Meeting the Spider

By the time Cordis and Hisoka came out,

nearly ten minutes had passed since the agreed meeting time.

This left Cordis quite troubled.

Appearances mattered, of course, but so did punctuality.

He remembered Chrollo being a fairly approachable person in the original story. Now he could only hope Chrollo would not blame him too much.

He followed Hisoka to the café where they had agreed to meet.

At the table farthest inside, he spotted

Chrollo, Feitan, Shalnark, Shizuku, and Machi.

According to Hisoka, Chrollo had invited everyone in the Phantom Troupe.

Cordis looked around.

It seemed only five of the thirteen members had shown up.

Chrollo had noticed them the moment Hisoka and Cordis entered the café.

He opened his eyes, which had been closed until then.

"You're certainly early, Hisoka."

Hisoka looked at Chrollo, narrowing his eyes dangerously, then sat opposite him and said,

"We got held up on the way~ Surely you won't blame us, boss~"

Seeing Hisoka take a seat, Cordis followed suit and sat beside him.

Before bringing Cordis along, Hisoka had already told Chrollo about him.

A very strong guy who knew nothing about Nen Abilities.

Chrollo looked at Cordis and curled his lips into a gentle smile.

"You must be Cordis. Hisoka told me about you."

Cordis stared at Chrollo, momentarily dazed.

He had assumed the head of the Spider would be a very stern man. Apparently, he simply hadn't known any better.

The Chrollo before him wore a gentle expression no matter whom he faced.

His face was always smiling, as though it were the only expression he had been born with.

And he was pretty cute, too!

Sitting beside Chrollo, Feitan saw Cordis staring lustfully at their boss.

He wasn't even answering the boss's question.

Feitan couldn't help scowling, his expression vicious.

"Hey! You little brat! The boss asked you a question!"

Those words snapped Cordis out of his thoughts.

Only then did he realize he had been staring at his future employer for quite some time.

His face immediately felt as though it were on fire, flushing bright red.

He gulped down some water to steel himself.

No matter what, he had to land this first commission!

"Y-yes. My name is Cordis Paipai. I'm nineteen this year. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Chrollo rubbed his chin, looking curious.

"Pai Pai? What an unusual surname. Is there a reason behind it?"

The question left Cordis visibly stunned.

He really is the head of the Spider. He could even figure that out.

But Cordis wasn't particularly willing to share that experience with anyone.

Seeing the discomfort on Cordis's face,

Chrollo had no intention of pressing him further.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I get the feeling you're quite familiar with us."

Cordis hadn't expected that remark.

Seeing Cordis's puzzled expression, Machi, sitting opposite him, couldn't help speaking up.

"A person's eyes don't lie. Judging by that look in yours, you've put plenty of effort into learning about us."

"Since you know us so well, we can skip the introductions."

Apart from Shizuku, who sat in the middle staring blankly at something, everyone exchanged glances.

Even Cordis sensed a shift in the atmosphere.

He couldn't help growing excited.

Is it starting? Cordis thought.

Just as Cordis was expecting theft, murder, arson, or some other criminal activity next,

Shalnark took an enormous map out of his pocket and spread it across the table.

Cordis leaned closer.

Printed neatly on the map were the words:

[The most fun places in Yorknew City]

Chrollo and the others launched into an animated discussion.

Completely bewildered, Cordis looked at Hisoka, who hadn't joined the discussion.

Hisoka simply smiled at Cordis as though this were perfectly natural.

It was as if he were saying,

See? This is the tour group I told you about.

Cordis had thought Hisoka might introduce him to someone offering a commission.

Apparently, he had been getting ahead of himself.

He should have known all along. How could Hisoka possibly be that nice?

The Phantom Troupe was a bunch of oddballs, too.

Instead of taking advantage of perfectly good opportunities for murder and arson, they were actually going sightseeing.

This wasn't the Phantom Troupe's style at all.

"Let's go to the Arcade! The Arcade!"

"Feitan, you play games every day. Haven't you had enough? I heard a new Computer Expo just opened. Why don't we check it out?"

"Personally, I think the Bolan Tomb sounds good. It seems interesting."

"I'm fine with anything."

Feitan was so angry he nearly flipped the table, but the boss stopped him.

Shalnark looked at Cordis and asked,

"Cordis, where do you want to go? You think the Computer Expo sounds good too, don't you?"

"Well..."

With Feitan glaring at him resentfully and Shalnark looking at him with sparkling eyes, Cordis truly had no idea which to choose.

He shot Chrollo a pleading look.

Seeing it, Chrollo raised a hand and said,

"I'm quite interested in the Bolan Tomb. How about we visit the tomb first, then the expo, and finish at the Arcade?"

Shalnark gave it a little thought, then reluctantly agreed.

Feitan, however, wasn't pleased. Putting the Arcade last meant he would have to spend several hours with this boring bunch.

Angry, he prepared to flip the table again, but ultimately gave up under the boss's intimidating authority.

They left the café and took an airship to their first destination.

The Bolan Tomb.

For some reason, whenever Cordis rode an airship, he always gazed out the window at the scenery with a look of utter delight.

Sometimes he practically wanted to press his face against the glass.

This led the other passengers on the airship to keep giving him strange looks.

Chrollo sat beside Cordis.

He noticed that Cordis kept looking out the window.

Even the poorest of the poor frequently traveled around by airship, yet Cordis looked as though he had rarely seen one before.

The sight made Chrollo question Cordis's identity once again.

Shalnark had investigated Cordis's background.

He had found that Cordis was a resident of Meteor City.

Chrollo could sense the extremely powerful aura emanating from Cordis. If his background were genuine, there was no reason Chrollo wouldn't have seen him in Meteor City before.

So Cordis definitely wasn't from Meteor City.

Who was he, then?

Before Chrollo could figure it out, they arrived at their first destination.

[We have arrived at the Bolan Tomb. Passengers traveling to this stop, please disembark.]

The bit about even the poorest of the poor riding airships was something I came up with myself.

And the surname in Cordis Paipai will be explained later.

A lot of people have been telling me to update faster.

All I can say is,

that approach won't work on me.