloth, once again performing his disappearing-object trick. Machi... well, she was almost immune to Morin's transformations by now.
"This is because of Nen ability."
Morin said with a smile.
"Nen ability?"
Machi chewed over the term again.
"That's right."
Morin nodded.
Knowledge about Nen was not supposed to be spread around casually, supposedly for world peace, social stability, and the like.
But in the future, Machi would learn of Nen's existence anyway. She would open her Aura Nodes, train in Nen ability, and develop Nen Thread Stitching, a support ability that was far from weak.
In any case, Machi would enter the world of Nen sooner or later and develop her own Nen ability.
Machi would definitely learn in the future that the use of Morin's items was the effect of Nen ability.
Moreover, Morin did not intend to leave this place anytime soon. Unless his strength grew enough to protect himself or he obtained particularly excellent items, he planned to stay temporarily in Machi's home.
After all, it was dangerous for a boy to be out there alone!
Especially since this was Meteor City. Morin was not familiar with the specific rules for survival here, nor with the various agreements established by the elders.
He needed an old resident like Machi to answer his questions and help him deal with all sorts of everyday troubles.
Besides, with a ready-made house available, Morin had no intention of going out to make trouble for himself by looking for one.
As a newcomer with an unfamiliar face, who knew how much trouble he might stir up?
And most importantly—
Having recognized Machi, could Morin possibly be willing to leave her just like that?
That was obviously impossible!!!
Therefore, since he had decided to live in Machi's home, he would naturally check in every day and draw new items.
Perhaps tomorrow he would draw another extremely useful item and take it out to use.
In such circumstances, under the same roof, he definitely could not avoid Machi.
Rather than letting Machi make up wild theories and guesses on her own, causing some bad misunderstanding or commotion—
It would be better to tell her honestly now.
Not only could he earn some goodwill, but perhaps he could also draw closer to her, letting Machi cover for him in Meteor City and allowing him to live more peacefully.
That was why Morin had not hidden things from Machi at the beginning, but had instead openly taken out the Gourmet Tablecloth.
"Listen carefully. Nen ability is—"
Just as Morin was about to explain Nen ability knowledge to Machi, and she perked up her ears to listen—
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The old door rang with dull thuds.
It sounded as though someone was pounding on it with all their strength.
Swish!
Machi's expression instantly turned cold at the interruption.
Her hands moved swiftly, and in an instant, she pulled out a thin thread.
A faint glow flickered along the thread.
Even in the bright daylight, it gave off a trace of chilling cold.
The thread was Machi's weapon, and by now she wielded it with complete ease.
Morin also secretly gathered his aura, ready to act immediately if anything went wrong.
Before you continue