As Raven let her words linger in the open space like an undying echo, there was a blast of wind causing the trees to shiver and the grasses swirled furiously surrounding the contestants. When every one of them including the examiners looked up, they caught sight of a huge air ship with the sign of the hunter's confederation.

"Is it the examination committee??" They gasped aloud.

A tiny figure appeared on the bottom of the airship. The size of the figure increased and soon revealed an old man in his 60s. He landed casually on the ground which startled everybody—well, most of them.

"He didn't hurt himself after such a jump?"

"Who's the old man?"

Curious whispers began to erupt from the crowd, but the raven girl silently watched from the side. Next to her was Hisoka who watched her closely, something about her strongly intrigued him and her aura.. It changed when the old man made an entrance. It was indescribable, her aura felt angry, full of hate, but there was something else to it that he could not pinpoint.

As the old man with moustache-like eyebrows walked towards Menchi's direction, his eyes locked with the ravenette. Almost immediately, her dull red eyes lighted up for a second before moving out of the way and stared at anything but him. It did not go unnoticed by the card user who was watching her.

"Netero-san, president of the Hunter Association." Menchi started. "The man responsible for the exam."

"This old man is the president? Is this a joke?"

"Hey, maybe we can become hunters if we beat him. I bet he wouldn't last a minute!"

"Let's do it!"

The idiot bunch of participants rushed forward to the old man whom they now know is named Netero. Before they could come close to him, a large and plump palm swatted them away like some pesky little insects; Buhara, it belonged to. Netero then said,"Thank you, Buhara." And continued while locking eyes with Menchi. "I'm only an executor and I'm here to solve this kind of problem."

Almost immediately the turquoise haired woman stood up straight as if she was in a marching squad; guilt flashed across her face and her voice was laced with the slightest panic. "I'm sorry, I lost my temper when I saw them willingly betray each other for their needs."

"If you look closely, Menchi, not all of them did so." As he stated this, the said woman observed each contestant and sure enough, she caught a lot of them who was still clean of blood; that surely is a strong enough proof to show they had not killed anybody. It was the only proof she could see anyway.

Menchi released a sigh followed by a short gesture of resting her hands on her hips. "I hereby announce the elimination of all contestants with even a single drop of blood on their shirt and body." If she said those who did not kill instead, there is no doubt that there will be plenty of lies erupting from their mouths.

None rejected the idea; they were either too guilty or stunned for having done something terrible for nothing at all. Are they worth the pity? As much as Gon wants to defend them and beg the juries for giving them a chance, he knew that they were wrong in the first place to have betrayed their companions, their friends. On the other hand, Raven was distracted—how odd. She paid no mind to what was happening, she was only looking at one person and one person only—Netero.

She knew him. However what worries her is that he knew her too.

+++

HUNTER EXAMINATION
SECOND ROUND
QUALIFIED: 42

+++

The president brought all of the remaining contestants aboard in his airship. It was huge, much spacious than expected and it was neatly designed; a very suitable transport for a large group who needs nothing more than a nice sleep and food. Everybody was gathered in one of the rooms, Netero stood in front of them with Beans standing at the side and just one step behind him. Netero is a very powerful man and the most respected, to stand by his side is a burden to bear. His aura is simply overwhelming and standing next to him will leave one shaking—including Raven.

The ravenette was leaning on the wall, standing at the very back of the crowd. She could not keep her eyes off him, she was on guard and every movement was like moving in a laser room. She was extremely tensed and every pore on her body was reacting with the particles in the air; it will be impossible for her to be at rest as long as he is here. Those were not what exhausted her, she used most of her energy the suppress her bloodlust, she was taming her from overtaking her body.

The noises in the room died down when Netero started his speech,"It is time for the remaining 42 contestants to know who I am. My name is Netero, the president of the Hunter Association as Menchi has introduced. I am fully responsible for the Hunters exam."

"We all know that, old man." Some idiot muttered under his breath; he bit his tongue when the president looked into his eyes.

He continued,"I wasn't supposed to make an appearance until the final round but it seems the consequences has changed that. Have a good rest tonight, things will become much tougher the moment you step out of this airship." With that, he left us with his personal secretary, Beans.

"Without any unforeseen circumstances, we should arrive around 8 o'clock in the morning at the next venue." He informed. "You are free to do whatever you want until our arrival."

Killua happily faced Gon and muttered,"Hey Gon! Let's go on a tour!"

"Yeah!" The said child agreed in delight.

The remaining two of the team sweat dropped at the energy the two kids have, even by looking at their enthusiasm made them exhausted.

"I'm going to take a very long nap." Leorio uttered before breaking into a loud and ungrateful yawn.

"Me too.." Answered Kurapika while looking around,"Hey, where's Raven?"

She has long slipped away during the president's speech, but nobody knew that—except for a handful of very skilled men: Netero, Hisoka and Gittarackur, the needleman who is a companion of the jester.

+++

In one of the rooms, Raven sat patiently on the wooden floor and leaned her back onto the wall. She sat facing the door directly and waited for the person she expected to meet. Soon enough, the door slowly swung open to reveal those ridiculously long eyebrows that she grew to hate. Her brilliant red eyes gleamed at the sight of him.

"Ah, how long has it been.. Reiko?"

🍁🍂🍁🍂

Dedicated to AndreaGonzalez076 for all your votes!

This was supposed to be published on Tuesday but like, I got stuck half way through. 🤔 Anyway, it seems we have young talents here, I received two more fanarts and I hope there's more to come! :D

_Organized_Insanity_

Nora_Universe

Published: 25 February 2017