The train wound along the twisting tracks, its chimney belching thick white smoke that soon shrouded the surrounding mountains in mist. The sight was quite spectacular.
Kurapika leaned his shoulder against the window, looking down from above at a town nestled amid the lush forest below the cliffs.
Not long ago, Gelman, Kurapika, and Xiyou had finished lunch, and the train had happened to stop at a station in a nearby town.
After a while, the train started moving again, left the town behind, and entered the mountains.
"I'm going to take a walk in the corridor and get some fresh air."
Xiyou gave them a heads-up, then walked out of the compartment with his hands in his pockets and his back slightly hunched.
The compartment wasn't especially big or small, but spending more than twenty hours in it was, to put it nicely, a test of patience—and, to put it less nicely, torture.
After Xiyou left, Gelman began his daily basic training in "Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, En, Ken, Ryu, and Ko."
Ever since Biscuit had warned him to focus on the basics, he hadn't missed a day of training, except for the three days he'd been unconscious with serious injuries.
Like teacher, like student. Kurapika was just as dedicated, though he had an additional exercise: strengthening his control over his "Chains."
He could try controlling his "Hokage Eye," but he wasn't to use "Emperor Time." It was a "Nen ability" reserved for desperate situations—that was what his teacher had warned him.
Kurapika had kept that in mind. He moved away from the window, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began to train.
He hadn't been at it for even ten minutes when Gelman suddenly opened his eyes, breaking out of his deep concentration.
He'd sensed something amiss—even while