Chapter 20: Let's Cook... Huh?

"I am very sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I will atone for this with anything other than death."

Blood rushed to my head. The pervert was too disgusting; after saying that, he said one more thing, completely losing his cool. I am very sorry.

"No, I am really glad Gon did it. I am truly grateful that you came to help me. It's not that I don't like you. Because I love you. I would rather he be my brother. Please, please be my brother."

"Sora!"

"Or rather, this isn't an apology, just a wish."

Gon did not know if he was apologizing or just expressing his request; although it was a muddy piece of Swamp land, Gon felt very frustrated with Sora. Kurapika begged him to lift his head while doing so, and Kurapika was completely dumbfounded.

"I am really sorry, Gon. Are you okay?"

Gon let Sora finally stop bowing, but even when he lifted his head, he looked like he was about to cry and did not stop apologizing.

Seeing this, Kurapika was no longer surprised; she knelt beside him and apologized to Gon.

"I'm sorry, Gon. I am not surprised, but will you please forgive me? What I said was a bit of a joke, but I truly meant nothing bad by it."

"Ah, yeah. It's fine, I know that clearly. Or rather, I don't care at all, so you don't worry either, Sora."

"No, don't worry!!"

Following behind Kurapika, Gon laughed happily and said something overly broad, which Kurapika and Sora accidentally rushed into at the same time.

"Don't worry! I don't know what I'm saying, but you are really worried! Because I really want to kill you!"

"En! Your kindness is a virtue, but you should study seriously; you cannot live on kindness alone!"

Sora grabbed Gon's shoulders and shook him to persuade him.

"Uh, I'm not that kind of person. If Sora wanted to kill you like Hisoka, wanted to kill you, I would be scared and wouldn't forgive you."

"But when Sora walked toward me, I felt like he was a beast protecting its young, so I was scared at the time, but now I don't care. You said how important Kurapika is, right?"

This time, both were startled by Gon's words; Gon had completely seen through the truth behind Sora's shameless behavior that ordinary people could not understand.

However, Gon's next sentence turned his stunned expression into speechlessness.

"Also, I also felt it was strange, but at that time... when Sora walked toward me, I felt a strong sense of pressure. I was scared and wanted to run away, but I couldn't even turn back. Even if I fought, there was absolutely no chance of winning!! I did it."

Confused by his own feelings, Gon smiled slightly awkwardly and said.

From Gon's perspective, this was his own true impression and subsequent words, "So don't worry about Sora anymore!" I was confused by Sora's overly apologetic expression.

"What's wrong, Sora!?"

"I can't help it... Kurapika, what should I do? Far from being a promising young man, I have awakened something unbelievable in a child..."

"It's alright, Sora!"

For some reason, Kurapika beside Sora desperately comforted Sora, and Sora began to feel more responsible than before.

Gon also thought about chasing something, but because he knew in the previous two episodes that what he was chasing might just be the final result, he wisely watched without saying anything.

A few minutes later, it would be better to just waste time here being depressed, comforting, and flustered.

"... But can we get through from here?"

"Well, I might not make it to the second exam, but I think I can definitely make it to the Venue."

Kurapika muttered while looking around at the Dense Fog, and Sora answered while searching for something in his waist pouch.

"I gave Killua a catalyst, so it will take some time, but I think I can manage."

Having said that, the thing he took out looked like a Pendant at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the Chain did not form a loop, but was connected to a ring that looked like a Ring, and further out was the same Jewel that had been given to Killua.

It was a pendulum.

"Sora, what is that?"

"Hooch is a type of probing; it is paired with the Jewel that Killua has, so if you put it on your Finger and face Killua, the pendulum will rotate."

"In a place like this, we have to check every location in detail, so it might take some time, and we won't arrive at the exam in time, but as long as Killua doesn't get lost from the Examiner or throw away the Jewel we gave her, we will be able to find her."

Sora gave Gon a rough explanation, Gon asked with a puzzled face, and Kurapika was also confused by the complexity of his explanation.

Kurapika knew Sora's "Magic," so she could understand and believe that explanation, but Gon did not think so. I worried about whether I should explain "Magic," but this person blew that worry away himself with shining eyes.

"You know! Wow! Sora, you are like a Wizard!!"

Thank you.

No need to question "Why?" further.

