Golden light swallowed Gon.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a pure white space.
There was no sky, no ground, no walls, no sound. Endless white stretched in every direction, as though he had sunk into milk.
A little girl sat at its center.
Golden hair fell to her ankles, her skin was white as porcelain, and her eyes were the amber of honey. She looked seven or eight years old. Sitting cross-legged in midair with her chin propped on one hand, she looked utterly fed up with life.
Hearing him arrive, she lifted her eyelids and glanced at Gon.
"Another one."
Her voice was soft, heavy with a thousand years of exhaustion.
"Well? Are you here to fight me, give me a riddle, or kneel before me and repent? The others have tried all that. It's pretty boring."
Gon froze.
He scratched his head, looked around the white space, then looked back at the little girl.
"Fight? Riddles? Repent?"
He looked baffled.
"Why would I do any of that?"
The little girl raised an eyebrow.
"Then what are you here for?"
"I came to wake you up," Gon said as if it were obvious. "You've been asleep all alone for a thousand years. Aren't you lonely?"
The little girl fell silent.
She looked at Gon for a long time, no emotion in her amber eyes.
"Lonely?"
She repeated the word as though tasting something unfamiliar.
"I'm used to it. You people, on the other hand, make a racket every time you come. It's so annoying."
Gon sat down cross-legged in front of her, facing her.
"Then... what do you want to do?"
The little girl froze.
In a thousand years, no one had ever asked what she wanted to do.
Everyone had come to take something—honey,