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THE SECOND PHASE was somewhat irritating. the applicants threw rude commentary to the examiners causing the examiner to be extremely harsh towards the applicants.

'i can't cook for shit.'

you stared at the dead pig in front of you, pondering on how to cook it. not knowing what to, you turned the stove on high and threw a stick of butter in the pan. you chopped the pork into slices and also threw them in the pan.

'if i fail this thing just because some misogynistic men i swear to fucking god-'

your thoughts were everywhere as you began to plate your sad excuse of a meal. you took your plate of food and presented it to the judges. menchi stared at you silently with a look of disbelief slapped across her face.

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NEW CHARACTER: MENCHI, ONE OF THE SECOND PHASE EXAMINERS

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"alright, alright, i know it sucks ass but i can't cook for shit! so stop looking at me like that and just fail me already," you exasperated.

menchi gave you an fail while buhara gave you a pass. you made your way back to your cooking station with your hands stuffed in your pockets.

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NEW CHARACTER: BUHARA, ONE OF THE SECOND PHASE EXAMINERS

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'better luck next year i guess'

"so, none of you passed to the next phase. EXAMS OVER!"

the applicants erupted in fits on complaints and grunts only to be silenced as soon as they caught a glimpse of an over flying airship.

a figure jumped out of the blimp and landed harshly on the earth, sending dust everywhere.

menchi propped her hands on her hips. "this is chairman netero, everyone."

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NEW CHARACTER: ISAAC NETERO, THE CURRENT CHAIRMAN OF THE HUNTER ASSOCIATION

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"oh i just work behind the scenes it's not all that impressive. i only intervene in the exams when little issues like this one pop up. now, dear menchi."

"sir."

"i see you've chosen to fail all of this years applicants. reason being..." you watched his eyes travel down to menchi's almost exposed chest.

'ugh, men.'

"... as i understand, of their general reluctance to challenge the unknown," he continued.

"no. i'm sorry sir, i snapped when an applicant insulted gourmet hunters and i made the exam harder than necessary."

── ◡̈₊· • . .° ( after the dream eggs bc its irrelevant )

after clearing the exam's second phase, the applicants soared through the sky in the hunter association blimp to the site of the third phase.

"i will now take the time to properly introduce myself to the remaining forty three applicants. i am netero, the chairman of the selection committee for this year's hunter exam. it is a pleasure to meet you all."

chairman netero and his secretary bean finished their speech and the applicants were free to do as they pleased until 8:00 AM. you decided to go with kurapika and leorio to get some sleep while gon and his friend ran around.

'i wish i was young. too bad being a gifted tore my childhood away.'

you found a spot to sit and fell sleep.

soon enough, the blimp landed at the third phase. you stood up and began to stretch your muscles.

'are you serious? i slept for nine hours straight?'

──── ◡̈₊· • . .°

"welcome to the third phase, everyone! this is trick tower. your objective is to reach the bottom of the tower in or under seventy two hours. and with that, the exam's third phase will now begin."

the applicants began to investigate the tower. checking cracks, nooks, and crannies to find out how to enter trick tower. you began to aimlessly walk around until you fell down through a loose tile.

"OUCH WHAT THE FUCK?"

you rubbed your bottom and looked around the dimly lit room. it was small and dusty. you noticed a sign and wristwatches displayed for you. the sign read: the five who drop into this chamber, must find their way down together by consensus of the majority.

"oh my fucking god, i have to wait for four other people, don't i."

"CORRECT!"

"WAH!"

"my name is lippo! i am the prison warden here. not to mention the third phase examiner. we've gone through the trouble to create multiple roots for the tower and the one you've chosen is majority rule."

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NEW CHARACTER: LIPPO, THE THIRD PHASE EXAMINER

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you huffed and crossed your arms. "not like i had much of a choice."

"if you want to pass, and i'm sure you do, cooperation is the essence of success. one person acting selfishly could derail the entire group. and of course, you won't be permitted to start until you have five members present. that's it! good luck."

the voice from the speaker died down and left you completely alone. you clicked the timer to your wrist and took a seat against the wall.

'aw shit. i guess i'll have to wait. but if people don't hurry the fuck up i'm breaking down this wall and going down using rashomon.'

──── ◡̈₊· • . .°

two hours passed and you are still the only person in the room. you got up and started to crack your bones. just as you were about to punch the wall down, you heard tapping sounds above you, indicating that someone was about to drop in.

'finally.'

four tiles simultaneously flipped and four figures fell down.

"oh thank god!" you sighed in relief, making the four turn to you.

"y/n!" gon, kurapika, and leorio all exclaimed.

"i'm so glad it's you guys. i was getting scared i'd be stuck with that ugly ass tonpa or something," you admitted "but uh, who's this?" you pointed to a kid with white hair.

