Actually, we had books like that at home. Saiki Kusuo set down his bag—the three books inside were ones he'd brought for item swapping.

He swapped the medium-thick one twice and ended up with the *Gourmet Creatures of Chimera Wetlands*, written by a gourmet hunter.

Chimera Wetlands was a known protected area, so it wasn't strange that there'd be books about it. He usually didn't read these kinds of things, though. When he opened it, it had the dusty smell of a long-stored book.

He handed it to Chrollo. [Want to read it?]

"You actually brought something like this?" Chrollo looked surprised. [That's too much of a coincidence. Is it a power? Or just a family connection? No, that wouldn't be necessary… Wait, did he teleport home to grab it? If there's no distance limit, like when he disappeared on the World Tree… but the book smells old and hasn't been touched before…]

[Okay, if you keep poking into things like that, I'm gonna stay far away from you.] Saiki Kusuo crossed his arms. Can this guy be normal for once?

"Alright, I'll focus on the task in front of me." Chrollo flipped through the book, and soon, out of all those fish, only took three.

Plenty of people were faster—they caught a fish and went straight back to the test site.

"Looks like I'll need a few plants too. Saiki, can you tell poisonous ones apart?"

[What are you planning now? Don't tell me you're gonna try cooking with poison your first time? I've got high standards.] Poison cooking was nothing new at home—the Zoldycks were probably world-class in poison recipes.

"I just realized there are eight kinds of poisonous plants within three meters of where we're standing. This place is really dangerous."

[I know. Poison recognition is a required subject in my family.]

Chrollo, still holding the book, started pulling up plants. Saiki Kusuo finally realized—according to the book, the plants were used to remove the muddy smell from the fish.

This made them slower than the other contestants. Just then, Saiki Kusuo noticed Hisoka leaving the test site and heading straight toward them.

Wait—did Chrollo blow his cover? Saiki Kusuo turned to look. Still the face of Kurapika. Guess not.

[They said my carefully made food was disgusting…] Hisoka sat by the river, hugging his knees, tossing rocks into the water.

Saiki Kusuo remembered Hisoka's "emo" phase.

Hisoka just quietly sat by the river alone.

[Poor guy,] even Chrollo could feel how wronged Hisoka looked. [Was the examiner being too harsh?]

[Did you forget what you did?] Saiki Kusuo reminded him. Because of the rice ball Chrollo misled everyone into making, the examiners criticized the whole group for getting the shape wrong. Even Menchi's creativity had to be carefully explained.

Chrollo stayed at the exam site, following the instructions in the book seriously, while Saiki Kusuo sat alone in an empty spot nearby to wait.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes.

Saiki Kusuo glanced sideways, expressionless.

That was Chrollo's eighth sushi.

Chrollo: [It's not quite the same as the book says. Did I do something wrong?]

This guy was really curious. For a second, I thought someone might actually pass this exam, but I guess I underestimated the power of the plot.

"Hey, you over there! Why are you eating your own cooking?!" Menchi shouted when she noticed the chef snacking.

"Sorry, I wasn't satisfied with how it turned out. I thought I should pass my own standards before giving it to the examiners!" Chrollo Xakal raised his hand and explained loudly.

Instant switch to the "hero" persona—Saiki Kusuo had no idea what to make of it.

"You've got the spirit! Bring the next one straight to me!" Menchi yelled.

Saiki Kusuo and Chrollo looked at each other. Wait, did she just give him permission to let the examiner try it?

Chrollo suddenly smiled. "Well, if the examiner says so, then there's no helping it. If you're hungry, Saiki-san, please wait just a bit longer."

Don't talk to me in that weird heroic tone, you weirdo.

Three minutes later, Chrollo brought over two pieces of nigiri sushi for Menchi, very thoughtfully saying, "The bigger one is for Examiner Buhara."

Buhara gave him a good review.

Menchi gave him a bad one.

"It looks decent on the outside, sure, but the fish isn't handled properly! Do it over!"

...

So, same result as before.

The motivated Chrollo quickly got back to work, but just as Saiki Kusuo was about to comfort him by saying "That's just how Menchi is," Chrollo placed a plate in front of him.

It was for me?

Chrollo picked up the book again. "Trying to make something that meets *his* standards is a waste of time. Right now, I'm more interested in the creatures of Shimele Wetlands."

He really stopped after that batch. Our master chef from the Troupe has retired.

What a free-spirited guy.

Time ticked by, and Saiki Kusuo had no intention of interfering with anyone from the original story. That's why he just stayed on Chrollo's side. Alluka, though unpredictable too, was simply having fun making sushi and playing around with Killua and the others. Nothing too serious came of it, so it didn't really matter.

Saiki Kusuo tried Chrollo's sushi. The fish did taste a bit off, but this *is* the Shimele Wetlands. Finding good fish here is pretty much impossible, right? For this place, it was already not bad. Besides dessert, he's never been picky with filling food.

The plot moved on as expected—Menchi threw a fit, the chairman dropped from the sky, the exam restarted, and they headed off to a cliff to gather *Purple Spider Bird Eggs*.

Spiders—the Phantom Troupe's symbol.

Purple Spiders—a type of bird.

Totally unrelated.

They're called "Purple Spiders" just because the eggs hang in the middle of the cliff in spiderweb-like nests, and the way they dangle looks a lot like a bunch of grapes.

That name definitely came from some food hunter, right?

While Hisoka, Illumi, and the others jumped off the cliff, Saiki Kusuo calmly picked up firewood and fed it into the pot they were using to boil the eggs.

"Aren't you going to get an egg?" Menchi asked. Clearly this examinee had skills but no ambition when it came to cooking.

Yare yare. Someone else will get one for me.

Killua jumped down and grabbed three eggs—one for himself, one for Alluka, and one for Saiki Kusuo.

Good kid. He remembers his brother's weak body. Very nice.

Getting the egg basically meant passing the exam. As long as you followed the main characters, you'd know exactly when the egg was perfectly cooked.

While Saiki Kusuo was enjoying his egg, Chrollo came out of the bushes. Saiki glanced at him, used x-ray vision, and noticed there was something extra in the bag where he kept his laptop — grape spider eggs, carefully wrapped in soft leaves.

Chrollo: [Just bringing a few back for the others to try.]

He really thought of bringing local specialties back for the group.

Final number of people who passed the second exam: 56!

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