HxH: Ryomen... Satoru?

In a quiet corner of the forest, beneath the towering trees, two figures stood by a lake. With curved horns like those of a bighorn sheep adorning their heads and their strange attire, they cut peculiar silhouettes. They leaned forward, gazing intently into the water as if trying to see the bottom.

"Still no luck, brother," the golden-haired girl said softly.

"Don't worry. We've got plenty of time," the boy replied in a low voice.

"What are you looking for?" Cyr, with his white hair and blue eyes, suddenly appeared behind them. Like a ghost, he leaned in close to the boy and asked quietly.

"We're looking for treasure," the two humanoid beings replied calmly, their expressions composed despite Cyr standing so close it breached normal social boundaries.

"I thought you might be looking for this," Cyr said nonchalantly, tossing the bleating lamb to the girl.

"Oh, it's our lamb. You've come back!" The girl caught the lamb effortlessly and stroked its soft fur. She leaned close to its ear and began whispering.

The lamb responded with bleats, and the girl nodded as if they were having a meaningful conversation.

"By the way, can I touch you two?" Cyr tilted his head, resting his chin between his thumb and forefinger. He had been observing the two non-humans with his Six Eyes for a while, curiosity clearly building.

Even as he asked, his hands had already reached out, poking their faces and giving them a few squeezes.

Hmm… soft. Nothing unusual. The texture felt entirely human.

Though their essence appeared to be dark, viscous matter when viewed through his Six Eyes, their appearance and texture were surprisingly ordinary.

The siblings showed identical reactions—mildly bewildered and curious but unbothered. They didn't resist, perhaps because they sensed no malice from Cyr's actions.

Finding it less interesting than expected, Cyr withdrew his hands, disappointed. He had hoped for something more unique from touching non-human entities, but they turned out to be unexpectedly mundane.

"Oh, right. There was a red-haired guy following you two earlier. Did you end up fighting him?" Cyr finally voiced the question he had come to ask.

"Why would we fight him?" The sister adjusted her glasses, responding reflexively.

"He was troublesome, so we used a little trick to make him lose track of us," the brother answered with a smile.

Given his bizarre outfit, even his smile looked unsettling.

"A trick? Ah…" Cyr's expression shifted to a mix of confusion and realization.

No wonder Hisoka had seemed so eager and restless—it must've been because he couldn't fight the targets he originally fixated on.

Still, Hisoka's slightly deranged state…

It felt halfway like his true nature surfacing and halfway like he'd been affected by some strange ability. Hard to say. Cyr hadn't even spared the man a glance, so he'd need to use his Six Eyes for a closer look to confirm.

It probably had something to do with the "trick" these two non-humans mentioned.

"What are your names?" Cyr asked, his curiosity about the pair persisting.

"Elli."

"Aime."

The siblings answered in unison, like model students replying to a teacher's question.

"Do you two need Hunter licenses too?" Cyr asked, puzzled.

Would non-humans even need Hunter licenses? Besides, to claim a license, one had to go to the Hunter Association at the end of the exam. Wouldn't these two risk being discovered there?

The Hunter Association surely had its share of strong individuals.

"We're here to find something. It just so happened that their airship was picking people up, and it's headed in the same direction we need to go," Aime, the brother, explained.

"Ah, hitchhiking," Cyr replied knowingly.

So that's it! Non-humans joining the Hunter Exam for a license seemed strange—turns out they were just hitching a ride. Makes sense now.

"Where are you two from?" Cyr asked, suspicion flickering in his mind.

Non-humans who could maintain human forms… it made him think of the Hunter world's so-called forbidden territory—the Dark Continent. Could these two have come from there?

"A small fishing village on an isolated island," Aime finally answered after some thought. He couldn't even recall the name of the village.

"My brother and I were just floating in the sea, and they pulled us out," Elli explained in a slightly puzzled tone, as if unsure why the villagers had bothered to bring them ashore.

"Pfft—" Cyr couldn't hold back his laughter.

The image of two non-humans aimlessly drifting in the ocean was amusing enough. But what really cracked him up was their confusion about why the villagers had saved them.

Well, obviously, the villagers must have thought they were rescuing two shipwrecked teens! They probably believed they'd saved two human kids, never realizing they'd fished out a pair of strange beings.

Floating at sea, though…

Was it that odd beings were naturally drawn to the ocean? Like grotesque deep-sea creatures or slumbering ancient gods?

Cyr sighed inwardly, deciding not to ask where they were "really" from. He'd probably get some bizarre, unheard-of answer that didn't exist on any current map.

"Alright, keep searching for your treasure," Cyr said, casually waving goodbye before vanishing from sight.

The two non-humans turned back to the lake, resuming their search.

---

Elsewhere, Cyr found a quiet spot to sit. He used his Six Eyes to scan the surroundings, ensuring no immediate danger lurked nearby.

"Time for my daily luck test," he murmured, raising a hand toward the empty air.

The Wheel of Law, activate.

A spinning roulette appeared before him, and after a moment, three cards materialized in his hand.

Cyr lazily glanced at the cards:

[The Fool – Reversed]

[The Priestess – Reversed]

[The Magician – Reversed]

"Three debuff cards?" he sighed.

It seemed his luck today was absolutely awful.

He needed to use them within 30 minutes, or the effects would turn on him instead.

[The Fool – Reversed]: Disorder

[The Priestess – Reversed]: Mental Turmoil

[The Magician – Reversed]: Willpower Drain

"Anything related to order, rules, the mind, or willpower always sounds vague. Who knows what the actual effects will be," Cyr muttered, twirling the cards idly between his fingers.

For now, he didn't move, waiting for the right opportunity to pass the misfortune onto someone else.

Cyr decided to wait right here for Hisoka to come to him. After all, once Hisoka fixated on a target, he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted.

In the meantime, Cyr planned to throw those three debuff cards at Hisoka and see exactly what kind of effects they'd have.

"Stay still," Cyr warned, patting the restless tree behind him. He leaned against its trunk, his senses alert for any movement in the surroundings.

Through his Six Eyes, he sensed Hisoka's life energy rapidly closing in. The man clearly didn't know Cyr's exact location, so he was carving a bloody path through the forest in search of him.

One human life force after another vanished, as if Hisoka wouldn't stop until he wiped out everyone in the forest to find Cyr.

"I knew my charm was irresistible," Cyr thought, amused at the situation. He recalled his earlier musings and couldn't help but chuckle.

Sure enough, Hisoka had abandoned the exam entirely to chase after him.

°°°

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