Chapter 33: A Smile
"What is this?"
Shizuku crouched next to Kai, curiously observing the dense, black symbols inscribed all over the floor of the cabin.
"It's 'God Script'," Kai said.
Shizuku looked at him, waiting.
Kai gathered more Aura in his palm and pressed it to the script. He got a clear feedback—his Aura recovery rate suddenly spiked. His whole body felt like it was getting an invisible, incredibly comfortable massage.
"I'm not an expert," Kai said, "but basically, some Nen users can infuse their Aura into this script, using it as an auxiliary tool."
Kai paused. This special script wasn't common in the story. Wing had used something similar on the string tied to Gon's finger; Ging had used it on the box he left for Gon; and on Greed Island, one of Razor's subordinates had drawn script on the court to aid his Emission...
"In short, it's a way to 'bottle' a specific Nen effect into a physical medium."
"The script in this cabin," Kai guessed, "is probably infused with Enhancement-type Nen. It's stored the 'recovery' aspect of Enhancement, and when it comes into contact with our Aura, it activates."
Shizuku asked, "But why did it activate? We didn't do anything."
"We did, though," Kai smiled. "You're keeping your Ten active to recover your Aura, right? Once Ten is second nature, it's way more efficient than just letting your Aura leak. A normal person's Aura wouldn't be strong enough to trigger this."
"Oh." Shizuku nodded.
"Of course, the trigger might just be an Aura pool that's larger than a normal person's," Kai added. "This stuff is supposedly a huge pain to draw, and you can't exactly move it, so it's not very useful in a real fight..."
"Oh..." Shizuku nodded again.
Kai studied the script for another minute, but he couldn't decipher it.
They sat in the lit cabin, rising higher. Looking at the twenty-plus dark, empty cabins rotating below them, Shizuku asked, "Do you think those have the script, too?"
"No idea," Kai said. He watched her profile as she gazed out the window. "Shizuku, why did you agree so easily?"
"Hm?" She turned, her expression as blank as ever. "Agree to what?"
Kai grinned. "To call me 'Boss' after losing. You're not going to back out, are you? If you are, you'll have to wait until we're on the ground. No escape up here."
The Ferris wheel was nearing its peak. Shizuku looked back at the park lights below. "I'm not backing out. You're the boss."
"Pop quiz, then. What's my codename?"
"Jia."
"And yours?"
"Yi."
"See, your memory's not so bad," Kai laughed. "Alright, first rule of our organization, 'The Breaking of the Dawn': You listen to the boss. Got it?"
"Got it." Shizuku paused. "I thought it was 'Akatsuki'?"
"'Akatsuki' is the nickname. 'The Breaking of the Dawn' is the formal name..."
"Is there a meaning?"
Kai asked, "Where do you find the dawn?"
Shizuku thought for a second. "In the dark?"
"Exactly. In the dark."
Kai leaned back, looking out over the miniature landscape of the park. "Shizuku, have you ever heard of the Dark Continent?"
"No."
Kai suspected that even if she had heard of it, she would have forgotten. The Dark Continent was a topic so taboo that it had been scrubbed from mainstream society.
The Ferris wheel passed its apex and began to descend. Kai propped his (still short) legs up. "First official goal of the Akatsuki: a trip to the Dark Continent. It's a must."
"Okay." Shizuku nodded. "What kind of place is it?"
"That's the point. We know nothing about it. That's why we have to go see it."
"Oh..." Shizuku said, as if this was a profound revelation.
Kai shared a few tidbits he remembered—about the life-extending rice, the endless electrical stones, the ancient cities, the unknown life forms. Shizuku's eyes lit up with genuine interest in this unknown land, a place said to be thousands of times larger than the known world.
Still, Kai wondered how long her interest would last.
"You still haven't answered my question," Kai said. "You wouldn't really pledge your loyalty to someone just because you lost an arm-wrestling match, would you?"
Shizuku asked, "Are you worried I'll betray you?"
"A little," Kai admitted. "Easy come, easy go."
"I won't," she said, her voice flat. "I didn't have anything better to do. Following you... at least it's something to do."
A simple, yet somehow profound, reason.
Just then, a small, dark shadow zipped out of the night and thudded against the cabin window.
Shizuku turned. It was the little gray bird. It was gripping the window ledge with its talons and pecking sharply at the glass.
Kai waved at the bird, then asked Shizuku, "Have you always been traveling alone?"
Shizuku looked away from the bird. "Yeah."
"'Didn't have anything better to do'... implies you had something to do."
"I came out... to find some people."
"Out from where?"
"My hometown, I guess," she said. "Meteor City."
She watched him for a reaction.
Kai's reaction was not what she expected. He just asked, "Does Meteor City really have 8 million people?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know, or you don't remember?"
"I don't remember," Shizuku answered honestly.
If it really has 8 million people, Kai thought, it's basically a small country.
"Did you find the people you were looking for?" he asked. It has to be the Phantom Troupe.
"No," Shizuku replied.
"What are they like?"
"That's the point," she said, echoing his own words. "I know nothing about them. That's why I want to find them."
"What are you smiling at?"
Shizuku asked, confused. "Was I smiling?"
"You did. Just for a second." Kai walked over, poked her cheeks with his index fingers, and pushed the corners of her mouth up. "You've got such a permanent poker face that it's really obvious when it changes."
"Oh." Shizuku analyzed this. "It was probably because our conversation was so similar. I found it amusing. So I smiled."
Her deadpan analysis reminded Kai of the Yorknew City arc, when she had read Chrollo's prophecy and learned of her own death with this exact same, detached expression.
"What about you?" Shizuku asked.
"Me?" Kai said. "It's a long story. So, not worth telling."
"Oh." Shizuku didn't press. She just pointed at the pecking bird. "Should I get rid of it?"
Rock Sparrow's pecking stopped instantly.
"It's fine." The cabin reached the ground. Kai hopped out. "Second rule of the Akatsuki: We help each other, we don't interfere with each other, and we never betray each other."
Shizuku looked at him. "Okay."
"You smiled again."
"I didn't."
"You did."
"Oh... Okay, then."
...
As they walked out, Rock Sparrow dive-bombed Kai, who snatched it out of the air.
"What's your problem?" he muttered, flicking its head.
"Chirp!"
Shizuku stated, as if just realizing, "It's your pet."
"It's not a pet, I just found it," Kai grumbled, letting it go. The bird landed on his shoulder and pecked his cheek.
They were walking away when Kai suddenly stopped, looking back at the now-dark Ferris wheel.
"The founder, Alan'tr'iel=Blanchett, is a Pro Hunter. That script... it must have been his work."
He muttered to himself, then turned to Shizuku. "That 'God Script' was physical, right? We could both see it."
"Mm."
"And things made by Conjurers are physical, too. Until they're dispelled, they're real."
Kai remembered a key detail. When Kurapika fought Uvogin, Uvogin couldn't tell if the chains were real or Conjured, even with Gyo.
"The God Script is the same," Kai realized. "It's a physical, Nen-infused object that anyone can see. To a non-user, it just looks like weird decorations."
"What are you thinking?" Shizuku asked.
Kai smiled. "The Ochima job is a dead end. We're not going to find that tomb. So, let's change our mission. Let's hunt for more of that 'God Script'. It's all the same company. If they used it here, they've probably used it somewhere else..."
(End of Chapter)