The room rang with silence after the door closed. The referee jerked towards Bodoro’s body on instinct, but all present knew that he was dead.

She felt empty. God.

He told her he escaped and she believed him.

She believed and he was going back there. A single tug on his Leash and.

Rows upon rows of teeth sculpted themselves from fury and pain, grinding against each other inside her, obsessively urging Penquin to murder him.

She was trembling and the only rational thought that was left in her subconscious prayed no one would approach them.

A maw opened wide inside her, suffocating all other thoughts and instincts as she looked at Illumi. He was facing her. She was oozing bloodlust. Void and rage filled her, ready to-

Choerry’s face came into her view, expression more distant than any she previously seen on the girl. Her lips formed a small smile, yet her eyes were far away.

“He is Killua’s kill.”

Form of Illumi Zoldyck shifted behind Choerry, less than a centimeter, and in an instant there was no one else in the center of her universe. The four voices whispered to her to steel herself, to return Killua, to tear Illumi apart, to never turn away.

“His life is Killua’s to take.”

“Step aside,” whispered her lips, probably, had to be. 

He was staring at her.

Penguin gave the warmest smile and showed her many teeth.

Illumi had his needles out, eyes as empty as before.

“Do not steal your friend’s kill, Chuu. Killua deserves to make that choice for himself.”

Words Choerry was rolling out made sense and the monster in her growled and roared and wailed. She closed her eyes. 

Her anger slipped back in waves and when she was sure her first words would be what she wanted them to be, she opened her eyes again, the sun-like smile back. It lacked any warmth.

“If he declines his claim on his life, I call dibs.”

Choerry shrugged, her impassiveness morphing into usual a-beat-and-she-smiles expression. “Deal.”

“Deal,” echoed the girl. Thinking about Wolf, she forced her bloodlust back, further back, and some more, until she was Chuu again.

As the rage-void stepped back, she took a step back too.

And another, before she broke eye contact with Illumi, she would never forget his name, spinning sharply and walking, dashing, being over in a flash in front of Chairman Netero. 

“I demand the revision of the results of the final phase of the 287th Hunter Exam due to free will of participant 99 being compromised.”

The room’s silence broke in a loud cacophony.

The auditorium they all sat in was comparatively spacious - there were plenty of free seats, not even having each row occupied. And yet, the room felt all too small for the heavy atmosphere in it.

Each of them had a folder with congratulations, rules and benefits written on a sheet of paper tucked in on the left half. In the depression on the right, their licenses were laid. No photos, no names. 

This was worth it, wasn’t it?

Choerry listened to the Chairman's congratulatory speech, staring out of the window. Anywhere but on the people in the room. 

Her goal was achieved, just as everyone’s else here, but most, no doubt, had a sour aftertaste in their mouths.

She managed to intervene yesterday enough for the Chairman to call an emergency meeting to discuss what just took place. All examinees were ushered to see medics or go to their respective rooms.

She and Chuu led HeeJin to her room, making sure the girl got there at all, half-crumbling as she was, before they broke in the meeting room. The door was locked and somebody took care to manually block it with Shu, so the window it was, and Choerry did a quick job on the lock.

In the end, they were half-heartedly chastised, but told what they expected.

There was no solid proof.

Killua could’ve been brainwashed, yes. He could’ve had a mental bookmark, yes. His brother was an obvious Manipulator who evidently took part in his training and could’ve done any of that and more any time in the past. True.

But there was no concrete proof .

Chuu was, for the lack of better term, mechanical afterwards. Without even needing to look at her, Choerry knew the girl was sitting in the same position with the same face she had at arrival, her gaze drilling a hole in the wall directly in front of her.

Choerry hadn’t had a chance to talk with HeeJin and HyunJin who arrived at the last minute before the orientation started. They sat together, HeeJin looking better than yesterday, even smiling a couple times and having, what Choerry suspected it was, an unbelieving glint in her eyes from time to time.

HyunJin herself was looking very good, almost radiant, for someone who got thrown around by Hisoka and then Hanzo yesterday. If she had still had any suspicions the girl was an Enhancer, her ability to walk around the day after the beatdown would’ve erased them.

Both Kurapika and Leorio were silent, sitting a row apart, looking somber. When they just came in, she barely bit her tongue in time to avoid joking, “Why do you look like somebody died?”

Just because she never exchanged a word with Bodoro, it would be in poor taste to slip up a joke about his pointless demise not a day later.

Gon, on the other hand, was still absent. Did Chuu knock him out that good? Did she not want any troubles until the end of the Exam? Gon seemed rather sturdy.

Hanzo was just sitting there, listening to the Chairman's speech. So did Pokkle, though the boy shifted sometimes, uncomfortable with the atmosphere in the room. None of the nen-users present were exuding aura on levels above a typical civilian, so he must’ve been a sensitive one.

Hisoka was sitting a meter and a half behind her, uninterested in the orientation. She bet he chose to sit almost right behind her only to grate on her nerves. Choerry ignored him, eyes lazily tracing the branches of a Bosnean Maple outside as the Chairman explained the basic rules of being a Hunter.

Illumi was sitting in her block too, in the front row. Nobody looked at him.

Except for Satotz, all their examiners and Beans stood near the blackboard that had “Congratulations to the 287th batch!” written on it.

A bird landed on the branch close to her window, but immediately startled and flew away.

Usually they flew in the window and jumped around her for a bit, but it must’ve been spooked by the overall atmosphere leaking out. 

Or it might have been Hisoka’s presence behind her. One never knew.

The doors slammed open and Choerry brought herself back into the present, while still observing the landscape. Two presences entered the room. Quiet by non-combatant standards and loud for everybody else, methodical steps resounded in the room as the Chairman fell silent at the interruption. Choerry saw a green figure descending in the corner of her eye.