Seeing the two's reactions, Gon tilted his head in confusion, but the light of curiosity still flickered in his eyes.

Apparently, they wanted to see Hooch's reaction as soon as they heard Sora speak.

Not because he doubted it, but because he truly believed it.

"... Children are scary. Pure innocence is scary."

"... I agree."

Although he was a child, he was not a toddler; he was already at an age where he no longer believed in Santa Claus or ghosts, yet he had a different meaning and direction than Kurapika 3 years ago. Gon's innocence and naivety were unquestionable. Sora muttered involuntarily, and Kurapika nodded deeply in agreement.

While saying such things, Sora placed the match on his Finger, stretched his arm forward, and looked for the direction while paying attention to the movement of the pendulum.

When I slowly turned the pendulum in place, checking the direction so it wouldn't move too much, when I turned toward a certain direction, the Jewel connected to the Chain was obviously unnaturally large and began to shake and rotate rapidly.

Facing Sora's reaction, Gon shouted excitedly.

"It's true! It is moving correctly in the direction of Leorio's scent!"

"Wait a minute"

Subconsciously hearing Gon's words, Sora and Kurapika grabbed Gon's shoulders at the same time.

"Gon, what is Leorio's scent?"

"... Maybe, Gon. Can you smell Leorio's scent from so far away?"

Looking at Gon, who had casually said something even more unbelievable than what Sora had done, Sora smiled slightly.

"Hm? Well, yes."

Leorio's cologne is very distinct; one could tell it was him even from kilometers away."

"You, just you alone! Or rather, let's talk first!!"

It was ultimately decided that Gon would lead them to the Venue, rather than using Sora's Hooch, which would take a long time.

The three of them passed through the forest where the fog had noticeably thinned.

Sora would occasionally confirm the direction with the Wind, but Gon seemed to truly be tracking the scent of Leorio, who was carrying him on his back, so his path was perfectly consistent with the direction Sora's Wind pointed. Not only that, but the corpses of beasts and humans torn apart by sharp blades were scattered about like signposts.

Clearly proving that Hisoka had taken this path.

As for the human corpses, they were likely Examinees who had become separated from the main body following the Examiner, or those who had escaped from Examiner Hisoka's game; all had unfortunately met their end.

Sora, while admiring Gon's sense of smell—which, without exaggeration, was comparable to a dog's—asked.

"……Gon, you are a human, right?"

"I want to tell you not to be rude, but I'm sorry, Gon. To be honest, I'm also suspicious."

Kurapika scolded Sora for her overly blunt words for a moment, but he apologetically asked the same question.

"They're all too scary!" Gon protested while running. Even if he could laugh and forgive Sora's shameless behavior, it seemed he didn't like being treated as an anomaly, but from the perspective of the two of them, his standard for anger was refreshing.

"I'm just an ordinary person! Of course, I'm confident that my five senses are stronger than others!"

"If a person can track someone's perfume scent from several kilometers away, I wouldn't call them a 'normal person'."

Gon's accusation was refuted by perfectly harmonious lines, as if they had just held a meeting.

Thanks to her amazing sense of smell, she had reached the exam site so smoothly that she didn't know if she would make it in time for the second exam, I apologized while stroking my own head.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm also a freak who can't talk about others, don't mind it!"

"Sora, you weren't following me. Also, please pay attention."

"Haha, you two really have a rapport."

Gon quickly recovered from the exchange between the two and laughed, then looked at Sora with eyes full of curiosity and expectation, saying:

"But Sora is really amazing. You are on equal footing with Hisoka, right?

Sorry, Sora. What I did was just an Obstacle, wasn't it?"

At Gon's words, Sora's smile returned to the tension it had in the Underground Tunnel.

What Gon didn't understand was that not only Sora, but Kurapika also had a sad face that seemed to be enduring pain.

Unknowingly, I knew it was my words that had made the two of them like this, so I reflexively tried to apologize, but before that, Sora spoke up.

"……That's right. Honestly, what you did was a hot Stone. I thought it was an Obstacle.

But you don't have to worry about feeling sorry or regretful for helping someone; that is not a mistake. So don't worry, Gon.

The terrible thing is that I was too out of control to accurately grasp what you did…… I wanted to kill you."

"Sora!"

That's not true, Kurapika shouted with a crying face and voice, and then Gon claimed Sora was fine.

The scream fully expressed the feeling of her just calling his name.

