Chapter 16: A Guy Like Me Should Lay Low
Kai had chosen the amusement park for a simple reason: it was on the outskirts of the eastern coastal city, and it was the closest point of civilization to him.
Just as his bird-scouts had shown him, the park was massive. There was no fee to enter the main gate; instead, you paid for each ride and attraction individually. Surrounding the park was a sprawling commercial street packed with restaurants, shops, small hotels, and cafes. It had everything.
"Not you," Kai said, scratching the head of the chirping gray bird on his shoulder, whom he'd nicknamed "Rock Sparrow."
He looked up at the sign of the restaurant in front of him: The Elf Grand Hotel.
He stepped inside. The dining room was bright and spacious, and the smell of food hit him immediately. It was about half full. Kai saw families and couples laughing at tables, clearly resting after a long day in the park. Others looked like tourists, taking pictures of their food and the park rides visible through the window.
Kai, dressed in his cut-off, ill-fitting T-shirt and rolled-up shorts, gave off the distinct aura of a stray. He ignored the strange looks he got, picked an empty table, and plopped down, his bare, dusty feet dangling.
He raised his hand. "Waiter! I need to order!"
A waiter reluctantly approached, menu in one hand, pen in the other. He looked at Kai, then at the door. "Kid, where are your parents?"
Kai sighed. This was going to be a pain. It wasn't that the guy couldn't understand him; it was that he wouldn't take a "kid" seriously.
"I said, I want to order. I'm starving." He pulled out his Hunter License with one hand and slapped a few Zeni bills onto the table with the other. "Got a lot of questions? Keep 'em. I'm not here to chat."
The waiter choked. He nervously picked up the Hunter License, turning it over and over. It was real. Everyone knew you couldn't fake a Hunter License—not with the V5 backing the Association.
Knowing that Hunters operated outside the bounds of normal logic, the waiter's attitude did a complete 180. He respectfully placed the license back on the table. "My apologies, sir. What can I get for you?"
Kai didn't go crazy. The cash he'd looted from Muser's wallet was less than 200,000 Zeni. He wasn't in a position to be flashy. He ordered a few large, filling, and cheap dishes, plus a local specialty—seafood fried rice. The total was only 1,699 Zeni.
The food came quickly, and Kai inhaled it. He flicked a few grains of rice onto the table, and Rock Sparrow happily pecked at them. The bird then hopped onto the rim of Kai's soup bowl, but Kai gently knocked it back with a chopstick. He poured some of the broth into a clean cup for the bird, who, after tilting its head, began to drink, seemingly unbothered.
Full, Kai paid the bill and left. He looked down at his ragged clothes and decided his next stop was a department store.
It was the same story at the park's clothing store. The moment he flashed the License, the staff became incredibly helpful. He bought two sets of shorts and shirts, a pack of underwear, and a pair of sneakers. Finally, he thought. Shoes.
He also bought a disposable toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, and soap.
He then walked straight into the park's main public restroom. It was surprisingly clean. He stripped down to his new underwear and, in full view of the men and women coming and going, proceeded to take a full shower at the sink, lathering his hair with shampoo.
The other park-goers—men, women, and children—just stared, dumbfounded.
There was an old saying: if you're not embarrassed, you make everyone else embarrassed for you.
Kai rinsed his hair, ducked into a stall, and changed into his new clothes. He felt like a new person.
"What's everyone looking at?" he said, toweling his hair dry as he walked out. "Show's over. Move along."
As he left, he could hear them whispering. "Should we call security? That kid is... feral."
Clean, fed, and comfortable, Kai whistled for Rock Sparrow, who had been terrorizing a small child by dive-bombing his ice cream cone. The bird was fearless, dodging a swat from the kid's angry father and landing back on Kai's shoulder.
He strolled through the crowd, listening to the foreign-yet-understandable language of this new world. It felt like he was on vacation.
"Chirp!"
Rock Sparrow suddenly flapped, pecking at Kai's cheek and looking behind them.
"I know. I saw them," Kai whispered, flicking the bird's beak. "They've been on me since I left the store. They must have seen the License."
Rock Sparrow chirped angrily, as if to say, I give you a warning, and you don't even give me a treat?
Kai, on the other hand, was considering just letting them follow him into an alley and shaking them down for cash.
No, first things first. I need to find a place to stay. I still don't know if Muser's friends are looking for me. He suppressed the urge. A guy this good-looking should lay low for a bit.
The local thugs following him blinked, and in that instant, the kid was gone.
"Where'd he go?"
"Damn it! I thought we had an easy score! A 'Black License'!"
"Kid's lucky... if we don't get him, someone much worse will. A kid with a License? He won't last long..."
The thugs gave up and dispersed.
Behind a large fountain, Kai stood with his hands in his pockets. He'd used Gyo on his ears, and had heard every word.
"Black License?"
He stepped out. He remembered hearing that nearly a fifth of all new Hunters lose their licenses. It figured the ones that ended up on the black market would have a name.
"Get your authentic 'Blue Moon Jewels'!" a vendor shouted. "Straight from the Pale Moon Tiger habitat! Get 'em while they last!"
The keywords caught Kai's attention. The area was full of tiger-themed souvenirs—plushies, keychains, stickers, temporary tattoos.
He looked at the so-called "Blue Moon Jewels." They were cheap, polished glass. They didn't have one-ten-thousandth of the beauty of Butch's real, glowing, jade-like fur. He lost interest and walked away.
He stopped at a large "You Are Here" map at a crossroads. He wasn't interested in the map itself, but in the text at the bottom.
Blanchett Company · Ghost Soul Island · Elf Amusement Park
Kai was confused.
Ghost Soul Island? Elf Amusement Park? If I hadn't already learned Nen, I'd think I was in a Pokémon game.
"Blanchett Company... that's what Menchi said," he muttered. "They own the reserve, too?"
"That's right, little guy," a voice said. Two park security guards were squatting down, smiling at him. "Are you lost? Where are your parents?"
Kai looked at them, his face perfectly flat. "Eaten by a tiger in the reserve."
"Uh..." The guards froze, having no idea how to respond to that.
"Chirp!"
Rock Sparrow suddenly flew at their faces. As they yelped and batted the bird away, Kai vanished into the crowd.
Ghost Soul Island.
The name made him think of that night in the forest, and the fleeting glimpse he'd caught of that pale-white child's "ghost."
"Cheep-cheep!" Rock Sparrow landed back on his shoulder, puffing its chest out, proud of its diversion.
"I'll buy you birdseed after I'm done surfing," Kai said. He'd spotted an internet cafe. "I hired you as a tool, not a pet. Why am I spending money on you? One more peep and you're soup."
He had too many questions. What was Ghost Soul Island? Where in the HxH world was he? And what, exactly, was the date?
Fortunately, this was a modern world. There was no problem you couldn't solve by surfing the net.
And if you couldn't, you just weren't surfing hard enough.
He walked into the cafe and slapped his Hunter License on the counter. "Hey, manager! I need a PC."
(End of Chapter)