Aunt Liz

That timely excuse should have salvaged his image, right?

Biscuit saw that Moyu showed no other reaction and felt slightly relieved.

She had almost exposed what she was really thinking...

No, no.

That sentence just now absolutely did not reflect what she really thought!

Biscuit firmly denied it to herself.

Still,

this boy...

Was he one of her kind?

Biscuit lowered her head, pretending to be so shy that she wanted to bury her whole face in her chest. That let her conceal the strange glint that flashed through her eyes.

Transmuters were usually capricious, good at lying, and able to conceal their true intentions with clever words and actions in almost any situation.

There was another thing, too.

Because they were good at lying and concealing things, they were also quick to notice when others did the same.

Of course, although the existence of Nen could subtly amplify and highlight a Nen user's personality, the idea that a person's personality matched their Nen type was not an absolute rule.

But at this moment, Biscuit could at least be certain of one thing.

She might be boy-crazy, but she could tell that this boy in front of her was hiding something as he faced the seemingly delicate, adorable her...

What was his motive? What was his reason?

That was quite interesting. It made things a lot more fun, too.

There was nothing like examining a rough stone and spotting the captivating brilliance that might be hidden inside. It was the sort of thing that always left you wanting more.

Besides hunting down that unbelievably beautiful blue gemstone, it seemed she had found something else that could satisfy her.

Biscuit, her head buried against her chest, revealed a dangerous smile to herself.

"Big brother, c-could you stay with me a little longer?"

She kept her head down and spoke pitifully.

"Sorry, little miss."

Moyu apologized. "Something just came up, so I have to go take care of it..."

"Ah."

Biscuit sounded disappointed, then slowly raised her head. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at Moyu and asked in a faintly tearful voice, "Is it something really important?"

"More or less."

Moyu glanced at Biscuit's brilliant performance. Influenced by it, his face grew even more apologetic as he explained,

"I'm on a connecting flight, so I'll arrive at least twelve hours later than I originally expected. I was in a rush during the layover and forgot to tell my family in advance. I don't want them to worry, so I need to call them. Uh, I don't have a phone, but there should be a public phone on the airship."

"Big brother, I know where there's a public phone!"

After listening to Moyu's explanation, Biscuit immediately seized the opportunity to offer her help.

That would give her a perfectly good reason to follow him.

Moyu pretended to think it over, then nodded. "All right. That saves me from having to ask a staff member."

"Mm-hmm."

Biscuit nodded happily.

"Come with me, big brother."

With a little girl's buoyant enthusiasm, she skipped out the door.

Moyu followed behind her, able only to hope that this call would be enough to shake Biscuit's attention.

Of course, that depended on Liz picking up at this hour in the middle of the night.

If she didn't, he'd have to endure Biscuit's acting until morning before trying again...

Soon, Biscuit led Moyu to a hallway.

A painting hung on the wall beside the corridor ahead, with a coin-operated public phone next to it.

"Here it is."

Biscuit pointed to the public phone.

"Yeah, I see it."

Moyu walked over.

With Biscuit watching, he put in a coin and picked up the receiver. Instead of dialing Liz's number, he called the number for the fake-ID service.

The little ad he'd seen earlier had clearly stated that the service was available only from one in the afternoon until midnight.

Which meant—

As the phone rang on and on, just as expected, the call went nowhere. No one answered.

After patiently waiting for the call to disconnect automatically, Moyu muttered under his breath, pretending to himself, "She didn't pick up. Well, it is pretty late. Cheadle's probably asleep. I'll try Aunt Liz."

After deliberately letting a little information slip, Moyu finally dialed Liz's number and pressed the receiver to his ear again.

But that move probably wouldn't fool a Professional Hunter who was clearly trying to eavesdrop.

Beside him, Biscuit quietly watched Moyu make his call.

Cheadle?

The moment Biscuit heard the name, the image of Cheadle Yorkshire, the Zodiacs' Dog, flashed through her mind.

But plenty of people shared the same name, so Biscuit naturally didn't immediately connect the Cheadle Moyu mentioned with the Cheadle she knew.

The name had simply made her think of Cheadle.

As for the name Liz, she seemed to have heard it somewhere before.

"Beep, beep..."

Moyu didn't look at Biscuit. Standing beside the public phone, he focused on the long ringing tone coming through the receiver.

About twenty seconds later, the call finally connected.

"Is that Aunt Liz?"

The moment the call went through, Moyu spoke first.

"..."

There was a brief silence on the other end. Then a languid female voice replied, answering a different question entirely:

"I like working long hours, and I also like sleeping all day on the rare days I get off. If I finish my work early, I'll go feed pigeons in the plaza or spend the afternoon sitting in a café on the street."

"If I'm not in a hurry, I'll go shopping for clothes or see a recently released romance movie at the cinema. Unfortunately..."

"I have too much work most days, so those chances don't come around often. Staying up late is normal for me, and I often work through the night. I'm carelessly squandering the advantages of my youthful body, but I love my work, so there's nothing I can do about it."

"I stay up so often that my dark circles are so bad even concealer can't help. I don't take good care of my skin, either, so I can hardly pass for twenty based on my complexion. But as for my figure... my breasts are well-developed, my stomach is flat, my hips are round, and my legs are long. By the standards of a twenty-year-old, I think I'm perfectly fine."

"To sum it up—"

The languid female voice paused.

Moyu fell into a deathly silence with the receiver in his hand, like someone in court forced to wait for opposing counsel to finish their argument. Until then, all he could do was keep quiet.

Biscuit, listening in from the side, was also a little baffled. What was with this explanation that kept circling around without getting to the point?!

Just then—

Liz continued in a gentle voice, "What I'm trying to say is that my twentieth birthday is in two months and seven days. Now, I suggest you choose your words more carefully."

"Liz."

Moyu took her advice and changed the way he addressed her from "Aunt" to "Liz."

Maybe that was just how things worked in Hunter x Hunter.