Stay calm, it's just one more person

Chrollo (dressed as Shalnark) closed his laptop, put it in his bag, tucked the phone into his pocket, and walked straight toward Saiki Kusuo.

Don't come over here! Hisoka would definitely notice! Even if he's dressed as Shalnark, any member of the Troupe showing up would draw Hisoka's attention.

So why—

[Hehehe, I was the one who told Shalnark about it. I actually wanted the boss to come instead. Too bad~ Not as interested in little mister mystery as I thought?] Hisoka bit a playing card from far away.

Of course it was you, you chaos-loving freak.

Chrollo turned his gaze to someone next to Saiki Kusuo: [Aren't you going to stop that?]

Stop what? Saiki followed his gaze and saw that Tonpa, at some point, had started chatting with his two little siblings. He'd even handed them drinks—Alluka was already drinking hers!

Hey, hey, hey! Killua, what are you doing?! Alluka shouldn't drink that!

No, wait—Alluka can handle some poison too, but still, why drink something from a stranger?

"Oh, mister! Can I get another can?" Killua reached out.

What is wrong with this kid? He definitely knew the drink had a laxative in it. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you can drink poison like soda! Illumi, care to step in?

Even Kurapika was staring this way but didn't seem to realize Tonpa's drinks were a problem yet.

"Um, Brother Kusuo?" Alluka had just taken a small sip before Saiki pressed a finger to the top of the can, stopping her from drinking more.

[Yare yare, don't take stuff from strangers.] Saiki used his restoration ability. Even the sip Alluka had already taken was returned to the can, which now looked unopened and fresh—like it was from a day ago.

From what Tonpa was thinking, he'd added the medicine earlier this morning. Right now he was wondering why it hadn't started working yet.

So yeah, the drink from a day ago was fine.

"Then, I'll give it back to Mr. Tonpa!" Alluka said obediently.

[No, this one's safe now. You can drink it.]

Alluka looked a bit confused: Why? But if big bro said it's fine, then it's fine! Huh, it even tastes a little better now!

Chrollo: [A new ability? The opened can turned back to an unopened one. That's restoration? And since he let his sister keep drinking, I guess it's safe now? Then why didn't he stop the white-haired kid next to her from drinking another one?]

Stop guessing already, Chrollo. Why do you love overanalyzing people's powers?

"Hey there, young man. I remember you came with those two kids, right? Want a drink too?" Tonpa still stubbornly held out another can to Saiki Kusuo.

Saiki Kusuo took it, restored it, and—since he didn't want it—tossed it to Chrollo.

Chrollo, playing Shalnark, caught it and actually looked really happy: "Ah, thank you, Saiki-san."

Did he just add a "-san"? And wait, Chrollo can smile like that? Is this part of his Shalnark act?

But he already knew Saiki had figured him out. So why keep pretending? Unless… maybe he knows someone is going to show up soon who gets really triggered at the sight of the Troupe's boss? No need to panic just yet, maybe?

So, why's he pretending? Only the heavens know. Even Saiki Kusuo was starting to get confused.

Hisoka: [I already had my doubts, but now it's confirmed… Little mister mystery knows the Troupe, huh?]

Even though the crowd around him made the inner voices a bit noisy, some were still really easy to hear.

Saiki Kusuo followed the voice and looked—Hisoka was shuffling cards, staring straight at him.

No way… Did Chrollo disguise himself as a Phantom Troupe member just because Hisoka was hunting "Chrollo"? Saiki Kusuo stared at Hisoka for a couple more seconds, which Hisoka took as a signal. He stood up, twisting his body in that weird way and started walking over. Just then, a candidate passed by and accidentally bumped into Hisoka.

And just like that—a scene straight out of the anime that you really don't want to see in real life happened.

The guy's arm flew off, and every drop of blood turned into flowers under Hisoka's thin veil.

"Oh my, how strange. The arm that hit me turned into flowers and disappeared…"

Changing blood into flowers one by one for a magic trick—aren't you tired? Saiki Kusuo froze. He needed to stay alert. Hisoka was *very* dangerous. There was a reason Chrollo tried so hard to stay hidden.

Wait—where's my little brother?

[Kusuo forgot to protect his brother again? That's twice now. Can he really keep Alluka safe? No one here knows about Alluka's power right now, but if it gets exposed later... we might have to kill everyone who finds out.]

Saiki Kusuo turned quickly and rushed over to Killua. From now on, he was sticking to Alluka like glue—not letting her out of his sight for even a second.

Killua wasn't doing anything too crazy—he'd just brought Alluka over to chat with Gon.

Good grief. Sure, it makes sense plot-wise, but it's still pretty bold of these super noticeable kids to all gather together and draw even more attention.

Especially since they weren't even trying to lower their voices. Everyone else around was keeping quiet and alert—only these kids were loudly chatting away.

Chrollo didn't seem interested in coming near the kids. He'd found a quiet spot to play on his phone, just like a regular person.

"Ding ding ding…!"

A bell rang, signaling the start of the exam. The examiner Satotz appeared—his mouthless face looked kind of creepy.

The first test was running. Saiki Kusuo stayed calm. With the kind of training the Zoldyck family does, something like the Hunter Exam shouldn't be a big deal. Even Alluka should be able to handle a bit of running.

Wait—Killua, what are you doing?

Saiki Kusuo frowned. He knew Killua brought his skateboard, but now he was actually tying a rope around Alluka to pull her along.

[Hey, come on. Alluka's not some weak little kid. It's just running—she can keep up.]

"Brother Kusuo, you actually expected Alluka to run in this kind of frilly dress?" Killua looked shocked.

Okay, fair point. Should've had her change into something simpler.

[Then give her the skateboard. You run. A candidate being dragged from the start just seems wrong.]

Killua looked annoyed. "Ugh, so picky. Alluka, can you do it?"

"Yep! I can do it!" Alluka's eyes sparkled, full of energy and excitement.

Even if she got tired, Saiki Kusuo could just heal her. It would be fine.

With Alluka ready, Saiki Kusuo turned to start running—but noticed several people staring at him.

Illumi. Hisoka. Chrollo. Killua. Alluka.

What now? Why are you all looking at me?

Then it hit him—he remembered the weak-body persona he'd been keeping up this whole time.

The whole act—being smart and having powers, but physically weak.

In just 0.1 seconds, Saiki Kusuo made a decision: he couldn't run. His foot froze mid-step. Satotz had already started moving.

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