Kite's Nen Beast Analysis

Chapter 18: Kite × Nen Beast × Analysis

Five figures emerged from the woods. In the middle was a tall, slender man wearing a blue beret, his white hair reaching his waist.

Flanking him were a sunny-looking boy with spiky hair and a handsome white-haired boy dressed in black.

Both boys were around twelve or thirteen, but whether it was those two children or the tall man leading them, all three tensed almost imperceptibly when they saw the carnage in the fields and the devastation in the village.

Following behind them were two people Joey knew: Pokkle and Ponzu.

Their appearance here was somewhat unexpected, but it was good news for Joey. At least with them present, it would be easier to explain who he was when he stepped out.

He was also very familiar with the three walking ahead of them. After all, his reason for staying here was to wait for those three to arrive.

The tall man was Kite, a One-Star Hunter who worked in biological research, and the two boys beside him were none other than the protagonists of Hunter x Hunter, Killua and Gon.

Without much hesitation, Joey deliberately made a noise inside the room as they approached the village, then slowly pushed the door open.

Ponzu and Pokkle would expose his identity as a member of the organization, but Joey had never intended to hide that anyway, so it hardly mattered.

As for why he had never considered hiding it, Joey wasn't confident he could get away with such an easily exposed lie under the watchful eyes of Kite and the two boys.

Sure enough, all five approaching figures went on guard at the sound he made. Only after he opened the door and stepped fully into view did their reactions begin to differ.

Ponzu's reaction reassured Joey the most. On her pretty face, he could clearly see more delight than surprise.

Pokkle, on the other hand, remained fairly composed. Seeing Joey alive, he merely frowned and nodded.

Kite and the two boys were much more cautious. Even though they had already sensed that Joey's aura was scattered like an ordinary person's, they did not let their guard down.

Their gazes also drifted subtly toward the pistol Joey had deliberately left visible at his waist.

"I didn't expect to run into you here. Looks like you dealt with that giant crocodile?" Joey looked at Pokkle and stopped where he was, signaling that they knew each other and that he posed no threat.

At his words, the others glanced toward Pokkle too.

Yet Joey had the feeling that even the slightest suspicious movement could bring Kite and both boys down on him at once.

The fine goose bumps rising along his arms were the best proof of that instinctive feeling.

"No. That thing mutated and became even harder to handle." Pokkle shook his head, then paused briefly before stepping forward to introduce Joey. "Yoshikage Kira. He's a resident of NGL and a member of the Narcotics Organization."

Joey's expression darkened slightly. Asking Pokkle first had partly been a gesture of goodwill, but he hadn't expected Pokkle to expose his identity right off the bat.

I haven't done anything to offend Pokkle, have I? Joey's downturned brows rose slightly.

"I'd better introduce myself. My name is Joey, I'm fifteen, and my home is in a small village in the southeastern part of the NGL Autonomous Nation. I'm unmarried.

"Although I work for the Narcotics Organization controlled by Zaiyilo, all I actually do is grow and transport raw materials. Of course, I was forced into taking the job."

Joey didn't elaborate. In truth, he had wanted to recite the whole speech to them, but this hardly seemed like the right moment.

"After we were ambushed around midnight yesterday and I got separated from Pokkle and the others, I arrived here sometime after four. I hid in the house, hoping to find a chance to leave, but monsters kept passing through the area, so I got trapped here.

"This isn't a good place to talk. How about we take shelter inside first?" As he spoke, Joey pointed at the house behind him, then at the dense woods in the distance. "There are a lot of monsters."

"You're saying Chimera Ants have been passing through here this whole time?"

Kite spoke for the first time. He didn't dwell on Joey's identity and even offered a piece of information: he knew what these monsters really were.

But he clearly had no intention of hiding, as he didn't move a single step while speaking.

"Chimera Ants?" Joey repeated, then nodded and looked around warily.

"First, there was a crustacean-like monster with long, fiery-red hair that enjoyed torturing its victims to death. Then a humanoid leopard-like monster ran past. It was so fast I could barely make it out.

"And while I was hiding, I kept hearing gunshots and the dying cries of wild animals from the nearby mountain woods."

As he spoke, Joey pointed in turn toward the direction Kite's group had come from and toward the area outside the village nearer the base. That was where the animals' dying cries had come from.

"There really is a bloody smell drifting over from that direction." Gon sniffed.

"Want to go take a look?" Killua turned to Kite, his hands resting behind his head. His gaze swept over Joey, Pokkle, and Ponzu as though he were looking at three burdens.

Kite hesitated. "Wait a moment."

"Joey, right? Before we came here, we found quite a few mutilated Chimera Ant corpses near a stream. Was that your doing?" Kite looked at Joey intently.

Joey nodded without hesitation, and Killer Queen abruptly appeared beside him. "I did it."

"A Nen beast?" Kite raised his long fingers to his lips, studying Killer Queen with an inquisitive gaze.

"I don't know what a Nen beast is. Is it related to the abilities you use? Like Pokkle's ability to shoot arrows with different effects from his bare hands?"

Joey took the opportunity to ask a question and sell Pokkle out in passing.

Although he knew they didn't particularly care about Pokkle's ability, Joey had never been one to take a loss lying down.

"You can see him?" Kite pointed at Killer Queen. At the same time, a number 3 formed from Nen appeared at his fingertip.

Joey nodded. "Yes. I can also see the 3 on your fingertip. You made that for me to see, right?"

Kite nodded. "You can't use this power, yet you possess a Nen beast and can see Nen once it's concentrated to a certain degree. It seems you awakened Nen by accident, then had your aura nodes closed for some special reason, while instinctively mastering the use of Gyo.

"But this Gyo seems to have a restriction as well. It looks like you also unwittingly established conditions along the lines of Vows and Limitations.

"An interesting research subject. Come along, and have him keep you safe."

Kite seemed to be speaking to himself, but also appeared to be reminding the others.

Joey frowned slightly, committing Kite's information to memory. Still, he could also tell that Kite had no fondness for him.

There was no helping it. Being a member of the Narcotics Organization really wasn't a good look.

Joey nodded and cautiously followed the group.

Joey didn't know why Kite, who should already have received information from Pokkle, wasn't planning to return to the border first. But under the circumstances, he naturally had no say in the matter.