Chapter 9 : Kiriko X Navigator X Test

"It totally dark out…"

"walk two hours" she said?, it was two hours, two hours ago! Damn!" Leorio complained.

"You aren't the only only one who got tired Leorio, but what we can do except walk forward? So be patient my friend, we are getting closer to our target." Shinji's legs were numb from all the walking he did since this morning. He is afraid that his fragile leg bones would shatter at any given moment.

'Damn we still have to prove our worth to those navigators later…just spare me!' thinking of what is waiting for them, Shinji becomes even more depressed. His endurance already reached the limit.

"Another "beware of magical beasts" sign? Are we even gonna make it to the hunter exam site?"

Leorio starts getting worried, only one day before the hunter exam will start and yet they are far from finding even its location.

*growl*

His stomach starts protesting.

"I'm hungry!" he screamed.

Thinking that they won't have the chance to eat anything before the hunter exam starts tomorrow, Shinji pretends to take something from his backpack but his hands entered the pocket dimension and took some biscuits and chocolates from it.

"Here guys, take some to replenish your energies"

"Chocolate!" Gon quickly grabbed the chocolate, he like them very much.

"Hurry up and give me one I'm gonna faint from hunger!" Leorio hurried to grab food.

"Thanks, Shinji-san! This food came in time" Kurapika also took his share, they didn't eat anything from morning till now. So he naturally was hungry like the others, it just he didn't show it like Leorio.

"How much I told you don't say thanks to me again, it's only natural for us to help each other." Shinji was dissatisfied with Kurapika's over-politeness.

"Let's eat while walking, we are close to the tree" he said as he walked.

After walking a few dozen steps they finally saw it.

A house just near a big and thick cedar tree.

"Wow what a big tree!" Shinji exclaimed, he had never seen a tree this size and thickness in his previous life.

'I wonder what the tree of the world looks likes?' he remembered that Gon meets his Dad Ging Freecss on the top of the world tree, the longest tree in the human world. but in fact, it's just a sapling! he can't imagine how big The real world tree is in the dark continent.

'One day I will surely stand on the top of it!' Shinji's eyes were filled with expectations for the future.

"This must be the cabin where the navigators the old lady said" Kurapika said.

"Thank goodness, we finally reached this damned place!" Leorio finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is anyone here?"

they stood in front of the house, Leorio knocked on the door and shouted. But no one responded.

"Maybe they are out?" Gon looked at them and said.

"We are coming in!" Leorio who just want to rest didn't think about it, he rudely opened the door and entered, followed by Shinji and the others.

"HUH!" the four of them were shocked by the scene in front of them. Of course, Shinji already expected such a scene but he pretend to be surprised.

"Ke ke ke ke ke"

In front of them, a humanoid yellow fox stood there, Holding a woman by her neck. Behind them, a man was lying on the ground injured in various places. It seems that a fight took place which caused the destruction of the furnishings.

Kurapika recognized the magical beast in front of them.

"A transforming magical beast, the Kiriko!" he said while he took out his two wooden swords and took his fighting stance.

"They can take human form! That's an extremely intelligent creature!" He continued.

"There is a woman in his arms." Gon took his weapon, his fishing rod. he shouted after he saw the woman in the hands of the kiriko.

" and the guy on the floor needs to be treated quickly." Leorio noticed the man lying on the floor.

The kiriko jumped out of the window kidnapping the woman with him.

"P-Please…please save my wife…" the guy on the floor looked at them and said with difficulty, Leorio hurried to give him medical treatment.

Gon also jumped out of the windows and starts chasing the Kiriko.

Kurapika also followed him after he said: "Leorio, Shinji, we will leave the injured man to you guys!"

Then he disappeared from their sight.

"Got it! " Leorio replied and then starts treating the wounds of the guy.

"Tsk, this is so boring." Shinji doesn't have the desire to join the whole performance of this kiriko family.

"What did you say, Shinji? " Leorio was puzzled by the words of Shinji.

"I will rest until Gon and Kurapika return. Take your time treating this pretending to be injured Mr. Kiriko" Shinji yawned as he found a sofa and sat on it.

"NANI! Is this person also a beast!" Leorio was frightened by Shinji's words, he took a few steps back and took his pocket knife, he started warningly at the injured man. He didn't doubt Shinji's words. Since the latter, every time he said something it will always happen. so he developed a trust subconsciously in his words.