Don't say that, don't be the only one to blame. You are not bad; the terrible thing is my own weakness, because I have always been protected by you, so I couldn't do anything.

It sounded like that was what he was saying.

Sora read Kurapika's words definitely more accurately than Gon did.

She still smiled a bit lonely.

"Thank you, Kurapika. But please don't forgive me.

At that time, I put the cart before the horse. Because I wanted to protect you, I even forgot about your precious companions and wanted to kill them."

"I can't forgive or not! You didn't do anything in the beginning!"

Kurapika said to Sora with a lonely, helpless smile.

"It would have been fine if you had just stopped! You didn't kill anyone!

……I'm not wrong. There is nothing wrong with Sora. Don't just shoulder sins you didn't commit, you idiot. So I will never forgive you."

Sora listened to Kurapika's words with a blank face, then laughed.

This time, she wore a well-deserved, brilliant smile and said happily.

"……So that's how it is. That's right."

Sora smiled and reached out to touch Kurapika's head, just as he had done to Gon, and ruffled her hair.

"Thank you. Kurapika."

Kurapika was touched by Sora for a while, feeling sorry for the comfort of the hand touching him for the first time in three years, but it was a long time before he noticed Gon watching him with wide eyes. "Treating me like a child!"

That kind of stubbornness was proof of being a child, but as expected, even this breaker of Sora did not point out such rude behavior; Sora let go of her hand and apologized too lightly, "Ahaha, sorry."

She let go of her hand and told Kurapika with a smile.

The smile Kurapika wanted to see forever, wanted to protect, wanted to give.

"Kurapika.

As you know, I completely collapsed, so I lost my balance and lost control. I said don't shoulder sins you didn't commit, but that is indeed a good line.

But if you stop me, I won't miss your voice, I will definitely stop, I won't put the cart before the horse…… Sorry. I think this is annoying, but I'm sorry."

He said that when he tried to kill, he hoped his atrocities would stop.

I entrusted the important part of becoming "human" to Kurapika.

"I don't want to die." In her view, she probably knew that compared to what Gon did, this was more like a "farce."

Even so, even if he went crazy, Sora knew he couldn't live without going crazy, but he didn't let go of his "human" part.

Kurapika hoped so.

No matter how crazy you are, as long as Sora is Sora, that is enough.

If you survive by going mad, you will not deny that madness. Even with that madness, I want you to be happy.

She knew that her words, her wishes, had already become her new Curse.

Nevertheless, Kurapika could not cancel the wish he had made at that time.

Kurapika could not let her go, even though she knew she would suffer more pain, letting her walk a painful path.

No matter how much you do not want to die, I also do not want you to become an undead creature.

No matter what kind of madness is devoured, there is no decent part anywhere, Sora will survive as Sora, I cannot give up the wish for him to survive.

Kurapika replied.

"—It doesn't matter."

On the contrary, giving her a new madness was my own fault.

Even if I did not have that responsibility, this is the role I want to continue to play.

"I will definitely stop you, I will not let you take anything you do not want to take.

As long as my voice can reach your ears, I will raise my voice and call you over and over, scream, and stop you."

He promised to become Sora's "wedge," to become Sora.

"……Yes, thank you."

Facing Kurapika's reply, Sora smiled and thanked him again.

Gon watched the exchange silently.

I am worried about the relationship between the two, Sora said he "collapsed," Kurapika made an expression that could endure pain and did not deny this statement, but I can easily do it. At least. I understand that this is an area that should not be touched.

There are many things I do not understand, but I know the most important thing, so I think this is fine.

This reminds me of what Gon's foster mother once told me, "If you want to understand a person, know what makes them angry."

Sora cannot forgive Hisoka for hurting Kurapika to the point of not even recognizing his own name, let alone Gon.

Kurapika does not allow Sora to be falsely accused, even if it is himself.

As long as the two know how much they care about each other, then it is fine.

＊＊＊

"…………I really arrived there."

"And it seems the exam hasn't even started yet……"

Sora and Kurapika argued with each other, appearing somewhat distant, not knowing if they found it a bit hard to accept the fact that they really followed the scent and caught up to the second exam.

Gon was the same as usual, completely unaware of his inhumanity, looking around, and innocently said happily: "You are lucky."

