Gon had grown up

"Cordis!"

Gon flung the number badge in his hand aside.

He wanted to run to Cordis.

But before he had taken more than a couple of steps, weakness flooded his entire body.

He collapsed to the ground.

Cordis spat out a mouthful of blood.

There was good news and bad news.

The good news was that he had awakened his Nen.

The bad news was that his elbow was completely broken.

Hisoka's punch had shattered Cordis's elbow.

Cordis fell from the tree.

He landed on one knee, bracing himself.

Cordis raised a finger and pointed shakily at Hisoka.

Hisoka did not understand what Cordis was doing.

He simply assumed Cordis was hallucinating.

"Oh my~ Pai Pai, you really are resilient~ Anyone else would probably be dead by now~"

As Hisoka went on talking to himself,

a powerful blast of air suddenly shot past him.

It moved so fast that even Hisoka could not react.

A bloody cut appeared on his cheek.

Hisoka froze for a moment.

He reached up and touched his cheek.

Warm blood trickled over his fingers.

The sight did not frighten Hisoka.

Instead, it stirred even greater excitement.

That bone-chilling cold surrounded him once more.

His eyes rolled back as he slowly licked the blood from his hand, then he looked at Cordis with excitement written all over his face.

He breathed heavily through his nose.

It was as though he were trying to hold something back.

Hisoka walked over to Cordis and crouched down to meet his eyes.

He patted Cordis's head, his voice full of praise.

"Oh my~ You really are a genius~ That just now was your Nen Ability, wasn't it~"

"How impressive~ To develop a Nen Ability without anyone teaching you~"

But Cordis had long since stopped responding.

He had only pointed because his brain had told him to.

He did not even know what had happened after he raised his hand.

Naturally, he did not know that Hisoka had approached him or even patted his head.

The fact that he had kept his eyes open this long

was already a miracle.

But soon,

Cordis could hold on no longer and collapsed headfirst onto the ground.

Gon struggled to get to his feet.

He inched toward Cordis.

Seeing Cordis lose consciousness, he ignored the tranquilizer still affecting his body.

He forced himself to move with everything he had.

He shoved Hisoka out of the way.

That shove took all of Gon's strength.

He dropped to his knees in front of Cordis, gasping for breath.

Hisoka had not expected such an explosive burst of strength from Gon.

Caught off guard, he fell back onto the ground.

But he soon recovered his usual composure and licked his lips with a look of longing.

"What an extraordinary day~" Hisoka murmured.

He stood, brushed the dirt off himself, and prepared to leave.

"Hisoka!"

"I'll kill you! Just you wait!"

Forcing his utterly exhausted body to hold up, Gon roared at Hisoka as he headed deeper into the forest.

He clenched his teeth so hard he felt he might shatter them.

He kept glaring furiously in the direction Hisoka had gone.

Only a whimper from Cordis pulled Gon out of his anger.

Gon forced himself to focus.

Whenever he had been in trouble before, Cordis had helped him without hesitation.

Now Cordis was in trouble.

Of course he had to help him, too.

He took two or three deep breaths in succession.

Struggling to stand again, Gon felt as though merely staying on his feet used up every last bit of his strength.

He wiped away the sweat that had almost dripped into his eyes.

Grabbing Cordis by the collar, he headed deeper into the forest.

He dragged Cordis along until he found a hollow tree.

After settling Cordis inside,

Gon collapsed to the ground like a balloon with all the air let out of it.

By the time he woke again, it was completely dark.

Feeling had begun returning to his body.

He rubbed his aching, slightly swollen head and felt a wave of warmth.

A fire was burning brightly before him, though he had no idea when it had appeared.

Its orange-yellow flames finally brought a little warmth to the desolate night.

Gon looked around.

Cordis, who had been lying unconscious beside him, was nowhere to be seen.

"Cordis!"

Gon called out anxiously.

Cordis is badly injured. Where could he have gone?

Did Hisoka come back and take him away?

The thought sent a chill crawling over Gon's scalp.

He could almost see Cordis being tortured to death by Hisoka.

Gon seemed convinced that Hisoka had abducted Cordis.

Ignoring his body, which had only just begun to recover,

he hurried out of the hollow tree in a panic.

He had barely gone a few steps when he spotted a familiar figure.

Cordis was walking toward him with a pile of fruit cradled in his left arm.

His right arm had swollen considerably and hung at an awkward angle by his side.

Cordis saw Gon, too.

"Are you feeling any better, Gon?"

He still wore that gentle smile.

It was as though nothing had happened.

Gon stared for a moment, then threw himself into Cordis's arms.

The fruit scattered all over the ground.

Cordis crouched down.

He stroked Gon's back with his only usable hand, his left.

"It's all right. I'm alive and doing fine, aren't I?"

Suddenly, he felt wetness against his neck.

Gon spoke through his tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm too weak! I'm useless! I couldn't protect you!"

Sometimes, Gon truly hated himself.

It had all turned out this way because he had not worked hard enough.

If he had tried harder before, even just a little, none of this would have happened today.

Cordis's arm would not have been broken, and Hisoka would not have beaten him until he coughed up blood.

He should have taken that blow himself.

He should have been the one who got hurt!

At that thought, Gon's tears flowed uncontrollably.

Cordis held Gon by the shoulders and made him stand in front of him.

Watching Gon blame himself over and over,

he could not stop his heart from aching.

He gently wiped away the tears as they fell.

"You've already done wonderfully."

He brought his face closer to Gon's.

With their foreheads touching, he said,

"You really did take Hisoka's number badge. That's already an amazing achievement."

Gon still looked miserable.

With tears and snot covering his face, he looked utterly pitiful.

A cold gust swept past.

Both of them shivered.

Gon took Cordis's hand and led him toward the hollow tree.

"The fruit's still on the ground."

"I'll pick it up in a minute," Gon said with a hint of reproach. "Your injuries haven't healed yet, so stop wandering around."

He made Cordis sit down and rest.

Then he went out and collected all the fruit scattered across the ground.

He also picked up a few branches on the way back.

Cordis wanted to help, but Gon stopped him.

Watching Gon busily feed branches into the fire, Cordis tilted his head.

"You've grown up, Gon."

That was just the kind of person Gon was.

He hated his own lack of strength.

Because he was not strong enough, he had failed to protect the people he loved.

And he had failed to protect the people who loved him.