Mito × Negotiations × Friends

"Have you two had enough fun yet?" Kite interrupted the boys' happy moment.

Kaya and Gon stopped what they were doing at the same time and looked up at Kite.

Oh, crap, Kaya thought.

He had been having so much fun that he had almost forgotten Kite was standing nearby!

Gon reacted differently. The moment he saw Kite, he shouted excitedly, "What are you doing here?"

Then he sprang up and threw his arms around Kite, paying no mind to the mud covering his body.

"Huh?" At those words, Kaya jerked his head up, his wide eyes full of confusion. "What's going on here? Gon? Master?"

"Master?" Gon was just as surprised. He turned and asked, "Kite is your master, Kaya?"

Kite nodded. "That's right. Kaya has been with me for three years."

Understanding dawned on Gon's face, and he said with a smile, "I was wondering why Kaya was so strong. If you're his master, that explains it."

"Hey! Hold on! Is anyone listening to me?"

Seeing the two talking away and completely ignoring him, Kaya raised his voice.

Only then did Kite look at Kaya. "This is Gon. Gon Freecss."

"Gon Freecss? Ging Freecss?" Kaya pondered for a moment, then muttered suspiciously, "Don't tell me..."

Kite nodded. "That's right. Gon is the son of my master, Ging."

"Wait, what?"

Kaya's jaw nearly hit the ground.

He counted it out on his fingers. By the rules of his old world, he would be Gon's martial nephew. But the Hunter x Hunter world didn't seem to have all those rules about seniority. Even if it did, there was no way in hell he would call a brat his own age his martial uncle.

"So, Kite, why did you bring Kaya to Whale Island?" Gon slipped in the question while Kaya was lost in thought.

Kite tugged down the brim of his hat, hiding his eyes. "Let's get you two home first. I need to speak to your Aunt Mito."

"Huh?" Gon's mouth fell open. "You know Aunt Mito?"

This time, Kite didn't answer. He simply walked on ahead.

Kaya and Gon exchanged puzzled looks, shrugged, then got up and followed him.

Once they emerged from the dense forest, the view opened up. The three followed a narrow path for a while before a small village came into sight.

Gon pointed at a house built around a large tree. "Kaya, that's my house."

Kaya raised a hand to shade his eyes and looked over. "Huh? What a weird building."

"Pretty impressive, right?" Gon raised his eyebrows.

"Tch." Kaya curled his lip dismissively.

Even from a distance, they could see a pretty young woman sweeping leaves outside the ground-floor door.

Gon's eyes lit up at once. Waving, he dashed home. "Aunt Mito, I'm back!"

"Welcome... home?!"

As Aunt Mito looked up and saw Gon's mud-covered face, her expression shifted from happiness to confusion, then anger.

Gon looked down at his filthy clothes and body, squirming awkwardly. "Aunt Mito, let me explain."

"Gon, you're getting wilder by the day! I tell you to read at home, but you won't. Honestly, you..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Mito spotted Kite standing some distance away, with an equally muddy Kaya beside him.

Their eyes met. Kite walked over and bowed slightly. "Hello."

"Oh, hello." Mito returned his bow. "Are you visiting? You bought a bottle of liquor here a few months ago, didn't you?"

Kite nodded. "Yes. Miss Mito, could I speak with you alone?"

Kaya clicked his tongue. Well, well, well. The old man sure acts differently around a beautiful woman. Look at those manners.

Mito seemed a little puzzled, but she nodded and followed Kite over to the edge of a grassy patch some distance away.

A gentle breeze lifted Mito's skirt and Kite's long hair, adding to the beauty of the village in the setting sun.

Kaya sidled up to Gon and nudged him with his elbow. "Hey, look at those two."

Gon asked in confusion, "Those two? What about them?"

Kaya draped an arm around Gon's shoulders. "Are you actually dumb, or just that innocent? Don't you think they'd make a good couple?"

"Huh?!" Gon blushed and protested loudly, "How would they make a good couple?"

Just then, the upstairs door opened, and an old woman came down the steps. "You're back, Gon?"

"Yep! Granny."

"You're so dirty. Aunt Mito will be upset, won't she? Hurry along and wash up."