"i'm killua."

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NEW CHARACTER: KILLUA ZOLDYCK, THE ELITE ASSASSIN

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"y/n. nice to meet you." you shifted your attention to the four watches on the cylinder table. "we have to get down the tower by using majority rules. put on the wristwatches over there."

the quartet obliged and a door appeared once all four timers were put on. the sign on the door read: press O to open, and press X to not open. the quintet went for the obvious option and clicked O.

the next sign read: which way do you want to go? press O for right, and X for left. you decided to choose right.

O: 3 X: 2

"HEY! WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GO RIGHT? YOU ALWAYS GO LEFT, WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?" leorio yelled.

"that's true, as research have shown, people who are lost or find themselves at crossroads, tend to go to the left much more frequently than to the right," kurapika reasoned.

"you know, i think i've heard that before," killua added.

"WAIT, THE NUMBERS JUST DON'T ADD UP! WHICH ONE DID YOU GUYS PICK?" leorio continued.

"right," said killua and kurapika.

you turned to leorio and gave him a sheepish grin. "sorry, leorio, i chose right too."

you and the group continued to walk the right path and found themselves in a large room with a square arena in the middle.

"applicants, let me explain. you might have figured out that some of the prisoners of trick tower are standing before you. the hunter exam committee has hired them on as examiners. in this phase, you will be fighting against all five of them. the fights will be one on one which each person fighting only once. use any style you like. there will be no draws. to win, your opponent must admit defeat. you must secure four wins in order to pass. for every hour the prisoners keep you here, their sentences will be reduced by one year. in other words, their objective here is to literally buy time." lippo announced from the speaker.

"alright, who wants to go first?" killua asks.

"me!" gon raises his hand. "i'll give it a try."

gon and the opponent began walking towards the middle platform.

( a/n: y'all, i'm not abt to write all of gon, kurapika, leorio, and killua's fights when you can just watch hxh for that. )

──── ◡̈₊· • . .°

you watched gon blow out the prisoners candle and give him a sheepish grin before walking back. you laughed at his antics and continued to observe the fights.

────  ◡̈₊· • .  .°

you watched kurapika's opponent carefully. when he turned around, you saw the twelve legged spider tattoo.

'not him trying to impersonate one of the phantom troupe members. i'm pretty sure i met one of them while i was working for the port mafia."

you watched kurapika bash the "phantom troupe member" to the ground and give him a long lecture of how he's not one of the phantom troupe members.

────  ◡̈₊· • .  .°

you grew extremely annoyed as you watched leorio feel all over the woman's body.

'this disgusting ass man! not only does he waste hours, he's taking a real long time to check too. what an ass.'

when leorio's turn was over you dragged him by his ear and gave him a good earful of what you had on your mind.

────  ◡̈₊· • .  .°

you could tell killua's opponent was strong and you were excited to see the fight between the two.

unfortunately, killua just ripped out his opponent's heart which made your bubbling excitement plummet instantaneously.

────  ◡̈₊· • .  .°

"alright y/n! if you win, we pass!" gon cheered.

"yeah, well we're gonna have to wait fifty hours thanks to specs over there," you pointed to leorio before you walked to the platform.

"alright, little lady. i don't usually fight girls but you're an exception. i want a battle to the death." your opponent demanded.

you held up your hands. "okay, no need to be so demanding, miss pretty princess."

"rashomon."

the black and red phantom instantly emerged from your back and hovered around you defensively.

"are you admitting defeat or do i have to get my hands dirty?" you taunted. you could see your opponent visibly tense before surrendering almost immediately after. you retracted rashomon and made your way back to the other four.

"nice job, y/n!" leorio praised.

"yeah, thanks. if rashomon got hisoka to back off, it was pretty obvious that guy would back off too," you said, nonchalantly.

"woah, so that rashomon thing can beat hisoka?! " killua questioned.

"i haven't seen him fight so i'm not sure. but rashomon is a gifted ability that i was born with. i just had to learn how to control it," you answered.

the five of you walked into a small room where you would wait out for fifty hours.

"can you tell me more about yourself, y/n?" kurapika asked with curious eyes. the others seemed to be just as curious as they all huddled around you.

"oh, uh.. well my full name is y/n akutagawa. i have two younger siblings. one also has rashomon and the other is an elite assassin" you paused and eyed killua, knowing he also is an elite assassin. "i work at the armed detective agency as a detective. it's an organization for gifted people like me who protect our city, yokohama. we have rival organizations such as the port mafia and the guild."

"why do you want to become a hunter?" asked gon.

"hunters are allowed to go to restricted places. i'm just here because the agency could benefit from a license," you said while propping your head against your arms. "i'm gonna get some sleep. i'm tired. night y'all."

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