Hunter X Hunter: Grounded

Chapter 44



….
After getting rid of my enemies. Razor went back to his base, I challenged him to get the 'Plot of Beach' Card. But he only smiled and gave me the card without even having to fight. 


This might be his way of thanking me… or not. That man is quite hard to read, kind of surprising for an Emitter and Ex Serial Killer. But assuming that Hisoka's Personality Test is 100% is wrong. After all, he is just one man with limited experiences who has seen only a part of the wide world. There could be scheming Enhancers and such things. All this is, is Hisoka's deduction. 


But it still does have a rough understanding of the Nen Ring. Much more than mine that is for sure. There is also a difference in experience and mentality. I can't claim to know the human psyche and how to push people better than Hisoka. But I can say with high certainty that I am better than him at getting people to do what I want without making it seem like I did that. I am also not dumb like him to allow my opponents to gather power as he did with his fight against Chrollo.


…
…
...
It takes four months for me and Karla to gather all of the necessary cards to complete the game. 


But it wasn't necessarily hard, we went on a killing spree too and left a trail of blood behind us. We killed the other Nen users who collaborated against us.


It wasn't hard, they weren't that strong when we were the ones taking us by surprise. Karla even put some of the useful ones under her control. She has become very dependable, never thought Karla would grow so much and so competent.


…
We answer all of the questions and get the three cards that I wanted for the outside world. Greed Island will continue to operate like usual, after all, ending all that work just because someone won is senseless. 


So in the end we went to the outside world and I killed Azula immediately and incinerated her body. She can't be allowed to live anymore, her danger outweighs the benefits. Because if Karla died I would also be dead from Azula. So I decided to not take that risk at all. I trust Azula as an enemy to have the ability to kill me.



…
…
…
And so three years pass and both I and Karla celebrate our 14th birthday. We had grown a lot during this time, both in power and personality.

Not a lot of things changed, but people stopped coming after us anymore because we took 'care' of them.


Currently, we are in a restaurant eating some good food. Karla is acting like her usual unladyish self. Eating more like an uncultured swine than a human being. But I accept her for that because she is my uncultured swine. 


I see her stuff her face, while I eat using my fork and knife.


Hmmm… maybe I should criticize her? I don't say anything about her table manners or general actions. She has never been scolded on such things, I guess she as a kid growing up like a spoiled brat who grew up on 'soft' parenting at which she was never yelled at.


I guess I should start teaching her about some manners and other things. Better late than never.


"Sub?" I hear a questioning voice, I look towards it and see a pink-haired woman wearing a plain white shirt and black pants.


Machi? Who would have thought that I would meet her after so many years. We are currently in York New City, who would have thought that I would 'randomly' meet her here. It's almost as if she planned to meet with me all along and just made it seem like it. 


I look at her with a nonchalant look, and she looks back calmly at me. There is nothing to be too surprised about here.


I heard about the recent Kurta Clan massacre. That will come to bite the troupe in the asś. 

But that doesn't matter at all… though maybe if I can I will help Machi survive. But even then I am not that attached to her. Especially now that we have been afar for so long. 


"Machi?" I act like I am slightly surprised, but I go back to being calm. "Long time no see."


"Hmmm…" She just looks at me. I can see that she has grown up and seems in her teens. Someone like her would normally be in high school, but instead of doing homework and hating her teachers. She is killing clans out of nowhere, just because Chrollo decided that he would like some cool looking eyes.


"You have gotten stronger." Says Machi as she continues to look at me. It might seem weird because I am shirtless and casual, while everyone else is wearing suits in this fancy restaurant.



….
-General POV-


Machi can't help it as inside she feels shocked. Sub's Aura feels so intense that she would place on the top levels of the troupe in raw power alone.


'Chrollo told me to get Sub to meet with the Troupe.' Contemplates Machi. 'But I can't get him to do anything forcefully… I wonder if I could win in a fight against him?'


Sub sees that Machi seems distracted by something so he goes back to eating steak. "You should be careful…" Says Sub casually, surprising Machi making her eyes widen slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" Asks Machi.


"I mean that the Troupe will be killed if it continues like this." Explains Sub as if it was the most basic thing. "You are thinking yourself invincible. Which is quite far away from the truth."


Machi shrugs at this, they don't think themselves invincible. They just see the truth, that everyone will eventually die. Life would be boring if they didn't do what they wanted in life. Still, she didn't explain that to Sub, knowing that he wouldn't understand it anyway.


"The boss wants to meet you." Infirms Machi.


Sub shrugs at that. "If he wants to meet me he can come himself. I am a busy man."


'I am not some dog that he can just call to.' Thinks Sub, he is not part of the Phantom Troupe, going with Machi just because Chrollo called on him… why would he do that?

Plus he doesn't like meeting dangerous people in their field. He would rather meet them in his field.

Machi nods at that. "Okay." She doesn't see a need to fight with Sub just for something so insignificant. Plus, even though many years have passed, she still sees Sub as her little brother. 


She starts walking away. 


"Machi." Calls out Sub, making her stop on her tracks. "It was nice seeing you again."


An almost unnoticeable smile appears on her face, and she starts walking away again. She doesn't say anything.


Sub smiles as he eats too. Karla tilts her head at this. "You seem happy?"


"Because I am." Sub says to her, which makes Karla look at Machi's back as she walks away. "And no, you can't kill her Karla."


"Ah… okay…" Says Karla and she goes back to eating.


Sub can read Karla quite well, they have been together for almost a decade now.