After speaking, Granny glanced at Kaya beside Gon. "Are you Gon's friend?"

Kaya nodded stiffly. For no apparent reason, his usual shameless boldness had given way to shyness.

Granny approached and patted Kaya's head, not minding the mud in his hair at all. "How lovely. Gon has hardly had any friends growing up."

Gon nodded firmly and added, "There's only one girl my age on Whale Island, but I don't like playing with her. So, Kaya, you're my first friend. Are you happy?"

"I guess." Kaya pressed his lips together, trying to hide his smile.

"What about you, Kaya? Do you have any other good friends?"

Before transmigrating, he certainly had, and plenty of them. But none of those kids were dependable. They would sneak their parents' phones to play games together, and he couldn't really call them close friends. They were just classmates he could kill time with.

After transmigrating, though, Pokkle might count as one. But he was four years older than Gon and Kaya, so that didn't really make him a friend his own age.

At that thought, Kaya blew a lock of hair away from his eyes. "No. You're my first friend my own age, too."

"Really?" The corners of Gon's mouth began to rise.

"Nope." Kaya turned his face away.

"Huh?" Gon leaned closer, trying to get a good look at Kaya's expression. "Really?"

"Just kidding." Kaya laughed and pushed his face away.

Gon was so confused that he spent a long while trying to figure out whether Kaya's "just kidding" meant yes or no.

Granny couldn't bear to interrupt the boys' playful banter.

But they really were too dirty, so she stopped them anyway and urged Gon to take Kaya to wash up.

Once the two boys obediently went inside, Granny glanced back at Mito and Kite, who were still talking, then headed into the little shop on the ground floor.

Steam filled the bathroom.

Having washed himself clean, Kaya plunged into the bathtub. With his eyes narrowed and his chin resting comfortably on his hands, he enjoyed the rare moment of leisure.

Gon sat on a small wooden stool nearby, scrubbing the mud off himself. As he washed, he asked, "Kaya, you know about Hunters, right?"

Kaya answered lazily with his eyes closed, "Sure. Isn't the old man a One-Star Hunter?"

"The old man?"

Kaya shifted into a more comfortable position and explained, "Oh, I mean Kite."

Gon continued, "Then what exactly do Hunters do?"

Kaya stared at the ceiling and thought for a moment before answering, "Lots of things. There are all kinds of Hunters. Anyway, some are good and some are bad."

Gon's eyes widened. "There are bad people among Hunters, too?"

"Of course!" Kaya answered without hesitation. "Why? Do you want to become a Hunter?"

After rinsing himself clean, Gon jumped into the tub too and sat beside Kaya. Looking completely serious, he said, "Yeah. Kite said you can take the Hunter Exam when you're twelve, so I'll sign up once I turn twelve. Four more years to go. What a pain."

Kaya asked skeptically, "Then how old are you now?"

"Nine," Gon answered.

Smack!

Imitating Kite, Kaya knocked Gon on the head with his fist. "That's only three more years! Haven't you learned arithmetic?"

"Aunt Mito teaches me at home, but I don't like studying. I'd rather play in the forest." Gon scratched his head.

On Blue Star, a kid like this would probably count as barely literate.

But that was pretty common in the Hunter world.

It wasn't that studying was useless, but survival required strength.

Kaya shifted position, resting his hands on the edge of the tub. "It's different for me. Besides training me every day, Kite makes me read, too. I don't like it either, though. I used to study so much it made me want to puke. It's much better here."

Gon asked curiously, "Then how old are you?"

"Nine."

Kaya had only been around seven before transmigrating. Two years later, that made him exactly nine.

Gon grew excited at that. "Then let's take the Hunter Exam together when we're twelve!"

Kaya said, "I'd go even if you didn't ask."

"That's great!" Gon jumped up excitedly. "Um, Kaya, why don't you stay here on Whale Island with me?"

Kaya gave Gon's suggestion some serious thought and felt it might be a good choice.

Then he remembered that Kite definitely wouldn't stay. After all, he still had to search for clues about Ging.

So he shook his head. "Kite definitely won't stay."

Gon said innocently, "Then you stay. Aren't we friends?"

Kaya's usual flippant expression disappeared. "I won't leave my master."