"So, do you hate me?"
Hisoka asked suddenly.
The question struck Cordis as odd, but on second thought, it seemed perfectly natural coming from Hisoka.
They stared at each other. Hisoka's gaze made Cordis uneasy, and he couldn't help looking away.
Feigning nonchalance, he brushed back his hair and said, "Not really. You can be pretty annoying sometimes, but I have to admit, being with you is fun."
Just as he finished speaking, Gon and Morel's match downstairs came to a swift end. Seeing Cordis still up on the roof doing who knew what, Gon hurriedly shouted up to him.
Hearing him, Cordis walked over to the balcony, waved at Gon below, and prepared to jump straight down.
"Was that a confession just now?~"
Cordis slowly turned to look at Hisoka, who stood behind him with his hands on his hips and a smug expression. He hesitated for a long time without saying a word.
When Cordis still didn't answer, Hisoka promptly snapped his fingers and decided for himself. "Great! I'll take your silence as a yes, then~"
Cordis didn't argue.
But the look he gave Hisoka was deeply conflicted.
Perhaps he didn't understand his own feelings for Hisoka either. After all the time they had spent together, Cordis and Hisoka had been physically intimate a few times.
But those encounters had always involved some kind of agreement-or, more accurately, a monetary transaction.
Cordis wanted gems, and Hisoka wanted his body. In principle, no other feelings should have entered into it, and Cordis understood that perfectly well.
That was why Cordis had always treated Hisoka as a companion. Besides, he had never sensed even a trace of love from Hisoka.
What he felt instead was possessiveness.
Yet now Hisoka was saying things that were unmistakably suggestive.
For a moment, Cordis