Hisoka's Reputation Takes Another Hit

"Oh, my dear lady, good evening."

Wearing a camel-colored trench coat and black leather boots, the man approached the woman with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

Soft features, a perfectly measured smile.

Polite manners and a handsome face.

His gaze was full of tenderness and affection.

His short, silvery-white hair was a little messy, but still handsome.

He ambled closer, little by little.

"Would you do me the honor of joining me for dinner?"

He held out his right hand, palm up, longing and affection hidden in his eyes.

Good looks could be dangerous.

Unfortunately, the woman across from him wasn't impressed.

She glanced coolly at the man putting on a show, then said, "One million Jenie."

"What?"

The man acted confused, as though he hadn't heard her.

Behind him, another low voice answered his question.

"Coleman, inviting this lady out costs one million Jenie."

"Don't call me 'lady.' You're older than me."

Machi raised an eyebrow at the neat amputation.

She glanced at the oblivious Coleman, lowered her head, and began to sew.

"You did a really sloppy job stitching yourself up."

She silently grumbled. She couldn't imagine why anyone would do that to their own arm.

And it had to hurt, too.

"Ah, that way I don't have to carry it around, right?"

Coleman shrugged and replied with a smile.

"But beautiful lady, won't you really do me the honor of having dinner with me?"

"I told you, one million Jenie."

"Talking about money is so vulgar."

Coleman tried to use his good looks to get a free meal.

He blinked, pretending to look pitiful.

Sadness and sorrow slowly appeared on his handsome face.

His resentful gaze made it seem as if he were looking at a heartless cad who'd abandoned his family.

The pleading in his voice made him sound like a stray puppy with nowhere to go.

Machi looked up and pursed her lips, putting a little more force into her stitching.

"Ow."

"Hold still. I don't think you want your hand to stop working while you're using it."

Machi met his handsome, rosy-red eyes, her cool expression unmoved.

She stitched the last bit of the tear and infused it with Nen.

She let out a breath. The job was done.

"Seven hundred thousand Jenie. Cash or card?"

Coleman sized up the girl, who stood no more than five-foot-five, smiled, and handed her a card.

"If you change your mind, remember to call this number. It's just a meal, a chance to make a friend."

As he spoke, he casually flicked his "fake" business card onto the coffee table.

He inspected the nearly perfect seam and nodded with satisfaction.

Machi didn't react to his sudden rudeness. She simply fixed her eyes on the card lying on the coffee table.

Coleman, the Layton Family.

Layton?

One of the leading underworld families?

"Goodbye."

After packing away her tools, Machi raised her head, indicating that the two of them could leave.

"Hey, hey, Machi. Aren't you even going to pay me a referral fee?"

Hisoka leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded and teased her. "Usually there's a fee, right?"

Machi fastened the last clasp on her medical kit, turned around, and said slowly, "Get lost!"

She looked him up and down, her threat plain as day.

"Okay, okay, I'm going." Hisoka raised both hands over his head and motioned for Coleman to leave.

Once they were outside, Coleman teased, "Who would've thought our Hisoka would ever be afraid of anyone?"

Hisoka walked through the corridor with his hands in his pockets.

"Of all the doctors I know, she's the only one who'll reattach body parts, and she can restore them to ninety-nine percent. If I make her angry, are you going to reattach my arms and legs?"

Hisoka pushed open the door as he asked.

"Sure. If you want me to, I can," Coleman replied with a soft laugh, moving the arm that had just been reattached. "But I can't guarantee the quality. It's not my specialty."

"Heh, would anything you reattached even work?"

"Probably. It wouldn't have any feeling, and it'd look ugly, but it could still be used as a throwing weapon, couldn't it?"

Of course it would work. You could use your hand like a stick and hit people with it, couldn't you?

"Heh."

Hisoka looked at the people coming and going in the street and scoffed, shooting him an annoyed glance.

He turned around and walked backward, looking at Coleman, who was now as tall as he was. "What are you doing later?"

"Picking up women. You?"

Hisoka stopped and waited for him, then they walked side by side. "Did you forget the young lady you offended last time?"

They put their arms around each other's shoulders, like old friends.

Coleman licked his lips and smiled. "Can't we leave sleeping dogs alone?"

"No way. That was one of Coleman's rare embarrassing moments. We have to take a picture to remember it."

Hisoka refused to back down, completely ignoring Coleman's threat.

Coleman glared at him, searched his clothes, and pulled out a photograph.

"Here. Today's target."

Hisoka looked at the elegant young woman in the picture and whistled.