'Did he discover me or he is just giving it a try? As long as I don't reveal my true shape, your friend won't trust you! Let's see how you fight between yourselves Ke ke ke ' He thought wickedly. Then He decided to keep pretending to be asleep as if he didn't hear Shinji's words.

Seeing this scene, Leorio Looked at Shinji with a questioning look.

"Shinji, are sure this guy is a kiriko?" Leorio can't endure seeing someone who needs urgent medical treatment without doing anything, so he asked.

Shinji looked at the Kiriko on the ground, after he saw the other party didn't intend to reveal his true shape, Shinji decided to do it himself. He stood from his seat and walked next to the guy.

"I heard that the male Kirikos only have one ball, let's check him. if we found he had two balls, then he is a human, if we found he had only one ball, then he is definitely a kiriko!"

"This is the only foolproof way!" he said confidently.

"Is it? I have never heard about this method! Did you just make it up?" Leorio looked at him suspiciously.

'Your mother! where did you hear this nonsense! Who is spreading rumors about us! I will kill him!…wait this bastard want to check my balls!…no! I bet He won't dare…probably!" the injured man screamed in his heart after hearing Shinji's words0

Shinji stretched his hands toward the guy's 'pants'.

'DAMN! THE MOST SHAMELESS HUMAN I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!' the kiriko felt that Shinji's hands touched his 'pants' he was immediately furious and at the same time panicked.

"Huh?" Shinji feels that these pants don't seem right. As it's not a pant at all.

'It's the fur of the kiriko!' the kiriko's fur can mimic the appearance of anything, obviously, these pants aren't real.

"You brat successfully made me angry!" the kiriko can't hold it anymore, he stood from his place, and his shape starts changing, he become just like the previous kiriko.

"Shinji!" Leorio who saw this scene screamed to warn Shinji who was near the Kiriko.

The kiriko's stood up, with a fast speed he appeared behind Shinji and put his sharp claw on the top of his neck.

Shinji was indifferent to this sudden turn of events, he already expected it, moreover, he isn't afraid at all of this kiriko, he doesn't need to use the devil fruit ability, just his black ghost is enough.

"Now brat…are you ready to die!" The kiriko said with a cold tone, his red eyes glowed with a ferocious light.

"You damned Kiriko, let Shinji go!" Leorio without thinking about it rushed to the kiriko with his short knife trying to save Shinji.

"Leorio stop!" Shinji shouted at Leorio, the latter almost fall to the ground from trying to stop immediately.

"Why?" Leorio's eyes contained such a question.

"Mr. navigator didn't you feel bored from all this acting?" Shinji turned his head and looked at Kiriko with calm eyes.

'These eyes…isn't he afraid that I will kill him?…what is the source of his confidence?..wait..did he just say navigator…damn this brat already discovered our tricks."

"Navigator?" Leorio heard Shinji's words and was surprised.

The kiriko returned to his human form, all his injuries disappeared, obviously, it was faked.

He looked at Shinji and couldn't help but to ask " how did you discover it?"

Shinji as if he seems to be possessed by the spirit of detective Conan, lifted up his non-existent glasses and said like a smart ass :

" We are supposed to find navigators here, right? But... by coincidence we happened to meet a beast that kidnapped the woman of the navigator, isn't this weird? That kiriko was as if he is waiting for us!"

"And with the hint given to us by the old lady before, she told us as long as we managed to meet the navigator's criteria then they would lead us to the exam site, how to meet these criteria except using another test."

"So with the mentality of expecting another quiz from you, I guessed that everything's happening is just a trial, only after the previous series of actions I confirm that my guess was correct!"

" *sigh* if my dad and mom know that the show they tirelessly prepared was destroyed before it begin they would be depressed for sure!" the navigator sighed, it seems this year's hunter candidates aren't easy at all.

"Are you really the navigator? I can't understand, a magical beast is our navigator?" Leorio wasn't able to keep up with the pace of the events.

"Right, I'm your navigator. Let's wait until dad, mom and my sister came back with your friends before we took you to the hunter exam site." He nodded his head, he didn't further explain to leorio, waiting until the others come.

"Leorio, let's seize this opportunity to rest before Gon and Kurapika come back" Shinji went to the sofa again and rest on it.

