A Deadweight Teammate

Leorio strode onto the platform, brimming with confidence.

He felt he was in peak form.

His companions' successive victories.

Had set his blood boiling.

He was bursting with energy.

He was going to secure the decisive third point for the team.

"Come on! Who's next!"

He pointed at the prisoners opposite him and shouted at the top of his lungs.

The examinees cheered along, urging him on.

"Leorio! Take them down!"

"We're counting on you!"

Only Luo Ye leaned lazily against the wall.

He looked at Leorio as though he were an idiot.

"Tch, he's carried away. This guy's completely lost his head."

Luo Ye could already predict exactly what was coming.

Gon relied on his brains, Kurapika on his presence. What's a lazy genius like you planning to do, win by shouting?

I bet a bag of chocolate drops this is going to go horribly wrong.

The mood among the prisoners was somewhat tense.

Two consecutive defeats had put them in a nasty mood.

A curvaceous woman in revealing clothes stepped forward, swaying her hips.

Her name was Liru, a convict serving a long sentence for gambling fraud and murder.

"Easy there, handsome. No need to get so worked up."

Liru winked at Leorio, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"All that fighting and killing is so boring. I simply hate violence."

"Why don't we play a game to decide the winner? Something simple-rock, paper, scissors. One round, winner takes all."

"Huh?"

Leorio froze for a moment.

He hadn't expected her to propose such a childish way of settling the match.

"What? Scared?"

Liru giggled.

"To make things more interesting, let's wager time. The losing team gets the corresponding amount deducted from their time."

"Don't listen to her, Leorio! It's a trap!"

Kurapika immediately called out a warning.

But Leorio didn't take any of it in.

Rock, paper, scissors?

An easy win.

"Fine! You're on!"

He spoke loudly.

"How much do you want to wager?"

Liru's smile widened.

Leorio thought it over. Tonpa had wasted a match by surrendering earlier, and he wanted to win that time back.

"Then let's wager ten hours!"

"Ten hours?"

An exaggerated look of disappointment crossed Liru's face.

"Handsome, you look so strong. Why are you such a coward?"

"Or do you have no confidence you can beat a weak little woman like me?"

Her words were like a needle, piercing Leorio's fragile pride with perfect precision.

"Who says!"

Sure enough, Leorio was provoked.

"If we're betting, let's bet big! I'll wager fifty hours!"

He held up five fingers and shouted a number that made every one of his companions' expressions change drastically.

"Leorio! Have you lost your mind!"

Kurapika shouted.

"Idiot! Shut up!"

Even Killua was alarmed.

But it was already too late.

"Fifty hours? All right! Deal!"

Liru shook with laughter, as though she had stumbled upon the bargain of a lifetime.

The wager was set.

The fourth match officially began.

The two stood in the center of the platform and held out their hands.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Leorio roared with all his might and threw rock.

Liru, meanwhile, opened her palm with a smile.

Paper.

Paper covered rock.

Leorio had lost.

A cold, mechanical voice came from the loudspeaker in the wall.

"The prisoners win the fourth match."

"Fifty hours will be deducted from the examinees' time."

Boom!

The words struck everyone like a bolt from the blue.

"Wh-what just happened?"

Leorio's mind went blank.

He had lost.

Over a single round of rock, paper, scissors, he had lost a match.

And fifty hours along with it.

The prisoners opposite them erupted into deafening laughter.

"Hahahaha! A bunch of idiots!"

"Fifty hours! They have less than twenty hours left!"

The examinees' faces instantly turned deathly pale.

They looked at Leorio with eyes full of anger and resentment.

As though all his strength had been drained away, Leorio collapsed to the floor, muttering to himself.

"Wh-what have I done?"

Luo Ye shook his head and sighed.

"Ah, it's not an unbeatable opponent you need to fear, but an idiot teammate. Great. Now the joke's gotten out of hand."

The overall score was now two to two.

But the examinees had barely any time left.

The pressure had reached its peak.

The final match, which would decide everyone's fate, was about to begin.