"You're going after her looking like that? Who'd ever agree to have dinner with you again?"

Coleman looked at Hisoka as if he were an idiot.

"Did you leave your brain behind? Of course I'll disguise myself."

As they walked, Hisoka suddenly yanked Coleman into a dark alley.

"Tell me. Why were you asking Machi out to dinner?"

Hisoka turned serious and stared expressionlessly at the laid-back Coleman.

He couldn't help wondering if his unreliable "friend" was trying to sabotage him.

Hisoka had just finished planning how to infiltrate the Phantom Troupe, and now this guy wanted to go after one of its old members. Wasn't that a little much?

"Ah, you've been planning to go somewhere lately, so I was scouting ahead for you."

Half-truthfully, Coleman dangled a cigarette from his lips, looking every bit the spoiled young master.

Hisoka saw that Coleman wouldn't give him a straight answer. He grinned, then suddenly went expressionless and threw a punch.

The wind from his fist brushed Coleman's hair before smashing into the wall beside him.

The bricks shattered.

"Come on, I just want to fight one of the Troupe members. There's no need to keep such a close eye on me."

He said the most timid thing in the harshest possible tone.

It wasn't like Hisoka was deliberately excluding Coleman from the fun.

Sure, he'd made the decision first and told him later, but what did where he went have to do with Coleman?

Hisoka: You two brothers can keep controlling each other all you want. Just leave me out of it!

I'm not a pervert!

At most, I'm a battle maniac!

Coleman wasn't angry or afraid. In that position, he lit the cigarette in his mouth.

He blew a smoke ring in Hisoka's face.

Watching the man with his brow furrowed, Coleman smiled knowingly. "You're overthinking it. Why would I try to control you? I just don't like the Troupe."

Don't lump me in with my brother.

Besides, my brother doesn't control you at all.

Don't think you're so important.

Hearing that, Hisoka relaxed and lowered his hand.

"I knew you didn't have the time for that."

Coleman took a drag, frowning slightly. "Who told you that?"

Given Hisoka's way of thinking, he'd never believe that Illumi or Coleman personally wanted to control him.

After hesitating for a moment, Hisoka turned around and scratched his head, muttering, "Manster. He said you two wanted to control me and make me work for the Zoldycks."

"And then?"

Hisoka wouldn't have come here to pick a fight just for that.

Looking reluctant, Hisoka studied Coleman's face for a long moment before finally giving in.

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you. It's really nothing. Manster and I just made a bet."

"The bet was that if I could get you to say you had no intention of controlling me, I'd win one million Jenie. Otherwise, I'd have to pay Manster one million. We have a week, and today's the fourth day."

Hisoka shrugged and smiled at Coleman, whose expression was growing more and more frightening.

"There's no chance I'm splitting the money with you! Manster hasn't even paid me yet!"

Hey, he couldn't be blamed for that, could he?

Who'd taught him to be such a miser?

Wasn't it Illumi?

Hisoka backed away slowly, but soon found himself with nowhere to go. In a flash of inspiration, he said, "Hey, don't you think Manster has the wrong impression of you two brothers?"

How could Manster dare to make such an unreliable bet with him?

When Hisoka heard about the bet, he scoffed and accepted without a second thought.

That million was going to be easy money.

Everyone knew that the Zoldyck family's first set of twins only wanted to control their other half. They were indifferent to everyone else.

To those two, all the other living creatures in the world were inconsequential.

That included Hisoka, of course.

Hisoka knew that if he weren't useful to them, those two would've stopped hanging out with him long ago.

Control him?

Honestly, he thought they were giving him too much credit.

Coleman fell silent for a moment, thinking.

He suddenly remembered when Manster had caught him getting "cozy" with Illumi at the hotel.

He realized in an instant that Manster had been completely shocked back then.

Coleman stamped out his cigarette and spoke slowly. "Maybe he got the wrong idea."

"What did he misunderstand?"

"Nothing. I was just clinging to my brother. He banned me from drinking!"

He'd just been acting cute. How else was Illumi supposed to let Coleman, who was only seventeen, drink?

It was a normal way to get what he wanted. What was there to be surprised about?

Hisoka understood. Hisoka got it!

"Oh, so that's what happened."

It was no wonder Manster had misunderstood. What kind of normal brothers would be that clingy?

They kept saying things that might lead people to misunderstand, while insisting they were just ordinary twins.

It had taken Hisoka a long time to get used to it.

"Look, now that this has happened, are you really not going to change how you act around Illumi?"

"No way."

"Hey..."

"You're just jealous because I have a brother and you don't!"

"..."