Chrollo Lucilfer, leader of the Phantom Troupe, had been pretending to be Kalluto and participating in the Hunter Exam for over ten days.
Now, in the second-to-last test, he was being relentlessly hunted down by the island's number-one psycho.
Even though he had a lot of abilities, he still had to play hide-and-seek constantly. He even used bugs to scout and keep track of Hisoka's movements. Luckily, on the first day, he managed to injure Hisoka just enough for a blood butterfly to track him, which gave away Hisoka's location.
Hisoka chased Chrollo from the east side of the island to the west, then from the south all the way to the north. Neither of them got tired, but the examiners trying to follow them and grade them were completely worn out.
On the fourth day, just when Saiki Kusuo finally managed to build a two-level card tower with all the focus and effort he could muster, Chrollo showed up next to him. And not only did he show up—he flopped down right beside him.
Saiki Kusuo just stared at the fallen card tower.
Now he understood the rage Hisoka must've felt when his tower collapsed.
"Ah, sorry," Chrollo said. "Looked like you were just getting started. You should build a stronger base before stacking more on top."
Easy for you to say—why don't you try it? Actually, try it with psychic powers, then we'll talk.
Saiki Kusuo sighed. Half of today's cards had been damaged by him again. It had taken him so many days of hard work just to reach the second layer. Did Chrollo even know how hard it was to place cards on the second layer?
Man, I have issues. I need to calm down. Saiki Kusuo gave up on the tower of cards, sat cross-legged again.
"Not playing anymore?" Chrollo asked when he saw this.
[Congrats on making it back alive.] Saiki Kusuo greeted him.
"Oh, so you already knew." Chrollo looked up at the sky. Since he was lying down, his backpack was right above his head. He reached into it, fished around, and pulled out a pile of number cards.
"Did you find your target?"
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Saiki Kusuo opened his eyes and watched Chrollo toss down the cards. He looked closer—no sign of the main group beyond four hundred.
Who even carries seven number cards? Are you that desperate? Normally, you only need two to pass.
"Haha, Hisoka threw my cards away… It'd be faster to hunt down three people along the way than to go looking for them."
Saiki Kusuo glanced at Chrollo.
"Hm?" Chrollo didn't get what he meant.
The value of number cards was equal, meaning they could be swapped. And clearly, none of the cards Chrollo had were his own target—otherwise he wouldn't have bothered collecting seven.
Saiki Kusuo was about to make a move when he suddenly remembered he didn't know if Alluka had gotten her card yet.
He used clairvoyance to find the examiner's notebook recording card numbers—found it instantly.
Chrollo looked up at Saiki Kusuo's crossed eyes, puzzled.
As luck would have it, both Killua's and Alluka's targets were in Chrollo's hands.
[This one, 322, and this one, 88—can I have them for my little brothers?]
"Then I'll have to go looking for cards again." Chrollo pulled a bitter face. He didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either.
Though it was a bit of a hassle, hunting again would be easy.
[No need.] Saiki Kusuo casually pointed to an unknown card, swapping it with Chrollo's own 125.
[It's a swap, idiot.]
Chrollo blinked. "What did you just say?"
[Equivalent exchange.] Saiki Kusuo repeated flatly. Chrollo's earlier misunderstanding of his ability was that it was telekinesis. In reality, the only things he could take from a distance were worthless things like parts of the human body or stones—since their value was zero, they could be "exchanged equally."
"No, I meant the thing you said after that."
"This is the first time anyone's called me that." Chrollo found it novel.
Was there something wrong with him?
It wasn't his first time seeing someone who didn't mind being called an idiot—the last one was Nendou. After all, the line between genius and fool was paper-thin.
Saiki Kusuo stayed still for a moment, then closed his eyes. [Anyway, your card's back now.]
"What a handy ability." Chrollo put the card away—now he had one extra—and thought about what he'd learned. [So you can swap as long as it's equal? How do you figure out where the other item is? Within a certain range?]
[Wait, why are you hiding here?] Saiki Kusuo suddenly opened his eyes. He didn't want to get dragged into a fight between Chrollo and Hisoka.
"Hisoka's on the other side, distracted by Gon. I'm taking a break. This is the last place he'd check first." [That kid's aura is impressive—even I didn't notice. He's completely blended into the forest.]
One sitting, one lying, the two of them stayed like that until the sun began to set. Time to find food.
Saiki Kusuo was about to use something from his bag to trade for food when he noticed Chrollo nearby.
…What a nuisance. Just leave already.
"Fish? I can catch some. You want it raw or cooked?"
At a time , he was the only one bold enough to grill food. The other test takers were eating raw meat.
[Grill fish, please. I can bring the salt.] Saiki Kusuo didn't hesitate about a free dinner. Remembering that Illumi was sleeping nearby, he figured it was best not to wake him. [Let's grill by the river. I'll help.]
Saiki Kusuo was moving steadily now. He slung his bag over his shoulder, gathered all the scattered cards, put them back in the box, and slipped it into his bag.
He already knew about Chrollo's fishing skills, so he just let him handle it. On the way to the river, Saiki Kusuo teleported straight to where Killua was.
The moment he appeared, Killua gave him a questioning look.
"Huh? Brother Kusuo? What are you doing here!" [And your presence was so well hidden, I almost couldn't sense you.]
Without much talk, Saiki Kusuo handed Killua two number cards.
"She's with Gon. Whoa! These are exactly the cards Alluka and I were after! You really saved us, bro! We've been searching for four days and couldn't find any—felt like everyone just vanished!"
[Wait, what did you just say?]
"I said thanks! Even though I don't say it much…" Killua's face turned a little red.
[No, the first thing. Where's Alluka?]
"Relax, Gon's watching her. If he says he'll—Brother Kusuo? Where'd you go? Hey!"
The moment Saiki Kusuo heard his thoughts match his words, he teleported away.
With clairvoyance and teleportation, and the island not having many people, he found them quickly.
Alluka was fine. Gon, however, was hiding inside a tree hollow, injured.
Saiki Kusuo stood at the opening, hearing Alluka say to Gon, "Gon, hug me…"
Gon was poisoned and paralyzed, unable to do it.
If Saiki Kusuo had been even a little later, some "request" might have been completed. Once the first request was fulfilled, Nanika would stick to the person until all requests were met before switching back to Alluka.
Even though this was Gon, even though he was the main character, Saiki Kusuo didn't want anyone to know this secret. If Illumi found out, Gon would be in danger—and even Hisoka might not be able to stop it.
---------------------------------------
You can read 15 chapters ahead on patre on