Sora and the others decided not to think too much, and just as they started looking for Leorio and Killua, a chill came from their necks, like an insect crawling on them.

At the same time, the three turned around and cast their gazes toward Hisoka, who was leaning against a tree.

Fortunately, Hisoka did not approach the three, just silently pointing at them. Not the three of them, but a completely different direction.

When I turned my gaze to the direction the Finger was pointing, I discovered Leorio was stunned, leaning against a tree like Hisoka.

"Leorio!"

Gon ran forward and called him, Leorio's hollow eyes stared at the three, and he replied: "Yo."

Judging from Hisoka's personality, Sora had already read that he would not intervene, but as expected, his understanding of the other party was not enough to be certain; even if Hisoka did not intend to do so, he was still in the middle of holding him, Leorio regained consciousness, and if he resisted he might be killed, so seeing him made Sora feel relieved.

As soon as he relaxed, Kurapika threw a bomb with a straight face.

"Hmm. Except for the wound on your arm, you seem to be safe."

"Ugh!"

No matter how you look at it, the bruise on Hisoka's face was more conspicuous than his arm, his tie had already stopped bleeding, and I squatted down like a turtle on the spot.

Kurapika did not notice what he had overlooked when seeing Sora's reaction, confused by Sora's sudden abdominal collapse; Sora almost died, even more miserable than when he and Hisoka fought.

"You…… look at your face, look at your face."

Leorio was annoyed by Kurapika, Kurapika did not notice Sora's burst of laughter and rude ignorance; after seeing it, he showed a surprised expression, then smiled awkwardly, as if saying: "Ah, it's true."

In response, Sora's abdominal muscles died again.

Kurapika finally figured out the reason for Sora's sudden laughter and shouted: "How long are you going to laugh!?" I covered my stomach and continued to laugh.

Facing such a chaotic background, Gon asked Leorio normally: "When did you realize it?"

Gon's reaction was that he was too broad, or going at his own pace. Leorio was even more confused, but he replied: "Huh?"

"But how did I get injured like this?"

Once these words were out, Sora's laughter finally stopped.

However, even if he stopped laughing, not only Sora, but the other two also looked at each other, not answering Leorio's question.

"Better not to say……"

"Yes."

"That is correct."

Apparently, the shock of being beaten by Hisoka completely wiped out his memory of entering the Swamp, let alone facing Hisoka for revenge.

Of course, Leorio, who had not mastered Ryu, survived the sudden strike of the ability-user Hisoka; the text said that this person entered the wilderness and was attacked by a beast with a bad temper.

In any case, I did not lie.

There was no need to continue this topic, Leorio still remembered, so Sora decided to change the subject quickly.

"By the way, hasn't the exam started yet? Isn't that building the venue?"

Hearing a low, beast-like roar coming from the building he pointed to, Sora's face twitched.

Leorio also twitched, groaning because of the pain in the wound on his cheek hit by the twitch, and tilted his head, "Hmm?"

Although he arrived a little early, he seemed not to know the situation because he had just noticed it, so the four looked at the container-warehouse-style building, constantly groaning, "Grrrrrrr."

"Why are they all outside the building?"

Gon also tilted his head and asked a question.

Even if it hasn't started yet, it's normal to wait inside if this building is the second exam site.

Just as the four of them began to think that this building was not the venue for the second exam, but a cage trapping creatures inside, a voice and an answer came from behind.

"You cannot go in."

"Slaughter!"

Gon and Sora reacted at the same time and rushed over, while Killua looked a bit awkward and complained to the two who had finally caught up.

"Sorry, you two. When Hisoka only brought the old man, I thought he was already dead."

"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry."

"Sorry for making you worry."

Gon smiled and apologized to deceive him, while Sora responded with the same playful remark as Killua.

I wanted to deny the "worry" part that Sora mentioned, but Killua felt his reaction was childish and tried to deceive him with "Thanks to Gon?"

Sora looked a bit further away and explained the part that caught my attention.

"I followed the scent of the perfume!?"

"Yes."

Gon had not yet realized that his actions were too unreasonable and answered normally, while Killua looked at Sora with a "What should we do about this guy?" expression.

Responding to Killua's plea for help, Sora placed one hand on Killua's shoulder and gave him only one piece of advice: "Blush." In fact, there was no other way.

"You... you are very different after all. I mean, if you have this guy, you don't need this, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm surprised by what happened."

