Killua knew what a liar looked like. For example, his parents were liars. Illumi was a liar. Hisoka was a liar. He himself lied for practical reasons. The opposite of a liar would probably be Gon, always speaking his mind and flashing the truth for everyone to see, not the best at covering up even if he earnestly tried. He was simple-minded and honest. On one side of the scale, there was Gon, on the other stood Hisoka.

If he could judge, Rein was somewhere in the middle, perhaps a bit closer to Gon in terms of quantity, but closer to Hisoka in terms of ability. Normally, she seemed like she would be the type who didn't lie if she could help it, but her behavior now had changed.

It was heartfelt acting, and really good. Killua didn't think anyone other than himself saw that she was preparing to trick them. She was really good at lying, but to him, who'd gotten through a grueling lie-detection training, it was apparent. Very subtle, the signs, but they could be seen. Too bad clues weren't the same as proof.

"It's a really sensitive topic," Rein said softly, blushing. She shook her head as if trying to clear her mind. "Could I go get some water?"

"It's okay,"Leorio said. Reaching for the table, he took a glass he and Zepile hadn't used and offered it to her. "Take as much time as you need. We want you mentally stable."

Rein seemed genuinely surprised at how the man was trying to care for her, almost like a therapist or a doctor. She took the cup. "Thank you," she said, squeezing it with both hands. She went to the hotel room kitchen to fill up her glass. She tried the tap water before dumping it out with an audibly nervous laugh. She then filled her cup with the water from the other tap, the one they were supposed to use for drinking.

1. When you are in the sudden need to come up with a convoluted lie, make an excuse to be alone to collect your thoughts and sort out a story. Buy time if possible, but not so much that it becomes suspicious.

Killua observed carefully as Rein returned from the hotel room kitchen with a glass of water. He was starting to recall the lying tips Illumi had given to him when he was still five or so. It was back when Illumi had tried to actually teach him through interaction, instead of his voice repeating over and over in Killua's head. Lying 101.

Her fingers ran up and down the glass as she approached, and she smiled weakly. Her steps seemed more tentative than before, and she was clearly more drawn into herself. Her head was tipped forward a bit, like she was trying to hide behind her muddy brown hair. "Hey," Rein said, quieter than Killua had heard her since they'd met. She lowered herself to the carpet and placed down her glass, water almost spilling over.

"Like I said, it's a long story that I'd rather not... um." She trailed off and brought her gaze to the ground for a sorrowful moment before glancing up at them all. Her lips were smiling but her eyes held a far-off loneliness to them. "It's okay," she chirped. "I know that you don't exactly trust me, and I get why, so I know I need to tell you my story, it can't be helped."

"Hurry up and just start."

Rein's sad eyes widened, taken aback. "O-Okay. I should, I've been rambling for so long now." She blew a raspberry.

2. Plan reasonable actions and reactions for whatever questions or circumstances might come beforehand. But always act as if you are on their side, and draw their sympathy.

"So why were you at the Spider's base?" Leorio asked.

"Well, I said so before, but I was with them for like a month." She paused. "Or two. I haven't exactly kept track of the days, I just looked at the clock and waited for the day to pass. So I can't help with how long I've been stuck there. I was never really good with time." She blew another raspberry and immediately winced. "That's a habit I picked up there, I'm sorry. Anyway," She fingered a strand of hair before shoving her hands into her pockets, grabbing at something Killua couldn't quite make out. Coins? Candy?

"Anyway, long story short, I was taken. Kidnapped, at most. I lived with my... mom before, and I was in my bed like a normal person would be in the middle of the night. Then when I woke up, I was in my blanket, but that was it. I was on concrete, in a room with people I didn't know."

Zepile shook his head slightly at the girl, concerned for all she had gone through. "Do you know why they took you?"

"Well, they never said for certain, but I think they wanted me to join. Or at the very least, train me to join." She rolled up her sleeve, showing off muscle. "I'm not the strongest, but I'm stronger than most. My physical ability may have been why they thought they could train me and eventually make me join them. They made a mistake telling me they were the Phantom Troupe first though. Since they told me, I knew who they were so I couldn't just join. I..." She paused, and furrowed her eyebrows. "I admit I have no idea why they want to train me so much. Of everyone, they chose me. I- I don't... why me? I've been with them for a month or two, but they still weren't giving up, and I don't understand why. They didn't mistreat me that much, but I don't understand why they don't leave me alone."

3. Talk a lot, and make sure to give enough details to make the story sound plausible, but are not important to the actual lie. Give a very fuzzy view of the time frame if you can, or don't mention it at all.

"I..." Rein hiccuped and clasped a trembling hand over her mouth. "I want to see my mom," she said shakily. "I.. I don't... I just want to see her again."

