Beans cleared his throat. "Eleven applicants have made it through to this final phase," he said, looking down at the paper. He then clasped his hands behind his back, the surface of his bright green head shining in the light as the list crinkled. "Feel free to roam around the airship or wait in your rooms. We'll call you individually on the speakers when ready."

Most of their eyes were on the small man—was he even one? His name, Beans, seemed to describe him best—as he quickly left their side, and all their previous examiners followed him.

The only one who wasn't watching was Feitan, who had no interest in the examiners, Zushi, who was practically vibrating from concealed joy at being on yet another airship, and Zepile, who was clutching the back of the boy's collar in an attempt to calm him down and keep him from running off or accidentally crashing into a wall from delight.

Feitan was comfortable where he was. It was relatively quiet in his spot. The applicants he didn't know or care about hadn't spoken a word since getting on the small ship, and the loud kids were being babysat by the man with too much eyebrow. But even their loud droning was offset by the fern that separated them, the plant being a barrier between him and their world. There was a muffled tone to his corner of the universe, and there was a warm, almost reassuring, fuzzy weight atop his legs. He let his own head dangle to the side and nearly closed his eyes, setting his hand atop the cat.

The crackling of the speakers echoing through the halls shook him—ever so slightly, hardly at all, if you asked him. It seemed to be a recurring theme. He hated it.

There was a momentary pause. "Mr. Feitan, please report to the exam office."

Exhaling, he rose with a scowl, clicking his tongue once to signal the cat to jump off.

He looked at Bacon, with his torn up ears, one of them half chewed off and the other dangling floppily. There seemed to be no damage to his inner ear, but the scars reached down pretty low, as if they'd been that heavily wounded before. Bacon was rather without fat, as contradictory as that was according to his name. He was rather skinny beneath layers upon layers of fur. Darker grey stripes lined his ash-colored back, the fur a bit knotted and matted in some places but otherwise soft. Feitan had already weeded out most of the prickly burrs in Bacon's thick coat anyway, and without those in the way he was rather pleasing to pet. The areas that weren't soft were the remains of his battle scars, but he liked petting those too. Bacon was a cat, and all of him was perfect.

Cats were good because cats were not people. Feitan did not like people.

There was a peculiar sense of tingling at the corners of his lips when he started towards to where that bean was, and he caught the sight of Bacon stretching before nonchalantly tailing him out of the corner of his eye. Snatching a piece of bacon off the counter top as he passed by, Feitan tossed it to the cat, who gobbled it up greedily before continuing to follow his footsteps, all the way to outside of the room.

He'd felt the aura of that neon-headed girl a long time ago, wandering anxiously out in the hall after pretending to have gone to the bathroom. It was buzzing, alive, and now it was fluttery and tangled up in a frenzy. As soon as Feitan took a step outside, he found it off how her body was sitting quietly by the window with her expression even more indifferent. Her unmastered aura gave it away, troubled, sad. Maybe a little bit more than just sad.

Her aura was not big. Compared to the potential Nen of all the other applicants that had passed thus far, hers was probably the weakest. But her mental state couldn't have gone unnoticed. Yes, they were all weak and couldn't compare to him, but maybe, maybe Rein had matured enough. By now, she could probably take notice of the girl's—

"Ponzu! What are you doing out here?"

"R-Rein!" The girl named Ponzu was startled when her name was called, and jumped when she saw Feitan also out in the hallway.

"Come on." Rein took her wrist, all smiles. "Zepile said he'd buy us drinks so we're going to go take advantage of his wallet." She tugged at Ponzu's thick cotton sleeve, completely oblivious to her dark and unapproachable state.

It seemed Feitan had been too gracious. Rein was an idiot and knew nothing.

"W-Wait." When Rein let up, Ponzu took in a breathy gulp of air. "He'll get me one too?"

"Well yeah. I don't pay for things, Killua and Zushi don't have money, and Lucky's broke. I'm sure one more person won't make much of a difference to an adult."

"No, it's... you're inviting me?"

Rein's barreling actions slowed. "Why can't I?"

Ponzu's expression changed from stunned to touched as she righted to walk by the girl's side. She took one look at her phone that Feitan hadn't noticed was there, her eyes lingering on the screen. She tucked it back into her pocket. Nodding, a smile graced her lips.

"Oh. Hey, Fei," Rein said when she finally caught sight of him. Her head cocked to the side just a slight bit, questioning. She seemed to be in deep thought for a minute, deciding whether to open her mouth and ask whatever question she had. If it was about Bacon, Feitan already knew what sort of response he would give, but if it wasn't? Rein had asked Ponzu, whom she barely knew, to join her group to get drinks. Feitan was an adult and not nearly as close in age to the mere children that the others were, but he'd known Rein for longer. It wouldn't be a surprise if she wanted him to join, rather obvious, really. 

