My Journey Of Hunter X Hunter - Chapter 21

A drop of water crawls down my forehead. The atmosphere feels foreboding and neverending. The air is becoming drier and less humidified as we wait for the countdown to hit absolute zero.

‘What a great start that is.’ I think as I finish the last words I had scribbled into my notepad.

Glancing up at the time, I see we have just over a minute left in here and then we’ll be able to continue our journey down the Tower…before ten hours have finished!

“One more minute left.” Killua mumbles quietly as we stand still, like bored statues on a hot midsummers day.

“This one minute is taking forever.” Leorio grumbles.

“It’s not that long. You keep thinking like that and you’ll make the wrong decisions in life.” I say.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Leorio snaps at me.

“Such paranoia needs to be locked away.” I smirk.

“Why you little!” Leorio tries to get me but Kurapika stops him.

“Both of you, please stop. We don’t want to get into a row before we get out of here.” Kurapika tells us.

Finally, after 3 days of hardcore waiting, the time hits zero and the door buzzes and with no surprise at all, Gon is the first one to move.

“Wait for us Gon!” Leorio shouts as we all follow Gon into the unknown.

***

Puffing like we’re the Big Bad Wolf, we reach a dead end.

“Are you kidding me? After 30 minutes of endless running and we end up where we started.” Leorio pants.

“That’s why I told you that we should of taken the stairs down.” Killua mutters monotonely.

“THIS IS THE DAMN ROUTE WE ALL SAID WE WOULD GO THROUGH SO SHUT THE HELL UP!” Leorio screams at Killua, clearly annoyed.

Thinking about it from the bottom of the Tower, it was fun going down a rollercoaster once again, and through an Egypt-like escape route where the floor was disappearing right before our feet and a boulder chasing us down like hound dogs hungry for some meat.

The funny part which I enjoyed witnessing is when we had to vote whether to open the door or not and there was someone who disagreed and Leorio thought it was Tonpa once again but in reality it was Gon, being his innocent self.

After some banter with Leorio and Tonpa, we go through the door and stand before two doors which are marked with either a Nought or a Cross.

“Looks like this is the last decision we have to make. Are you ready? Choose O or X.” Killua speaks.

“What do you take me for? Of course I’m ready.” Leorio says with a proud manner.

We all choose Noughts except a certain ‘somebody’ who picked the Cross.

‘Please select a path. There are two available options to choose from. The long and difficult path, which the whole group can take, or the short and easy path, which will be limited to only three of you.’ The speaker sounds.

I’m not quite sure which one I would take (I would rather go through the short and easy path because who wouldn’t?)

‘Insidentaly, if you choose the long and difficult path, it will require a minimum of forty five hours to complete.’

Great(!) We could have taken this route if Leorio hadn’t messed up with the time. Sorry not sorry Leorio, you know it’s your fault.

‘…While the short and easy path will lead you directly to the goal in approximately three minutes. Press O to select the long and difficult path, or press X to select the short and easy path.’ The speaker continues.

If I remember right, we choose the short and easy path by digging the door open. Unless, me being here changes the rules of everything (though how everything is going, it’s pretty well to assume that we’ll end up digging our way to our goal).

‘If X is selected, two applicants from your group must be chained to the wall with handcuffs before the door will open. Those applicants will be unable to move until the time limit is expired.’

Imagine that. Having to wait five or more hours in a room while being handcuffed to a wall. You can’t even go to the bathroom!

We look around and see various weapons hung on the wall from knifes and swords to axes and weapons I don’t even know the name of.

“The examiners though of everything. There’s every weapon down here that I’ve ever seen and more.” Killua points out.

“Huh. So they expect us to fight to decide who will be left behind and who gets to go down.” Kurapika sums it up.

“I’m pressing the X button…but I’m not staying behind. I’m one of the three that’s moving on and I will do whatever it takes.” Leorio comes up with the answer after observing the doors for some time.

“You’re one to talk. We could have taken the long path if you hadn’t wasted fifty hours.” Tonpa says. For once, he’s right. But after this, he’ll never be right again, I can guarantee that…since my mind says so.

“Why don’t you do the right thing by staying behind. It’s not like we need you.”

Actually, we don’t need you Tonpa.

“What did you say?” Leorio’s voice raises.

“Wait a minute. I’m going to press O. We’ve made it this far by working together, we should finish together. It’s a big risk, I know that but still…We got to try!”

“We’ve got less than an hour let alone forty five minutes to spare, we can’t take the longest route.” Killua explains.

Everyone sighs except me.

“You know…there are all these weapons, maybe they are not here for us to fight each other.” I say.

“What do you mean?” Kurapika asks.

“Maybe they are there for us to use to escape. We don’t HAVE to choose one door.”

Everyone eyes each other.

“We just need to all pick the long and difficult path, let the door open and break down the wall to the short and easy path. Simple.” I finish.

For some time there is silence, then everyone presses the O option and we get our weapons through the exit, then we plow down on the wall leading to the short and easy path and quickly run to just make it down the Tower to join the other applicants.

‘Kurapkia, number 404 is the 20th to pass. Killua, number 99 is the 21st to pass. Gon, number 405 is the 22nd to pass, Freeze Kill, number 406 is the 23rd to pass. Time elapsed, 71 hours and 59 minutes. 30 seconds remain.’ The speaker sounds as soon as we go through the door.

I’m all worn out to even hear what the others are saying but I’m thinking that’s it’s positive things like the fact that they’re glad to be out of there.

Suddenly, we hear grunts behind us. Looking around we spot Leorio and Tonpa struggling to get out of the doorway.

‘Leorio, number 403 is the 24th to pass. Tonpa, number 16 is the 25th to pass. Time elapsed 71 hours, 59 minutes.’

“My hands are a mess.” Leorio says as soon as he and Tonpa have stopped fighting through the door.

“But at least we all got down, and it’s all thanks to…” Everyone looks at me.

“What was your name again?”

“Freeze Kill.” I answer.

“Yeah, you.” Leorio says with a straight face but that smiles and gives me a high five.

We all chuckle with fatigue.

‘The third phase of the Hunter Exam is over. Twenty six applicants have passed, including one deceased.’

So basically, twenty five applicants have passed since that one guy who came before us had died. Thank goodness for that. I didn’t think it would be that tiring but this is the Hunter x Hunter world, of course it will be tiring.

As the door to the continuation of the Exam opens, I think about the next phase and what it will be like, trying to remember the greatness the anime showed.