9 Chapter9

"In your opinion Hiro, how long do you think it will take us to reach the 200th floor?" asked a bored Kilua.

"With our current strength, I'd say 1 year, maybe 2 if of course we don't run into any problems," Hiro answered honestly as they left the tower.

It's already been 1 month since Hiro and Kilua's group arrived at the Heaven's Arena. So far, they haven't encountered any Nen users or other particularly strong people.

"How come 1 or 2 years? That's too long!" Kilua complained.

"I told you we have to do several fights per day but no, sir insists we only do a maximum of 2 fights since we arrived at the 50th floor," replied Hiro. Kilua could only express his frustration.

Since arriving at the tower, Hiro and him hadn't encountered any difficulties. But Hiro had established that the two of them would only do a maximum of 2 fights per day since reaching the 50th floor.

Strangely though, he had ordered Canary and Amane to do as many fights as possible.

"I told you to do 2 fights per day because neither you nor I want to go home quickly. And I don't think you want to make more friends, right?" Hiro calmly replied to Kilua.

When Kilua heard Hiro, he wanted to argue back and try to contradict him but he stopped talking and started sulking instead.

"Young master, you two shouldn't be in conflict," said Amane, trying to pacify the situation.

"Don't worry about us Amane, but you should head back to the hotel first with Canary," said Hiro, looking at their numerous injuries.

When Amane and Canary heard Hiro's words, they lowered their heads in shame without saying anything, because of their poor performance in front of their young master.

"Excellent, everything is going perfectly as planned," thought Hiro with a large mental smile.

The reason Hiro had ordered Amane and Canary to fight so much at Heaven's Arena was precisely to have an excuse to send them back to rest and have more freedom to move around with Kilua.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason. The second reason, which was surely the most important, was to maximize Canary and Amane's talents.

After separating from Amane and Canary, who were heading back to the hotel, Hiro and Kilua found themselves alone again as usual.

"Say Kilua, what are you gonna do today? Cause I'm too busy so see ya," said Hiro, leaving Kilua behind.

Kilua wanted to ask him if he could tag along but Hiro had already left before he could express his desire.

"As usual, he leaves me all alone after sending Canary and Amane back to the hotel. I wonder what he's scheming," thought Kilua, watching Hiro's back quickly disappear into the crowd.

Kilua knew his brother had a habit of leaving or disappearing alone after making various excuses. Of course this had attracted his interest, but Hiro had always managed to lose him when he secretly followed him.

"This bad habit started a week after Grandpa left. Maybe I should talk to him directly to find out," analyzed Kilua as he headed towards a bakery.

"But first, I have to try the local specialties. I think there's a new specialty this week," he thought.

Kilua really couldn't control his sweet tooth, especially since Hiro had let him know he could bet the money earned from his fight victories to win even more. So the current Kilua had even more spending money than his 6 year old manga self.

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Somewhere in a random alley

"Illumi, you can come out now," said Hiro calmly in a slightly cold tone.

"No need to say it like that," replied Illumi, emerging from a shadow in the alley.

"I'd like more work, preferably something that pays more," requested Hiro, staring into Illumi's expressionless eyes and face.

To understand the current situation, we have to go back 3 weeks, precisely one week after Zeno left.

Flashback:

Hiro was sitting on his bed thinking. He had just made a contract with the Wolf Devil which hadn't been too complicated but was going to give him a headache.

After that, he had spoken with Power using his contracting ability for a specific devil, with the goal of making her attached to him.

"Young master, dinner is served," said Canary after knocking on the door.

"Coming," replied Hiro, opening the door. He was then hit by a strange smell emanating from Canary.

This was due to his new ability granted by the Wolf Devil, which had given him a crazy increase in all his already superhuman senses.

"If it was just Canary's smell, it would be spread over her whole body. But strangely, it's concentrated in one area of her face," thought Hiro.

While Hiro was pondering this, Canary in front of him found his current reaction strange.

"Young master Hiro?" said Canary to get his attention.

"Don't worry Canary. Just to check, you would entrust me with your life right?" asked Hiro.

Although Canary didn't really understand the purpose behind this sudden question, she answered directly since for her, the response was obvious:

"Of course, young master."

"Sorry in advance, this might hurt a bit," said Hiro, quickly thrusting his hand towards Canary's forehead.

Canary didn't understand why Hiro was attacking her, but instinctively she tried to dodge. But how could she surpass Hiro when he was serious?

"I'm sorry about your forehead wound. Now leave me be and tell Kilua and Amane I'll be eating alone tonight."

While Canary was bleeding profusely from her forehead due to Hiro's sudden attack, she was more concerned about the object he had removed from her.

"Young master, what's that in your hand?" she asked.

"For now, obey my orders and keep this information to yourself," said Hiro firmly as he walked towards the window.

After a powerful leap, Hiro arrived on the hotel roof. He then started sniffing the needle he held in his hands.

"Although Canary's blood is a bit bothersome, I can manage to track it," thought Hiro.

Hiro moved quickly from rooftop to rooftop until he arrived at a park.

"He probably knows I'm tracking him and led me here on purpose," he deduced mentally because of the fresh scent trail.

"I know you're there Illumi. And you know I'm tracking you. So show yourself," said Hiro calmly.

"Why so hostile, huh Hiro?" said Illumi, emerging from behind a tree.

Author's note: This chapter has fewer words than usual (1300) but I feel writing more would hurt the quality. So there you go. And I wonder if I'm doing a good job with this fanfic 😅