He was not—not—bitter when the question that came out was: "Shouldn't you be at the office by now?"

Feitan scowled. With Bacon tailing him and a glower set in stone on his face, he walked off, ignoring Rein's confused calls.

Ah, yes. Feitan did not like people.

The door to the office room was open, so he walked right on in. The room had no openings aside from the ajar door, and the few light bulbs didn't help much, instead only sending a shining beam of light across the chairman's secretary's head. "What do you want," he spat at the green abomination.

"Ah, Mr. Feitan!" Beans said, pleasantly surprised. He gestured warmly to the open chair in front of him. "Please take a seat. We're about to commence with your final exam phase."

*     *     *

Unentered number
Fifth phase, very high chance that Aira will pass.

Kurapika
Brilliant

Kurapika
But I still require an update on her more personal movements, recent ones.

Kurapika
Why haven't you gotten this to me?

Kurapika
Respond.

Kurapika
Hello

Kurapika
You mentioned you made it into her friend group.

Unentered number
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but in short, I suppose.

Unentered number
Yeah, I think so

Unentered number
Yes.

Kurapika
Then get the information quickly.

*     *     *

"Who're you texting?" Zushi asked, swinging himself over the top of one of the chairs to look at Zepile's phone.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, flipping it shut. "You can't look at people's messages, it's rude," he chided. Seeing how the boy's face started to be downcast, he looked for a quick recovery. Kid was sweet. Maybe he'd been too harsh? His fallen expression was just so depressing. "Checking in with a friend for the auctions," he answered promptly, slipping his phone into his coat pocket. "I have to check in a lot. I used to make fakes, but I'm trying to get them off the market."

Zushi sat down properly. "You used to be a criminal?"

"Y-yeah." He pulled up his sleeve and rubbed his hand over the bandages wrapped on his arm, the arm Feitan had injured on the way to the Hunter Exam. He didn't look the kid in the eye. "I'm not proud of it. It was fun at first, but it wasn't what I really wanted. I did some time for it too, and..." he blushed, "I did a lot of stupid things when I was young, and I regret all of them."

"All?" Zushi repeated quietly. He looked up to the man with his round hazel eyes slowly, unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"Just because someone's nice doesn't mean they can't do horrible things," commented Killua, pushing coins into the vending machine. He retrieved his chocolate milk before walking over to them, a solemn look on his face. "That's just how people are. We have many faces, and that alone can cause anyone to snap."

Zepile was concerned at how this only served to make the small boy more depressed. "Hey, Killua-"

"How do you know?" asked Zushi. "Personal experience?"

"Yeah," Killua answered casually, breaking the seal of his drink. "I was an assassin. I killed people pretty much daily."

"You wha-"

"I knew it!" Rein appeared from behind a corner, Ponzu following close behind. "You're a Zoldyck, aren't you?"

He snickered. No use hiding it. "Born and raised. Not one of them anymore though. My mom's so needy and the pressure from my brothers was a lot worse. I wanted my own life, you know?" Killua took a swig from the plastic bottle, and a chocolaty mustache was left on his upper lip.

"Zepile-san and Killua..." Zushi was overwhelmed by the information. He looked to Rein, eyes wide. "Don't tell me you..."

She blew a small, apologetic raspberry, joking. "You do not want to know."

Zepile couldn't say he was surprised. Rein was a nice girl and all, but her short, shady friend was a pretty obvious hint to the fact that her hands weren't clean. With what he'd heard from Leorio—the Phantom Troupe—what other possibility was there? But she was like him, he suspected. Maybe not entirely past it, but developed and a bit reformed. Not that he had any basis to assume so. That aside, he was trying unsuccessfully to keep from laughing at Zushi's utter look of betrayal.

"You too?" he almost squeaked from stress. He looked at Ponzu, who merely shrugged with a grin playing on her face. He faced Lucky, coming back from the vending machine, drink in hand. "What about you?"

"What, me? Crime?" Lucky pulled at an invisible collar proudly. "I was a pretty bad boy," he bragged. "I shoplifted a head of lettuce when I was, like, fiv-"

"Lucky-san!" Zushi whined.

They all laughed at his misery, and pretty soon, the boy joined them in the infectious air. Some of them were bent over, chuckling, and they couldn't stop.