A few minutes later.

The four of Shinji, Leorio, Kurapika, And Gon. Stood in front of the four members of the kiriko family.

The father and the mother still maintained their original form, while the son and the daughter took a human form.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves."

"We are the navigators, our family provide support for the hunter exam" the father Kiriko said.

"I'm their daughter." the purple-haired girl greeted them

"I'm their Son." The guy who previously pretend to be injured and later was revealed by Shinji also introduced himself to Gon and Kurapika.

"The hunter exam site changes every year. It's quite difficult to locate it." The father said.

Then the mom continued in his place: "so we, the navigators help by guiding the applicants to the site."

"But we don't help every candidate," the daughter said.

"We test candidates to see if they are qualified to take the exam." The son said.

"Kurapika-dono!" the daughter looked at Kurapika and said.

"Yes!" Kurapika becomes tense, what she is going to say will determine whether he passes or not, so he is a little bit nervous. he looked at her waiting for her words.

"You successfully used the vaguest of hints to determine we weren't spouses, the hint was these tattoos which in this region mark a woman as single for life." She showed them the tattoos on her left arm, then she erased them. Obviously, it was fake.

"Kurakpika-dono demonstrated that he is very knowledgeable. Therefore, he passes!"

Kurapika breathed a sigh of relief.

"You did it, Kurapika!" Gon and the others were happy for kurapika to pass.

"Nice job, my friend!" Shinji patted him on the shoulders with a big smile on his face.

"Leorio-dono!" the Son looked at leorio.

"Yes!" Leorio was even more nervous than Kurapika, Unlike kurapika and others, he seems to not do anything special at all. He is afraid that he will be disqualified.

"If it weren't for Shinji-dono you won't realize my true identity at all."

Leorio become embarrassed, he touched his head and smiled bitterly.

The son continued: "However, you wanted to treat my injuries as quickly as possible, your kindness is remarkable. which makes you worthy to take the Hunter exam! Thus, you pass!"

"Really!…Thank goodness!" Leorio sat on the ground and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You did it!" Gon cheered for Leorio.

"As expected of my brother!" Shinji did a high-five with Leorio.

"I'm just lucky." Leorio laughed.

Next, the son looked at Shinji and said: " Shinji-dono…you are the quickest one to discover our trick, you uncovered my true identity with your 'creative' ways. which is something worth praising, your keen observation ability makes you worthy to take the hunter exam. Thus, you pass!" although he didn't like the process, the kiriko son still has to acknowledge Shinji's 'intelligence'.

"Big brother Shinji is amazing!" Gon was happy to see Shinji also pass this test

The other two of kurapika and leorio patted his shoulder congratulating him.

"This isn't worth mentioning!" Shinji said with a proud expression on his face

"And finally, Gon-dono." The father kiriko spook.

"Yes!" Gon replied, He looked at them with expectation.

"Your superhuman physical ability and powers of observation make you worthy to take the hunter exam."

"You pass!"

"As expected of my young brother!" Shinji patted Gon's spiky hair.

The four of them smiled happily, everyone was glad to be able to pass the test together.

"Now we will take you to the hunter exam site!"

The four kiriko spread their wings, then each one of the four of Shinji's group grabbed the legs of the kiriko, then they soared to the sky, taking them to the hunter exam site.

"Flying, we are flying." Shinji was filled with excitement.

"Isn't it great that we all passed!" Gon looked at them and said.

"It's too early to celebrate, we have merely earned the right to take the hunter exam" Kurapika poured cold water on Gon.

"What wrong with celebrating a little? We are making progress." Leorio argued back at Kurapika.

" Although I don't want to ruin your mood, but what kurapika said is right. The real hunter exam will start now, so don't let your guards down." Shinji agrees with Kurapika, if they get carried away by passing these trials then drop their cautiousness, Falling in the next tests will be their fate.

"HONESTLY, why do you insist on ruining my happiness!" Leorio screamed and waved his legs in the air almost making the kiriko holding him lose his balance.

"Stop moving around, if you fall blame yourself!" the kiriko scolded Leorio.

"Ha ha ha ha" Gon couldn't hold his laughter.

Kurapika and Shinji also smiled.

"Sure enough, there is nothing more entertaining than to see Leorio's angry expressions"