Zepile let out an involuntary whine of pity as he looked at the girl, whose tears were starting to leak. "Are you okay? Can you continue?"

Rein nodded, wiping at unending tears. "I- I can. I just... I didn't get to say goodbye. We were teasing one day then all of a sudden, I never saw her again."

Her face was blotchy now. Tears dripped off of her chin and into her lap, no matter how hurriedly she wiped at her eyes.  Gon stood to get her tissues from the bathroom, and she was able to smile when he handed them to her. She offered a weak "thank you" before blowing her nose and continuing.

"At first, he, I mean, she used to scare me a bit. But she's really sweet and he, I mean she..." Rein hiccuped again. "...helped me through a lot, and played with me, and teased me, and messed up my hair, and threw me in the air, and, and..." Rein wasn't looking at them anymore, hand covering her eyes as her teeth clenched tighter and tighter. "I didn't say thank you," she whimpered. "O-or goodbye."

4. Take your time, pretend to be traumatized. Have sudden bursts of emotion.

Gon held out his arms towards her. Unable to move, she held her own arms up towards him, lip quivering. Gon hugged her. "My Aunt Mito said hugs make people better," he stated. He pulled back. "Do you feel okay?"

Rein snickered and blew her nose again. "A little bit yes, thank you," she said, smile not forced anymore. She took the water Gon handed to her and took a long drink, refreshing her worn out throat.

"Kid," Zepile breathed. "Do you want to call your mom? What's the number? We can call her."

Rein froze. Slowly, she put down the cup with a wideness to her eyes that hadn't been there before.

Leorio inhaled sharply. Oh. "Zepile." He placed a hand on the other's arm, trying to get him to understand what he was thinking. "I don't think we can." Leorio turned to Rein. "I know I'm being straightforward, but is your mom... dead?"

Rein kept wiping at her eyes as she glanced up. There was pain evident in her gulp. "Yes, at least I think so. There was... all that blood, and..." Looking at her shaking hands, she brought them to her lap and went stock-still. "She probably is. She is."

"Oh."

After a drawn-out uncomfortable moment of stillness and silence, Rein spoke up. "You don't mind if I sleep here tonight? Is there an extra blanket or—"

"That's right!" Leorio got up and stretched, bones cracking loudly. "We can go ask room service for extra blankets. You can get the bed. I sleep better on the floor anyways." He went to one of the beds and swept the blanket and pillow off of the sheets, dumping them on the ground.

"Really? Are you sure?" she asked tentatively.

"Of course, kid." Leorio gave a small thumbs-up before confusion crept onto his face. "What's your name?"

She blew a raspberry. "Rein. Like the things you use on a horse?" She headed for the door. "I'm going to go get the blankets and stuff, so you guys can just stay in here and rest. Thank you for letting me stay." She closed the door before any of them could respond.

Behind the door, they heard the faint noise of a raspberry being blown.

5. Keep your whole body relaxed and unmoving unless the situation calls for otherwise, and pay special attention to what you do with your hands and eyes. If you can find an excuse to keep them occupied or en excuse to leave, do.

Killua clucked his tongue faintly. She'd hit five marks.

"Killua." Gon raised an eyebrow as their eyes met. "Why were you looking at Rein like she was lying?"

The question caught Killua by surprise. Had he been that obvious? Impossible, he'd been training to cover up his thoughts since birth. His mask of indifference was pretty darn flawless by now, not to mention his acting skills. Sometimes he could even fool his own siblings, which was a lot considering they had been put through the same lie-detection training. No, he couldn't have shown his suspicion. How did Gon catch on?

"Gon, what are you talking ab-"

"How did you know," Killua interrupted Leorio. He couldn't look Gon in the eye. "How could you tell? Was my acting off?"

He shrugged. "Well, I just kind of know," admitted Gon.

A silence. Killua burst into laughter. "You're so weird."

"Wait, hold on." Leorio took off his glasses and waved them in front of Killua's face to get him to notice and stop. "Wait," he repeated. "Why did you think Rein was lying?"

Illumi's rules of lying on the spot? How could he explain this? Besides, what Killua had observed only strengthened the argument that Rein lied, but it certainly didn't prove it. Her crying? Perhaps it had been a way to cover up the lie and draw sympathy, or it could have just been a genuine reaction because of trauma. Both were valid. Her acting was good, if she had acted at all. Still, Killua didn't want to think that she had told the truth. There was something off about her story, this situation, not to mention something seemed off with her. Something didn't quite click. Even if the others believed her, it was better safe than sorry. Her lying was good, he'd give her that. But living a life surrounded by liars, Killua knew his fair share of what one looked like. Rein hadn't told the truth. But he didn't have concrete evidence of that, just a gut feeling.