They all sat together like they did on the last airship, in a makeshift corner with drinks, except this time Ponzu was added into the mix. Zushi was dragging over a sofa cushion from the room before when he noticed her, looking down at her phone. He wanted to ask, he did. But Zepile said it was rude to look, and besides, Wing had always scolded him on nosiness. But he was a curious boy at heart, and he found his eyes going back and back. He wanted to ask so bad.

It was Rein to came to his rescue. "Are you texting your boyfriend?" she asked her, getting straight to the point.

In the background, Killua choked on his milk at the suddenness. How chuckling burned.

Ponzu jumped, and immediately shut off her phone entirely. She seemed a bit shaken, pulling away and attempting to smile. "I-! Pokkle is not-!" She froze.

Rein leaned in at the name she'd said. "Pokkle is...?" she prodded.

Ponzu adjusted the hat on her head, if only to find something to do with her hands. "Pokkle," she stated, "is not worth spending your time on, and none of your business."

*     *     *

"What do you do for a living?" Beans questioned, plumed pen at the ready.

"What do you care," Feitan answered, leaning back in the chair disrespectfully. Bacon swirled and twisted his way around the chair legs below him.

"Noted." The scribbling sounds on his notepad was enough to make him irked. "Why did you come to take the Hunter Exam?"

"No."

"I see." More scribbling noises. "What kind of Hunter do you aspire to be?"

This time, Feitan didn't answer at all, the room filled with the booming of the ticking clock and Bacon's soft purrs.

Beans set down his pen, the sound unbearably loud in the silent room. "Is there something personal that is bothering you?"

That was it for Feitan. He stood up, the impact from the back of his calves sending the chair flying into the wall. The cat scrambled and made its way to the door, licking a paw with a calm demeanor. Feitan glared at Beans' large eyes, a pinpoint black that was locked squarely on him. Fei growled under his breath, but the green creature didn't flinch, instead folding his hands neatly in his lap and settling back as Feitan approached him from the other side of the table.

Muttering a single curse in his mother tongue, he observed. The man, this inhuman creature, was not scared. He must have been confident that there was no way an applicant would attack an examiner, as that would result in the applicant being disqualified. But Feitan had no obligation to get a license. If he failed here, no one would care, least of all him.

He was ticked, and this man was adding to it. Subtracting from his misery was in his own interests, and he didn't care about anyone else's. The others would pass even if the examiner died, so really, why was this even alive?

Feitan wanted to wipe that polite, fake smile off its bulbous head.

Nails sharpening, his arm swept forward with the grace and power he'd mastered, a move that could slice through multiple bodies and even thick metal.

And a single hand stopped him.

"Now, now, there's no need to resort to violence."

Expressing surprise on the battlefield was a sure method to alert your opponent that you were weaker, that they could take advantage of you and go about the rest of their day. But seeing how the only point of damage was his shredded glove, he sucked in too quick of a breath before biting the inside of his lip to cover it up.

Beans was unscathed.

"Forgive my prying," Beans said calmly, slipping off his destroyed gloves, "but are you from Meteor City?"

Like before, Feitan raised a judgmental eyebrow and didn't reply.

"I'm not stereotyping. I am not the type to do that. But from your response, it seems my suspicions have been confirmed." He sat back down, and gestured for the Spider to do the same. "How could I not recognize someone from my homeland?"

For the first time since he'd entered, Fei realized he was answering; actually conversing with this man. Hesitantly, he inquired, "Meteor?"

"Yes," he chirped amiably. "Second generation. Can you guess where I lived?"

Feitan's eyes swept over his taut, shining skin, which was an unnatural shade of green no matter which way you looked at it. His too short of a plump figure, and his stubby hands that held a set of fingers with incomplete joints. The shape of his head, round yet firm, and without a visible nose or ears to match. "The radioactive dump."

He nodded, not affected by the staring in the slightest. "Correct. We are separate individuals, with different origins, but they're rooted in the same place, aren't they? To outsiders, it may be impossible, but we have a way of telling, don't we? That we're of the same people."

Fei hadn't been back to the dump in a long time, but now that he knew, this man's connection to the city was obvious. Maybe he should pay a visit back there soon, to tone his memory.

"We have a legacy of being stepped on and destroyed, but also of being powerful. I am the chairman's secretary and a retired two-star Hunter for a reason. Now please," he pleaded simply, picking up his pen once more. "Will you continue with my questions?"

Sitting down, Feitan did exactly as he requested, an imagined wafting of smoke and hot summer days lingering in his mind.

Okay so like i read somewhere that Beans was from Meteor City and my brain went "ding ding ding! Idea has arrived!" so yes he is green from radiation. (I don't know how science works, but we're gonna go with that).

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