After Kaya passed, Menchi seemed to raise her standards another notch.
No matter how the candidates varied their sushi, none could tempt Menchi to pick up her chopsticks. The exam soon reached a stalemate.
Candidate No. 255, Toby, was a particular example. He had remade his sushi more than a dozen times and had nearly used up all the rice in his cooker.
When Menchi refused to taste his food yet again, Toby finally lost his temper.
With a crack, he snapped his plate in half.
"Enough! What gives a Gourmet Hunter like you the right to judge me?"
"If you're unhappy, come back next year. Maybe I won't be an examiner then."
Menchi leaned back on the sofa with her head tilted toward the ceiling, not even bothering to look at him.
Being ignored only made Toby angrier.
"What the hell are you talking about? I want to be a bounty Hunter. I sure as hell don't want some pathetic Gourmet Hunter telling me I've failed. Do you understand?"
Only then did Menchi slowly turn to Toby. "Did you just call me a pathetic Gourmet Hunter?"
"You heard me. That's exactly what I said. You have the nerve to call yourself a Hunter? All you do is sit at a table and eat all day."
"Who's this guy?" Leorio was amazed that someone actually dared to challenge an examiner.
"Candidate No. 255, Toby. He's a wrestler," Kurapika answered.
Kaya was secretly helping Gon shape his sushi and hadn't noticed the argument up front.
Not until a thunderous boom rang out.
He looked up to find that candidate No. 255, Toby, had already been knocked out through the doorway.
"Buhara, stay out of it." Menchi stood up.
In his rage, Toby had tried to attack Menchi, only for Buhara to send him flying with a slap.
"If I hadn't stepped in, you probably would've turned him into a meat patty."
Buhara was kindhearted and gentle. Although Toby had been rude, he also knew that Menchi's stubbornness had provoked him.
Now the situation had reached a complete impasse.
Menchi refused to judge the candidates' dishes, yet the exam would only end once she had eaten her fill.
Many candidates were no longer willing to waste their efforts, and a heated argument broke out between the two sides.
Satotz, who had been observing from the shadows, reported the matter to the Hunter Association, then decided to step in and persuade Menchi himself.
"Menchi, I can understand how you feel, but I don't believe everyone is questioning your authority or your ability as an examiner."
Satotz entered the room.
"Although I can't interfere with your second phase of the exam, I-"
Menchi cut him off without hesitation.
"Then keep your mouth shut. They can do whatever they like. Even if they make sushi here for an entire year, I won't change my standards."
"They don't understand at all. This phase tests how well candidates adapt to unfamiliar fields, but none of them have shown enough ability."
Suddenly, the whir of churning air came from outside. Menchi led everyone out of the room, where they saw an enormous airship hovering overhead.
"Wow!" Gon seemed to be seeing an airship from the outside for the first time and couldn't help exclaiming.
Kaya had seen airships while traveling far and wide with Kite over the past few years, but he had never ridden one. Seeing one this close, he thought it looked pretty cool.
Killua was unimpressed. His family owned a private airship, after all.
Airships seemed to be the fastest means of transport in the Hunter world, since Kaya had yet to see an airplane here.
Judging by the order in which airships and airplanes had been invented, the Hunter world's overall level of technology seemed lower than Blue Star's.
A figure dropped from the sky, and everyone hurriedly scattered.
As the thick cloud of dust cleared, an old man in white robes appeared in the middle of the courtyard.
"That fall didn't kill him?" Leorio eyed the distance between the airship and the ground in amazement.
"That tremendous impact wasn't reduced at all, yet this old man withstood the force of hitting the ground with his body alone. His strength is truly unfathomable."
Kurapika pointed at the enormous crater in the ground as he spoke in a grave voice.
Kaya added, "And he fell all that way without using anything to brace himself and cushion the landing."
This was the strongest human in the Hunter world-the chairman of the Hunter Association, Netero.
His strength was beyond question.
"Menchi, since the exam has reached an impasse, why don't we try a different kind of contest? What do you think?"
Netero walked up to Menchi, his gaze fixed on the scant fabric covering her chest.
Menchi failed to notice his heated stare. She obediently stood at attention and answered, "I'm very sorry you had to come here yourself, Chairman. I may have been too emotional just now. I'm no longer qualified to serve as an examiner. Please appoint someone else."
"What? This old man is the chairman of the Hunter Association?"
"No wonder Menchi treats him with such respect."
"We can get a different examiner? Great! Hopefully they won't pick another Gourmet Hunter."
Kurapika wasn't surprised. The logo on the airship had told him someone would intervene, though he hadn't expected the chairman himself to come and mediate.
Netero's gaze stayed where it was. "It may be difficult to contact a new examiner on such short notice. Just choose another task suitable for everyone."
"Dirty old man!" Killua and Kaya both regarded Netero with disdain.
Seemingly having heard their muttering, Chairman Netero turned his head slightly and glanced at them from the corner of his eye.
After a moment's thought, Menchi had an idea. "Then the next task will be-hard-boiled eggs!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at her words. They had expected another bizarre task, but it turned out to be hard-boiled eggs. Surely anyone could make those.
"However, we'll need to borrow the chairman's airship to get to that mountain." Menchi pointed at a distant peak.
"Of course, that's no problem." Netero immediately understood her intent.
Menchi hesitated briefly, then pointed at Kaya. "Chairman, that kid already passed my first phase of the exam. Does he still need to take this retest?"
Although she was confident that Kaya could handle the retest without any trouble, Menchi felt there was no need for him to participate again.
Chairman Netero turned to look at Kaya. "It's fine. Since everyone who failed is participating, we should treat everyone equally."
Then he leaned close to Menchi's ear and said, "Besides, that kid will have no trouble at all. Don't worry."
The airship was too large to land in the little courtyard, so they boarded using a rope ladder.
With its propellers whirring, the enormous airship bearing the Hunter Association's emblem slowly rose and flew toward the distant mountaintop.
Although the airship was huge, roughly ninety percent of it consisted of the gas envelope above. The only space where passengers could move around was the little gondola beneath it.
Even so, this airship's gondola was spacious enough to accommodate several hundred passengers at once.
It was also fully equipped, with rooms, a dining hall, and a sports area.
Kaya and Gon looked around like a pair of country bumpkins visiting the city.
It was Pokkle's first airship ride too, but he was tired after a full day of exams and simply sat huddled in a corner, resting with his eyes closed.
"Kids will be kids."
Watching Kaya and Gon's excitement, Killua shoved his hands into his pockets and put on a grown-up air.
"Aren't you a kid too?"
Leorio found a sofa to sit on and rubbed his aching calves.
"Those two really have plenty of energy."
Kurapika leaned against the wall, watching the pair dart back and forth along the passageway.
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