Ignoring Gon's reaction to Killua and Sora, Killua returned the gem in his pocket to Sora.

Kurapika, who was watching the exchange, suddenly remembered something he had forgotten and touched the earring hanging by his ear.

A keepsake entrusted to him by Sora's older sister three years ago.

Now is a good time to return it to her.

I should take it off my ear and hand it to her, saying: "Sora, I have raised you for a long time."

However, Kurapika could only touch the earring, unable to take it off, nor could he bring up the topic of the earring entrusted to him by Sora.

In the three years since I lost Sora, I cannot let go of him like Linus's blanket.

If Sora doesn't bring up the topic, it's still a bit troublesome.

Kurapika still couldn't believe that Sora was right in front of him, so he couldn't let go of the evidence of Sora's presence, the promise of a reunion.

Perhaps Killua realized that if he cared about Gon's abnormal behavior, he would lose.

"As you can see."

It was written: "Today at noon. The second exam begins."

"It makes strange groaning sounds, but it doesn't seem to come out at all. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait."

Killua had no choice but to do so, and the four of them, along with the other students, just stared at the entrance of the building and waited.

However, if they were just waiting outside, no one would be so vigilant, but the constant roaring from inside the building inevitably intensified the students' anxiety and made them nervous.

With less than a minute left until noon, the students' tension reached its peak, and when the countdown began to noon, most of the students had already picked up their weapons, ready for battle.

This is why I couldn't believe what emerged from the building; a strange silence was born.

"What? Are you hungry?"

"As you heard, it's so peco-peco."

Walking out from inside was a man nearly three meters tall and three adults wide, who could only be called a giant, and a young, beautiful, and charming woman with a unique hairstyle.

If it were just that, it wouldn't be strange for the students to lose their tension all at once.

If I had thought it was the roar of a beast, not the rumbling in a man's stomach, no one would have been so weak.

For better or worse, the Examiner eased the students' tension and explained the content of the second exam, but this time the content made them feel a different kind of tension than before.

"So the second exam is cooking!"

"Please prepare a meal that satisfies both of us Gourmet Hunters."

Hearing the word "cooking," most of the students made a face.

Like Leorio, complaining "Damn, I've never cooked anything," most students had never cooked, or they said, "It's fine if you can eat it." I think I just did complicated things.

In a sense, Leorio was given a hopeless task instead of a battle or an academic exam, and he was thinking, "Someone seems to be able to cook!" I realized I was dokkoidokkoi there.

Then he turned his gaze to Sora and stared at her for a while, but Killua beside him waved his hand, signaling: "No, no."

"Aekora."

"... Sora can cook."

Sora protested, and Kurapika came to the rescue.

However, Leorio and Killua's subsequent reaction to Kurapika was "Impossible!!".

"It's true! Why is it so unbelievable!?

Let me tell you, if you have the illusion that cooking yourself = being polite, then throw it away! The reason I learned to cook is because I want to eat delicious food!!"

"Ah, I agree."

The image of cooking and Sora's image didn't seem to overlap, and it seems Sora's motivation for learning to cook finally connected them, but Kurapika instead said: "How can this guy be like this, wasting his precious power..." depressed.

"If Sora can cook, then this exam will be easier! Sora!"

Gon was genuinely happy that there was someone on his team who could purely cook, and Sora readily agreed, saying: "Leave it to me!"

"Roast pork. That's my favorite food."

Hearing this, most of the students breathed a sigh of relief.

This isn't a dish I haven't heard of; it's a dish whose cooking method can be completely understood from its name.

However, no matter how much cooking experience you have, you can imagine that a whole pig, even if roasted directly, wouldn't taste good.

So Leorio immediately asked Sora, "Hey, besides roasting a whole pig, what else can I do?"

"Hm? Isn't it just draining the blood and removing the internal organs?"

"Hey, you! Can't you cook!?"

However, Leorio was annoyed with himself and his own knowledge, while Sora responded with uncharacteristic irritation.

"'I can cook' and 'I can do anything' are different!! I mean, have you ever roasted a whole pig!?

I'm not a meat-loving girl to the extent that I can say 'my specialty is roast pork'!!"

"Yeah, sorry! It's my fault!!"

Leorio apologized inadvertently after receiving a relatively correct argument.

Apparently, the second exam for the five of them would also be difficult.