A corner of the forest.
Two figures with ram horns on their heads and bizarre outfits stood beside a lake, their heads lowered as they peered through the water to see what lay at the bottom.
"We still haven't found it, brother," the blond girl said softly.
"Don't worry. We still have plenty of time," the boy replied in a low voice.
"What are you looking for?" A white-haired, blue-eyed boy suddenly appeared behind them. Like a ghost, he leaned over beside the boy and asked softly.
"A treasure." The two inhuman beings, who had taken human form, remained perfectly calm. They seemed not to realize that they were standing far too close for ordinary social interaction, and answered in an even tone.
"I thought you were looking for this." Su Wu casually tossed the bleating sheep to the girl.
"Oh, it's the little lamb. You're back." The girl caught it with ease, stroked the docile lamb, and leaned close to its ear to speak.
The lamb bleated. The girl nodded, as if the two of them were having a special conversation.
"By the way, can I touch you?" Su Wu propped his chin up with his thumb and forefinger and studied the two inhuman beings with his Six Eyes for a while before finally voicing his curiosity.
Of course, even as he asked, he was already poking their faces—and even pinching them a few times.
Hmm, they were soft. They felt no different from humans.
Although they seemed to be made of some dark, viscous substance, they looked and felt perfectly normal.
The siblings whose faces had been poked and pinched reacted in exactly the same way. With a hint of innocence and curiosity, they seemed unsure why he was doing it. But since he meant no harm, they didn't mind.
Seeing this, Su Wu withdrew his hand, disappointed.
He'd thought nonhumans would feel different. Surprisingly ordinary. Boring.
"Oh, right. There was a red-haired guy following you earlier, wasn't there? Did you fight him?" Su Wu finally asked what he'd wanted to know from the start.
"Why would we fight him?" the younger of the two nonhumans asked instinctively, adjusting her glasses.
"He kept following us, which was a nuisance, so we used a little trick to make sure he couldn't notice us," the boy said with a smile.
His strange outfit made his smile look especially eerie.
"A trick...? Ah..." Su Wu sounded both puzzled and enlightened.
No wonder Hisoka had seemed so desperately eager. He hadn't managed to fight the target he'd originally set his sights on.
But that slightly crazed state of his...
It was partly like his true nature coming out, and partly like someone had used some special trick on him. Hard to say. Su Wu hadn't even spared Hisoka a glance. He'd have to take a closer look with his Six Eyes.
Maybe it really did have something to do with the trick these two nonhumans had mentioned.
"What are your names?" Su Wu was still somewhat curious about them.
"Ally." "Aime."
The siblings answered at the same time, like good students responding to their teacher's question.
"Do you need Hunter Licenses too?" Su Wu asked, puzzled.
Did nonhumans need Hunter Licenses? No, wait. They had to go to the Hunter Association to get their licenses after the Hunter Exam, didn't they? Wouldn't the two nonhumans be afraid of being recognized there?
The Hunter Association should have some powerful people.
"We came here to look for something. Their airship was picking people up, and it happened to be going to the same place we needed to go," Aime, the older brother, explained.
"Ah, a free ride," Su Wu said, understanding.
He'd thought there was no way Hunter Licenses could be so appealing that even nonhumans would take the exam.
So they were hitching a ride. That made sense.
"Where are you from?" Su Wu wondered.
Nonhumans who could maintain a human form... How to put it...
[ ]
The thought suddenly struck him: the so-called forbidden region of the Hunter World—the Dark Continent.
Could these two have come from there?
"A fishing village on a remote island," Aime said after a moment's thought.
He couldn't even remember the name of the village.
"My brother and I were drifting in the sea when people from there pulled us out..." Ally explained, sounding a little confused, as if she didn't understand why the people there had fished them out.
"...Pfft—" Su Wu couldn't help laughing.
The thought of two nonhumans drifting along the sea was pretty funny.
But even funnier was that they didn't understand why the villagers had pulled them out.
Of course it was because the villagers had mistaken them for a pair of young humans in distress!
The people in the village probably thought they'd rescued two human children. They never would've imagined they'd fished out two strange creatures.
Still, drifting at sea...
Did weird creatures all like the ocean?
Like the grotesque Deep Ones, or the ancient gods sleeping beneath the sea...
You're all obsessed with the ocean, huh?
Forget it. He wouldn't ask where they lived.
He might get an even stranger answer—some place he'd never heard of that didn't exist on any of the known continents.
"Fine. You two carry on looking." Once Su Wu had asked what he wanted, he casually waved and vanished from the spot.
The two nonhumans naturally turned their heads and resumed searching for their target.
Su Wu used his Six Eyes to survey his surroundings, making sure there was no danger nearby, then found a place to sit.
"It's time for my daily luck test again." He raised a hand toward the empty air.
Wheel of Law, activate.
A spinning wheel appeared in the air.
A moment later, three cards appeared in his hand.
Su Wu glanced down at them lazily.
[Reversed Fool] [Reversed High Priestess] [Reversed Magician]
"All three are debuff cards?" Su Wu sighed.
Looks like my luck is awful today.
I need to use them on someone within half an hour, or they'll be used on me instead.
[Reversed Fool] Effect: Disorder.
[Reversed High Priestess] Effect: Mental confusion.
[Reversed Magician] Effect: Weakened will.
"Order, rules, the mind, the will... They all sound kind of mystical. I have no idea what they'll actually do..." Su Wu spun the cards between his fingers and simply sat still.
He planned to wait right there for Hisoka to come looking for him. Once Hisoka had set his sights on a target, he wouldn't give up until he got what he wanted.
And he could throw all three cards at him while he was at it, and see what they did.
"Behave." He patted the restless tree behind him, warning it not to move around. Then he leaned back against its trunk, keeping an eye on what was happening around him.
His Six Eyes sensed the life energy that belonged to Hisoka rapidly approaching.
Since Hisoka didn't know exactly where he was, he was killing everyone in his path.
The human life forms in the forest disappeared one after another.
It looked as if he'd kill everyone in the forest if that was what it took to find Su Wu.
"I told you I was irresistible. Hisoka just can't resist me," Su Wu said, recalling his earlier thought and sighing in amazement.
See? He'd even stopped taking the exam and come straight after him.
Hisoka: Little apple, heh heh heh, little apple.
Wuwuzi: Click to see Hisoka go crazy over me.
Before you continue