"Well, I just kind of know," Killua copied, and shrugged.

"Really." Zepile lit a cigarette and took a long drag. Puffing out smoke, he said, "Lying or not, the Phantom Troupe doesn't sound like something you'd want to be caught up with. I can't believe they're so powerful, plus it's kind of scary to think all that power is going to murder." He glanced up. "Do you think they'll hit the auction? They wouldn't dare, would they? They can't possibly do that. They can't."

"They can do a lot more." Gon set his hands on the ground. "We never told you about what happened to Kurapika, did we?"

*     *     *

Rein hit her forehead repeatedly as she walked aimlessly down the hallway.

Stars, her lying made her cringe. The over-acting, the whole crying incident she'd forced, not to mention all the raspberries blown... those had definitely been the worst. She'd blown them at the worst possible times, she knew it. She understood that this was all because of that one time she accidentally blew one when she panicked at a question, meaning now she had to do it constantly or else they would think the behavior out of the ordinary and suspicious.

The buzzing left on her lips, the awkward laughs that left had her stomach empty; it make her want to scream.

Still, it had gone relatively okay. The others had seemed to believe her story, though she wasn't sure whether Killua had taken her word as truth. He was certainly suspecting the most out of all of them. She would have to be careful around him. Aside from Killua, Rein believed that no matter how cringey her acting may have felt, it hadn't been all too bad and had actually fooled the other three. The crying had surely driven it home.

Before, it had taken effort to cry like that in front of people. But this time, she'd only thought of Uvo, said some honest things about him, and the tears had just... shown up. She had kept the crying to a minimum to avoid becoming a blubbering mess which might cause her to say something that went against her story, but the small amount she'd cried had certainly convinced them.

As she approached the room service closet at the end of the hall, her step slowed.

She hadn't said thank you, or goodbye. She'd just made that up on the spot, but it was true.

Quickly bursting in and making an excuse about extra fluffiness and the wonders it did for one's posture, she left the room and the surprised cleaning ladies with an arm full of blankets. She fumbled at the door handle before being let in by Leorio. Gon was talking to Zepile, who nodded as he tried not to lose his cool in front of these calm children.

"Man, the Phantom Troupe..." Zepile clutched the sides of his head. "They just stole eyes from the Kurta? Eyes?"

Rein tensed for a quick moment before forcing herself to relax. That word again. 'Kurta.' Striding in, she dumped blankets on the clean bed. "Hey, I keep hearing that word." She casually cocked her head. "What is the Kurta?"

Gon started again. "They're a clan that was famous for their Scarlet Eyes, where their eyes run red if they get really emotional."

Rein's eyes were so wide that she wasn't even sure if she would be capable of blinking anymore. Scarlet Eyes? Like... hers? "What?"

Gon didn't seem to notice. "The Phantom Troupe attacked them years ago and stole all their eyes. Now all Scarlet eyes are sold at extremely high prices in the underground. Our friend Kurapika is the only survivor. Speaking of Kurapika," He turned to Killua. "I was going to say this earlier, but I think Kurapika is the chain user who killed one of the Spiders."

"What?" Rein voiced again.

"Yeah, Gon, what did you say?" Killua glared at his friend, who only smiled sheepishly back.He wasn't supposed to say that in front of Rein, how stupid was he? He had warned them she was lying. Did they still believe her, or was Gon really just that dumb?

But if he really was that dumb, how had he been able to figure it out?

"Um, well, I had a lot of time to think about it," Gon said, unsure of why his best friend was glaring at him so intensely. "The Phantom Troupe said something about the chain user working for the Nostrades, I think, and I'm pretty sure Kurapika said—"

A loud buzzing and ringing came from his pocket, and all watched as Gon pulled out his phone. He answered, then paused. "Kurapika?" He tried to make idle conversation for a bit before he became slack-jawed, eyes wide. "What does that mean?" he shouted. "Kurapika!" he screamed, but to no avail. The line was dead. Gon slowly lowered his phone and gazed at the empty screen.

"What?" Rein asked again, still unable to process anything.

"The..." Gon shook his head in disbelief. "The Troupe is dead."

They all collectively took in deep breaths, but Rein once again beat them to their words.

"What?"

*     *     *

Elsewhere in the vast, glittering city of Yorknew, a young man was making his way through the streets that he knew like the back of his hand.

You fools you thought this was only story.

You thought wrong.

(Btw there is a reason Rein wears a skirt: Can you shove a bunch of rocks and a bag of chips into a pants pocket? No. Can you shove a bunch of rocks and a bag of chips into a large skirt pocket? Yes. Can it also fit salsa? You bet your chicken sticks it can.)

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