This was none of her business.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, staring straight at Illumi. “Apologize to Killua.”

Rustle, out of her field of vision. “Hey, Gon,” started Leorio quietly. 

“You will apologize to Killua,” interrupted his friend Gon, voice unyielding. 

And yet, it seemed Illumi was what one expected from a Zoldyck - in his own world. She knew the kind. And still had a message to relay, despite her wish to spit on the man instead. “Apologize? For what?”

“You don’t even know?” Notes of rising anger. It was beautiful in its ascending rumble, a horizon speaking threat relayed from the heart. 

Sadly, Illumi was unreceptive to the beauty or that anger. “No.”

“You’re not qualified to be his brother.”

Choerry agreed.

Illumi finally made a human gesture and tilted his head, questioning. “I wasn’t aware I needed to qualify…”

Gon grabbed Illumi and flung him out of his seat and over the boy’s head. As the assassin’s feet inaudibly touched the floor, Gon fiercely declared, “Friends don’t need to qualify, either!”

He turned towards the door, not releasing a strongly grasped forearm. “C’mon, let’s go see Killua.” He looked back at Illumi. “The apology doesn’t matter. Just take me to him, okay?”

“And afraid that… what?”

“I’ll bring him back, that’s what.” There was no hesitation in his voice. 

“You make it sound as if he was kidnapped. He walked out by choice, on his own.”

He didn’t, bit her tongue Choerry. What an ugly thing - to cage someone free. 

“You know it wasn’t his choice. You manipulated him!” 

Choerry huffed out a laugh. Oh, Gon, how exact you were…

At this point Netero cleared his throat, interrupting. “We were about to examine the situation, Gon. Kurapika and Leorio both lodged protests alleging that Killua’s failure was induced by outside influence.”

Somebody stood up, it was close from where Leorio’s voice previously went. Kurapika. “I maintain Killua was compelled to act in an uncharacteristic manner. Perhaps by a hypnotic suggestion triggered by his opponent. It is generally not possible to hypnotically direct a person to commit murder but Killua quite certainly has no mental, emotional or moral obstacles to killing, when so moved.”

Leorio added, “And there’s this - he killed Bodoro when we were about to engage. Killua’s act could be interpreted as intending to aid my cause. So shouldn’t I fail instead of Killua?”

Barely restraining heat in his voice, Kurapika followed, “In any event, Killua did not act on his own accord. Failing him, therefore, is unjust.”

Choerry breathed out and closed her eyes, ready to hear this again.

“Interesting, but conjectural. There’s no proof. As far as we could see, there were no clear indications of manipulation. Furthermore, there’s not enough evidence to claim he was hypnotized. As for his stepping into Leorio and Bodoro’s match, the two named contestants were well matched. Bodoro had more overall experience… while it was plain that Leorio held an edge in combat skill. In short, you didn’t need him butting in.”

Choerry sighed, laying her head on the folded arms. 

“Let’s just get this over with!” said Hanzo. “I’d like to go home!”

Same. 

“This is all pointless.”

Gon’s voice cut into the debate like a hot knife through butter. 

“Everyone here has passed. Each of us is either satisfied that they have measured up, or they can do whatever it takes to be satisfied. There’s no question Killua would pass if he took the Exam again. But he failed this time. Too bad, end of the story.” A pause. “But if Killua’s a killer because you’ve made him one, then I’ll never forgive you.”

“What will that mean to me?” Illumi, as impassive as before. 

“Simple. I’ll take Killua away and you’ll never see him again.”

She heard rustle, short gasp and a nimble landing. Choerry raised her head. 

Illumi had his hand outstretched like he had with Killua - Gon stood a couple steps away, tensed, just jumped away out of reach and ready for whatever came next.

Netero coughed pointedly and pointedly, getting everyone’s attention. “That settled, then? Good.” He leveled an eye at everybody present, one by one. “Gon is right, it’s up to each of you to decide if you truly deserve your license. We don’t overturn our decision based on the sorts of quibbles you’ve brought up. Killua has failed the exam this year while each of you here have passed.”

Beans took the point, as gentle-sounding as ever. “I will resume the briefing and ask for your diligence while I recap.” He motioned at the folders in front of them.

“You have been each passed a card. This is your license. It may not look like much and in and of itself it isn’t, outside of possessing various cutting-edge anti-forgery systems that make its duplication nigh impossible. But what it signifies is something else again!” His tone turned livelier, as the next piece of information was not that widely known to the uninterested, but was a sweet reward for everybody else. “It enables you to enter 90 percent of the countries and 75 percent of the areas for which access by the general public is restricted, even prohibited. You may use 95 percent of public facilities at no cost. Banks will treat you as if you were a top-rated company. If you sold it, the proceeds would easily support seven generations of your family. It should guarantee you material comfort for the rest of your life. Take care that it is not lost or stolen! You cannot get it replaced. Be advised that, statistically, one in five Hunters loses their license in some way within the first year of obtaining it. Don't think it couldn’t happen to you. In fact, your first priority as a Hunter is to protect your license! Let’s move on to the Association's bylaws…”

Choerry turned her gaze to the blackboard, where Beans hung a big poster with all ten bylaws written. Her eye catched the one about not killing fellow Hunters and bit down the sardonic huff.

Yeah, right. 

“And that concludes the briefing. From here on out, it’s your show. Believe in yourselves and keep working towards your dreams. We now certify you 11 as licensed Hunters!” Finished Beans in a happy voice. 

Netero stepped forward, a wide and content smile stretched on his lips. 

“From this day on, all of you are Hunters!”